Montrose, SD

Charla Cope and I went to a Horizons’ session earlier this fall in Huron. The speaker was a professor who had studied rural communities and how to inspire change, and it was excellent. At the beginning of his presentation he held up a glass of water and asked us whether we saw the glass as half empty–or half full. We can either be discouraged when we think of all that needs to be done in our communities, or we can consider all of the talent and resources and positives about where we live and expect it to get better. I’m intent on seeing our community of Montrose as half full.

 As we near our Celebration Event this Sunday, and start the really hard work of getting more people involved in specific actions to improve Montrose and move forward on a vision, I am encouraged. I’ve lived here for more than 30 years and for the first time I am seeing all of the talent we have here–and all of those who desire to give of themselves to make this a better place to live. I know others see that vision, as well.

Thanks to everyone who has put so much of themselves into this effort–from those who grabbed this opportunity to those who have participated in various phases. In fact, thanks to all of those throughout the years who cared about Montrose and its people and worked hard to keep it going. There are always frustrations–and sometimes mistakes or misunderstandings–when a group of people work together for a common cause. But let’s keep seeing that glass as half-full, shall we? Please come to Sunday’s event. We’d love to see you there!

On Sunday, December 2nd at 12:00pm, we will be getting together to celebrate the completion of the Planning/Visioning process to help reduce poverty in our community.   EVERYONE is invited to come to the school common’s area for a FREE meal, fellowship, and to find out what plans and changes are in store for Montrose.  SANTA will be there to hand out special Montrose prizes to both kids and adults.  Free childcare will be available after the meal so your kids can play while you learn how you can become involved in any of the following four goals that will keep Montrose on the Move:

     1.  To improve the appearance of Montrose

     2.  The encourage the growth of Montrose

     3.  To provide more opportunities for all Montrose-area residents

     4.  To promote community spirit

All who attend will be able to take home their own copy of “Montrose on the Move - A Strategic Plan for the Future”.  This manual contains the above goals for the future of Montrose, as well as the implementation processes for achieving those goals. 

Come and enjoy an afternoon of fun and fellowship, and get involved with the future of Montrose.  Our community needs YOU! 

I’m sure the woman from Montrose who called me last night isn’t alone. She’s older and still in her own home, but incapable of handling certain house-related jobs–specifically cleaning leaves out of her eaves. Or, it may be cleaning her walks in the winter, mowing lawn in the summer, or fixing a leaking faucet anytime of the year. She would like to have a way that people with needs can match up those with skills. She’s willing to pay people for their services, but doesn’t know how to find them.

 What’s great is that developing a community job pool was one of our initial objectives during our strategic planning meeting.  But when we began writing our implementation steps, we decided to leave it out for now for security reasons. Our concern? How would we build in security to protect children who might answer a job pool request and then be exploited or harmed?

I’d like to know, is any other community trying to match up skills with needs? If so, could you provide some tips on how to establish such a program and keep it safe? How could you manage it? Who would manage it? Where could you publish a skill-to-need list (paper, blog, web site, posters…) Thanks for any input someone might have. Perhaps we need to put it back into our objective list. Martha, I also remember that you provided us with a web site to check out on this topic. I’ll find it and take a look! Thanks.

I had a pleasant surprise last night. I had put an article in this week’s Montrose Herald (town weekly paper) about our blogging site, inviting people to check out the site and enter the discussion. I also reminded those that didn’t have access to the Internet to call Amy or I and we’d get their ideas expressed.

Lo and behold, an older Montrose resident called. She had seen the article and wanted to share one of her concerns–and needs–as a part of this community. She doesn’t have a computer, but she did have a phone and the desire to enter into the conversation. It was wonderful to see the community network alive–and it’s because of the Horizon’s program. Now, we hope others will join in–and log on.

I’m going to bring up her idea–and it’s a good one–in another post. And, I’ll be checking on the blogs of other communities to see if they’ve tackled this particular need. Another exciting aspect is that what she needs is something we discussed in our  strategic planning sessions, but put on a back burner. Perhaps we’ll have to move it up to a higher action item.

Remember those “FUN” pre and post surveys that the Horizons Staff had you take during Study Circles and LeadershipPLENTY?

Believe it or not - it was for a purpose!  Those pre and post surveys help us to understand how much your community learned about poverty and about leadership by your participation in those specified curriculums.

As a result, we have assembled a community profile with the results of the pre and post surveys for both Study Circles and LeadershipPLENTY.  Check out your community results by clicking on the links found under “Survey Data” on the right hand side of your community blog.    

It’s been great to have some new faces–and new ideas–attending our strategic planning meetings. We need their input and fresh perspective. An example, Betty G. came and provided great input from the perspective of the school board. She also shared her passion for establishing a Montrose Community Foundation. That’s a wonderful idea that had not yet been shared. Kandi W. has information on possible funding assistance for a skate park. We’ll need that as we put down specific implementation steps for our community plan. And we had young people come to share their ideas of what they’d like to see in our community, and voice some of their concerns. We’re pleased that Horizons has provided a forum to share those dreams. Our next step is to come up with practical ways to implement them. Again, a thank you to everyone who is taking the time to contribute to this effort.

Our second planning meeting went very well.  After an excellent meal, we were ready to create our objectives for the goals that were set at the first planning meeting.  Our goals were written based on community input from the study circles, leadership training, and the kick-off event.  The goals for our Montrose community include:  To improve the appearance of Montrose, to encourage growth in Montrose, to provide more opportunities for all Montrose-area residents, and to promote community spirit.

Our community shown here is putting together the objectives to improve the appearance of our town.  Some of those objectives include improving the park area and picnic shelter, work toward the completion of the biking/walking trail, and exploring the possibilities of giving the main street of Montrose a “facelift” - including the removal of vacant buildings.

We look forward to expanding these goals and objectives to include the implementation procedures.  Working together, we will realize our goals!