Presho, SD

In a recent survey Presho increased its knowledge of leadership in the community.  The survey shows that 57.1% of Presho’s LP participants felt they had increased their leadership skills and that 58.6% of this increase was due to participating in the LP study.

According to the survey 71.4% of Presho participants intend to use their leadership skills to work on poverty reduction.  The same percentage of respondents reported that they intended to involve more people in community decision-making.

The Horizons project has helped Presho to address or change poverty in their community as shown by 71.4% of respondents indicating that more people are aware of poverty in the community.  The survey shows that Presho participants showed an increase in leadership skills and abilities across all categories.

Mark Sunday, December 9 on your calendar!! Now that the Horizons visioning committee finished the mission statement, vision statement and community strategic plan for Presho, it’s time to have our Community Celebration!

EVERYONE IS INVITED to Hutch’s Sunday, December 9 to review the plan, make comments, maybe sign up to be part of one of the projects. No speakers, no program! Stop in between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm for a free supper. We plan to have Santa there, too, to visit with the kids (of all ages), take pictures with Santa and youth receive a small present from Santa.

The Presho visioning committee has done a superb job working together to develop goals and objectives for Presho. The four goals identified will help Presho area communities achieve their vision. Look forward to their community meeting to discuss the plan further!

Community members who attended the last LeadershipPlenty session included front row, l-r; Stephan Stanley, Bette Reumann, Sandi Neil, Jackie Boyle, Karen Willis, Khristine Willis, Deb Brakke, and Laverne Olson. Standing l-r: Paul Olson, Tanner Langdeau, Chris Zirpel, Katie Zirpel, Connie Penny, Layne Ness, Juanita Willis, and Jean Ann Brakke                              Lyman County Herald photo

Lyman County Herald    June 20, 2007

Improving accessibility and sharing information about resources is the most common point of strategy South Dakota’s Horizons II communities share as they plan for the future. Presho Horizons Project LeadershipPlenty Class completed their nine-session class Thursday June 12.

Instructors included Gloria Schaefer, Tonya Ness, Teresa Shook and several SDSU Extension Service staff members. Attending were Sandi Neil, Brody Ness, Mandy Cole, Tammy Cole, Dave Cole, Carol Birgen, Juanita Willis, Chris Zirpel, Katie Zirpel, Stephan Stanley, Jenna Urban, Dawn Keyes, Denny Keyes, Alyce Keyes, Michelle Lintvedt, Bette Reumann, Laverne Olson, Michelle Schindler, Connie Penny, Karen Willis, Khristine Willis, Jean Ann Brakke, Tanner Langdeau, Steve Hayes, Kara Schelske, Layne Ness, Tiffany Moore, Deb Brakke, Jody Jessop, Jordan Jessop, Makenzi Taylor, Jim Schaefer, Mike Spenger, Cheryl Reinesch, Jordan Jessop, Lucy Halverson, Angela Ehlers, Jen Busak, Jackie Boyle, Mathew Boyle, Kathleen Boyle, Lavern Olson, Paul Olson, Ashley Keyes, Arlene Ambur, Arvid Ambur.

Communities are also working on beautification projects and business development as top priorities in their efforts to reduce poverty and build new leadership. Horizons II is a project delivered to 24 communities by the South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension Service with funding through the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul. The program gives communities support for efforts to reduce poverty while strengthening leadership in their rural areas.

Communities working with SDSU in the northwest region of the state include Bison, Newell, Faith, Whitewood and Lead/Deadwood. In the southwest/south central region the communities are Hot Springs, Buffalo Gap, Martin, Philip, Murdo, and Presho. In the northeast/east-central part of the state, communities include Sisseton, Frederick, Conde, Estelline, Iroquois, Oldham and Sanborn Central. Southeastern communities working with SDSU in the program include Montrose, Armour, Tripp, Scotland, Tyndall and Wagner. In addition, eight other communities - Greenwood, Marty, Lakes Andes/White Swan, Mission, Parmalee, Medicine Root/Kyle, Porcupine, and White River - are participating in Horizons II through an identical program led by Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Reservation, also with support from the Northwest Area Foundation.

SDSU Extension Community Leadership Development Specialists Specialists Kari Fruechte and Karla Trautman said communities went through a process using “study circles” to zero in on specific areas where they can focus community energy in the short-term to reduce poverty. After the study circles had met at least five times, each community held an “action forum” where residents selected several priorities to act on as the process moves forward.

Fruechte said from that process, 20 communities found sharing information about resources and improving accessibility to be a key immediate priority. Meanwhile, at least 16 communities planned to take action on cleanup or beautification projects, and 11 communities focused on business development. A total of seven communities named youth activities as a key action item for their future, while the same number came up with plans to fix or build a community center. Smaller numbers of communities came up with other action items ranging from buy local campaigns and community gardens to rural tourism.

The Horizons II communities still have a year to go in the project, Fruechte said. After completing LeadershipPlenty classes, communities will carry out a “visioning” process for their futures.

Trautman noted that data from a newly released survey commissioned by the Northwest Area Foundation on public attitudes toward poverty underscores the need the Horizons II project is trying to address. The survey finds that 66 percent of South Dakotans know someone in their community who works two or more jobs and struggles to make ends meet, compared to 50 percent of Americans nationally. Slightly more than half of South Dakotans view many in their communities as struggling.

“The fact that 53 percent of South Dakotans perceive that a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet helps us put a face to the fact that poverty is more prevalent than we think it is,” Trautman said. “Citizens might not have looked around their community before and realized that, Yes, poverty is present here, and we can do something about it.” Trautman said

SDSU Extension is in the process of expanding its work with South Dakota communities by re-focusing some existing extension educator positions towards community innovation and leadership.

