The Community Development group (Big Timber Horizon Project) hosted a 2 day workshop on grant writing on March 27th & April 3rd. Dave Young from MSU Bozeman and ____ presented the workshop to 18 peoiple interested in learning to apply for grants.
The Sweet Grass County/Big Timber Community Resource Book is in the process of being typed and proof read. The printing and distribution target date is mid-summer. In the course of attending the Study Circle meetings, Leadership Plenty Training, and various other seminars and training sessions, it has been discovered there is a lack of communication in re-referrals for all services. This Resource Book will list not only the local services, organizations, and other information, but will list pertinent ones on State and National levels also.
This is tied to reducing poverty by allowing people to be referred to agencies and/or organizations that will help them meet their needs. All needs are addressed; not just monetary, but overall health including mental health and help organizations for addictions, support groups, employment training, etc. This will help reduce poverty on many levels, depending on the needs of the recipients, and includes rebuilding self-esteem to those who need it. A few examples of these are high school dropouts seeking to obtain a GED and further their education or job training; addicts who do not see themselves as worthy people; people who have made societal errors and need a fresh start.
The Community Development group has started a dialog about creating a Community Foundation. An information meeting was held and Cathy Cooney from the Montana Community Foundation gave a presentation on how foundations work. A community foundation would be a long term approach to funding needed projects in Big Timber/Sweet Grass County and the committee will be looking into this option. It would possibly tap into funds that might not otherwise be available.
The Manaia YELP (Youth Empowerment and Leadership Program) was held in Big Timber beginning 4/25/08. Nineteen youth and five adult mentors were signed up to complete the program. Two youth dropped out that morning and one became ill that evening and had to leave. The weekend kickoff ran from 5PM - 9Pm on Friday, 9AM-9PM on Saturday and 9AM - 5PM on Sunday. Four facilitators and a cook from the Manaia Program were also present. The program continued for the next five weeks with the group meeting every Tuesday from 6PM - 9PM. On May 27th a graduation ceremony was held for the 16 youth and 5 adult participants and attended by parents and community members. The adult mentors will continue to work with the youth and several groups will be working to gain awareness for the program and fund raise to continue the program.
The workshops focused on self esteem, attitudes, behaviors, personal responsibility and conflict resolution. The program had a 100% success rate with all 21 participants graduating. Already school officials, parents and adult participants have seen a big improvement in all the youth. The program was open to all high school aged youth and free to participants. Approximately 60% of the attending youth were from single parent, low income families.
Funding for the program came from the following sources: MT Community Foundation Grant from NWAF, City of Big Timber, Sweet Grass County and the Community Development action group.
Completed action:
A list of local contractors who are willing to donate time and possibly some materials for small home maintenance projects has been developed. Churches and the local welfare office will be the main source of referrals of people in need. The recipients of such services are elderly or those with limited or no financial resources to see such projects done. This will help easy poverty on three levels:
Non-traditional Child Care: Dale Garrett has met with Kevin Schott, whose wife, Stacey, has a day care center. Stacey is licensed and her day care center is certified. Kevin and Stacey are interested in further developing the idea of non-traditional childcare hours. They are conducting their own studies on this. Non-traditional childcare hours will help solve another issue related to poverty…parents who cannot work, or be trained for higher paying jobs because of lack of childcare.