The Horizons Project is on the move in Montana communities and we’re going to post their stories starting with Anaconda

Today, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Paul Lachapelle, Community Development Specialist in the Department of Political Science at MSU during the first day of the "Helping Small Towns Succeed" http://matr.net/article-28462.html training being put on by the Heartland Center http://heartlandcenter.info/. (So far this is a very worthwhile training. I’ll have an update after we’ve finished the 3 day course)

Back to Paul. He explained that he’s involved with the Horizons program http://matr.net/article-22159.html that’s working with a number of Montana communities thanks to the Northwest Area Foundation http://www.nwaf.org/ which is generously funding this program. Paul told me about some of the innovative ideas and programs that these communities are developing and then blogging http://montana.communityblogs.us/.

You can learn a lot from the blogs from the Horizon communities in other states (Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota,North Dakota, Sitting Bull College, South Dakota, Washington, Washington – WP here: http://communityblogs.us/

I’m going to post a few of these in the coming weeks as well as other success stories from this program. If you’re a community that’s in the Horizons program, please update your blog so that more can hear about your current efforts. (This is a great way to help those who used to live in your community or think they might want to raise the possibility that they will.)

At random, here’s a bit about Anaconda which we’ve posted about previously http://matr.net/article-26844.html Be sure to explore the topics along the right hand margin:

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The Anaconda Community Foundation is being established to help the people of Anaconda/Deer Lodge build a permanent financial legacy to support charitable work in the Anaconda area forever. The Anaconda Community Foundation will be able to provide local financial support to those agencies and organizations that directly and/or indirectly serve the needs of those in poverty into the future.

Short term goals:

* The Foundation is working to acquire full 501(c)(3) status through the Internal Revenue Service.

* The Foundation is working to establish an active Board of Directors and to identify an Executive Director.

* The Foundation is working to educate the community about opportunities to contribute to the Foundation while addressing estate-planning issues.

More about Anaconda: http://anaconda.communityblogs.us/

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Movement and Change

When I was in Arco, ID, a participant enthusiastically gave me a Horizons brochure from the Northwest Area Foundation, a foundation that I’ve seen making some great progress in a number of towns along the northern tier of states.

I loved the opening shot from Horizons:

From waiting to leading…from talk to action…from poverty to prosperity…from a few to many…from despair to hope…from indifference to pride.

Jack Schultz

Full Blog: http://boomtownusa.blogspot.com/2008/10/movement-and-change.html