Hyde County, SD

What is your community’s plan for maintaining a strong community leadership system?

The simple truth is that the community does not have a plan. To begin with it doesn’t have a strong community leadership system to maintain. What we do have is a number of fragmented groups with leadership being being provided by those who have a special interest in seeing something happen.

That may be a good thing. People have different goals and agendas; a community is not a corporation, a church, or a government bureau. We don’t need A Community Leadership System in capital letters.

That said, the Horizons project has shaken things up in a good way. People who didn’t think of themselves as being leaders have become leaders. New things have happened because people responded to the thought that we can do things that we never thought of doing before.

Hopefully, the Horizons Steering Committee will continue to be a strong

Q: What structures have been created or changed that will help your community?

A: A food pantry has been started. A community rapid transit service been started. The existing community garden group has become larger and more active.

In what ways is your community operating or working differently?
I really like the new way I perceive the community as operating. The community has a more “can do” attitude. The Horizon project has given a gift of optimism to the community at a time when there is not a lot of positive things coming from the main stream press. I don’t think the timing of the project could have been any better. The project brings the best out in people and businesses. I can see it in the local paper, Highmore Herald.
Not only has the paper a “new look” with the variation of the column widths, there is wonderful coverage of events including Horizon projects.
We have other changes in the community such as the transport system and food pantry giving the low income people more opportunities to succeed in our community.
I am more aware of positive actions within the community. Maybe I have changed but I suspect most of the community has made some major shifts in attitude towards people in the lower income brackets.

Every month the entire community is invited to share their thoughts about the monthly blog questions. At our last Horizons Steering Committee meeting, group members shared their thoughts about the January & February blog questions. Below are their responses. Let’s hear your opinion, just click the “comments’ tab below this message to submit your ideas. Your opinion helps us to evaluate the impact Horizons is having in Hyde Co.

1) Are more communities members talking about poverty?

“Yes, as a totally different concept of poverty- it is more than just financial. There is a great understanding of needs in the community.”
“People are discussing what types of improvemets are feasible for the community.”
“Yes, preconceived notions of poverty being only about economics have changed.”

2) What kind of difference does it make if people in your community better understand the causes of poverty?

“People can create a plan of action to improve their financial condition.”
“The mindset & actions of everyone seem to be more open & understanding. Not judgemental.”
“Understanding gives confidence for our future in setting goals & feeling hopeful.”

3) In what ways has your community’s knowledge about leadership changed? How do you know?

“I see a lot more people who are willing to come forward with really great ideas. I’m in LeadershipPlenty & it’s so fun to see new people betting involved.”
“Being involved with LeadershipPlenty I have seen the attitudes & abilities BLOSSOM with both youth & adults!”
“People seem to be excited about completing the program & begin working on projects.”
“There is more student involvement in leadership, new businesses are coming to reality & groups are coming together with dynamic energy!”

4) In what ways have community members made a commitment reduce poverty?

“People attended Study Circles & are now active in LeadershipPlenty & Action Committees.”
“New businesses, like the Consignment/Thrift Store, have already sprung up!”
“The positive involvement in the community has been our greatest commitment to reducing poverty. People are working together to bring wealth to everyone here.”

5) In what ways is your community more aware of its strengths or assets?

“Study Circles, LeadershipPlenty and Action Committee work helps us to keep focused on assets.”
“More assets & positive ideas come out during each meeting.”
“Through LeadershipPlenty we are learning that people are assets- their diverse talents & abilities.”

Q: What evidence do you have that people in the community feel like they
can do something to reduce poverty?

A: One strong evidence is the amount of active participation is the
original discussion groups and the subsequent action groups. Judging
from the enthusiasm and effort, the people involved really seem to feel
that they can make a difference and make something worthwhile happen.
On the other hand I don’t see real evidence that the community as a
whole is very involved or concerned.

Q: Have you learned anything about nearby communities like yours?

A: We’ve learned far less than we should have. People have good ideas and
enthusiasm, but they don’t seem to be thinking in terms of building
relationships with people in other communities that have been tackling
the same issues.

This is a kind of poverty that we don’t often talk about. It is all too
easy to talk to the people immediately around you and not build relationships
outside the community. We miss a lot when we don’t. Others give us ideas
that we don’t think of and share knowledge that they learned the hard way.
Above all, they let us know that we are not alone.

Each month the Horizons organization asks the blogger (that’s me) to answer some questions about what’s happening. I get a suite of questions and get to pick some to answer. Here are the questions and their answers for January.

Q: In what ways has this community’s knowledge about poverty changed?
What evidence do you have of this?

A: The simple answer is that I don’t know, and I don’t think that anyone
can really know. However a lot of things came up in the discussion groups
and there were a lot of “I never thought about that” and “I didn’t know
that” type of comments. One thing that became clear in the discussion
groups and the community meeting is that people were aware at some level
that a lot of simple, basic needs weren’t being met, but hadn’t really
thought about them or about doing something about them. Examples include
resource information and a food pantry.

It is less clear that people are focusing much beyond basic needs. When
the subject is ways to make to make the community more prosperous or more
culturally vibrant, individual people have ideas and hobby horses, but
they don’t catch fire. It may be that this is a kind of poverty also.

Q: In what ways has your community’s knowledge about leadership changed?
Q: How do you know?

A: This is another question that is hard to answer. I don’t think that there
is any community wide knowledge about leadership, let alone change in that
knowledge. It’s obvious that there has been a change among the people who
are participating in the process. People who were on the sidelines have
become active. What is not clear is how much of this is spreading into
the community at large.