By Lucy Halverson, Lyman County Herald  October 24, 2007

The Presho Horizons Project held a Visioning Kick Off event Monday, October 15 at the Presho United Methodist Church fellowship hall. Nearly 60 people of all ages enjoyed the free supper furnished by the Horizons Project and served by the Presho UMW. The people attending completed surveys regarding Presho and viewed a display of photos taken by area residents. The photos reflected the good and bad points of Presho according to the person taking the photos.

Dan Oedekoven of SDSU’s Cooperative Extension Service at Rapid City presented the demographics of Presho in regards to population and poverty.

Committee spokesmen reported on some of the issues and ideas that came from the study circles last spring. A city clean up was held, movies in the park were shown, and most currently a survey is being taken to see how many people in Presho and area towns would be interested in receiving meals for seniors and rural transportation.
LeadershipPlenty certificates of completion were presented to those who graduated from the Presho program.

Based on completed surveys, both the written and the camera survey, and comments received at the Visioning Kick Off. The following items were deemed important to how people would like to see Presho in the future; paved streets, housing, sidewalks, population increase, thriving business district, junk cleaned up, old buildings demolished, meals and transportation for elderly.

A Strategic Planning committee was formed of 10 to 12 volunteers who will meet over the next several weeks to write a plan for implementing these objectives into an action plan. Committee members include; Nicole Husman, Dawn Keyes, Brooke Smith, Michelle Lintvedt, Deb Smith, Teresa Shook, Owen Garnos, Angela Ehlers, Mandy Cole and Mike Sprenger. The plan will be presented to the community when completed. Watch for the date and time of the next community supper.

By Lucy Halverson, Lyman County Herald  October 10, 2007

The Presho Horizon project is conducting a survey to gain input regarding issues of importance to community members. The goal is to receive information from at least 15% of the city’s population.

The results of the completed surveys will be presented at a Community Visioning Kick Off event Monday, Oct. 15 at the Presho Methodist Church Hall. A free meal will be held at 6 pm followed by the presentation.

Drawings will be held for $25, $50 and $100 in chamber bucks. Must be present to win.
The Horizon Project will conclude in August of 2008 at which time the Presho Horizons group will receive the remander of their $10,000 grant from the Northwestern Area Foundation.

Horizons is a 18-month community leadership program aimed at reducing poverty in small rural communities (population less than 5,000). Funded by the Northwest Area Foundation of St. Paul, MN and partnered with South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension. 

By Lucy Halverson, Lyman County Herald  May 03, 2007
Over six weeks ago the community of Presho held a Horizons Project kick off event at Hutch’s Café. Nearly 50 people attended and many signed up to be part of a five-week study circle group.

Five study circles met weekly for the past five weeks to discuss different aspects of the community from what is being done currently to what needs to be done or offered to assure a good quality of life in Presho.

Now, the study circles will come together for the next step in the Horizons Project, an Action Forum.

All participants of the study circles, the facilitators, and other interested community members are invited to a free catered meal at the Presho gym Monday, May 8 at 6:30 p.m. Information gathered from various study circles will be on display for viewing. Following the meal a representative from each study circle will present the action ideas gleaned from their five-week session. The group will then decide how to implement the actions. Task groups may be organized or as Dan Oedekoven, SDSU Extension Service, stated, “Some actions may require the involvement of a government board or a leadership group such as a LeadershipPlenty group.”

Sign ups are now being taken for the upcoming Presho LeadershipPlenty class that will be given as part of the Horizons Project.

LeadershipPlenty is a program developed by the Pew partnership for civic change. It is designed to equip citizens with skills like effective communications, conflict management and partnership building that they can use to work together as community leaders and put into action positive change.

Tonya Ness and Gloria Schaefer, who attended LeadershipPlenty training at Rapid City in March, will be involved in teaching Presho’s LeadershipPlenty course along with other SDSU Extension staff members.

Plan to attend the Horizons Action Forum Monday, May 8 at the Presho gym to hear more about the upcoming LeadershipPlenty class and discover what actions the study circles recommend.

Presho is one of 23 communities in the state to be selected for the Horizons program, which is sponsored by the Northwest Area Foundation and SDSU Cooperative Extension Service.
 

By Lucy Halverson, Lyman County Herald  November 22, 2006

Presho is officially a part of the statewide Horizons project that kicked off last Wednesday, November 8, 2006 with an orientation in Pierre. Two community members, Jim Cole and Chris Zirpel attended the daylong session along with representatives from the other twenty-three communities that will take part in the project. The day was spent learning about the first segment of the project and planning for involvement from area citizens.

The first step in the two-year Horizons project will be gathering a wide variety of citizens from the area interested in contributing and listening in small group discussions around strengths and challenges in the community. Work on reducing poverty in the Presho area will be a major focus, with the goal of an action project at the end of the sessions. The group worked with John Fenner, from the National Study Circles Resource Center, to learn how to pull off successful discussions and move the groups to action. Further details about these “Study Groups” will be release in the near future.

Participants in the orientation shared many ideas with other communities and started to plan ways to pull residents together for the biggest impact. Involvement from all ages, genders, income levels, occupations and interests will be needed to make the project the best possible experience for the community. The direction of the project will be determined by the active community participants, and guided by the coordinators from the SDSU Cooperative Extension Service.

Watch for more information coming frequently, and contact Angela Ehlers for more information on getting involved. The Horizons project is funded by the Northwest Area Foundation of St. Paul, MN, and delivered by the SDSU Cooperative Extension Service.