Mayor Calls Community Workshop

Mayor Linda Kadlec has called together a dozen civic groups from the community in an effort to identify and prioritize projects that are critical for Ritzville's survival.

Mayor Kadlec is hoping to bring the community together and create a unified effort toward revitalizing Ritzville. The Mayor plans to emphaize the need for teamwork.

The workshop planned for Monday, March 23rd is open to the public.

BBCC Hosts Luncheon

Dr. William Bonaudi, President of BBCC, will be hosting a luncheon on Wednesday, February 25th, at the American Legion Hall in Ritzville. Dr. Bonaudi will be presenting information about the services available through BBCC. After lunch he and four other staff members of BBCC will facilitate several small focus groups.

The focus groups are an effort to further define the need for secondary education in Ritzville and the surrounding communities of Lind and Washtucna. The luncheon and focus groups are a follow-up to the surveys circulated last summer.

The Ritzville PDA in partnership with the Ritzville Horizons group has proposed a distance learning center to be administered by BBCC. $10,000 in scholarship money is available for Ritzville students as soon as the center is open to the public.

Welcome to our town??

Ritzville has always been known as Eastern Washington's best kept secret. We'd like to change that. The Ritzville Public Development Authority (PDA) is hoping to do just that. Washington State University's Interdisciplinary Design Institute (WSU IDI) will present four proposed solutions to our signage and identity problem.

On Friday, December 12, the WSU IDI students will present their ideas to the community. Everyone is invited to attend. We are hoping to have a good group of community members present to stimulate some dialog.

By inviting visitors to our community and making them feel welcome when they get here, it is the hope of the PDA to stimulate some economic development opportunities.

Come join in the discussion. Be a part of the solution.

Family Swim Night a Great Success

The turnout was great with over 150 attending the Horizons Family Swim Night. The weather couldn't have been better!!! The ice cream hit the spot.

Drawings were held for free day passes, swimming lessions, and a family season pass. Several individuals won passes who already had purchased a family pass. They generously donated their passes to someone who could use the passes. What a great evening!!! Ritzville's sense of community was at its best.

Inland Northwest Partners

Debbie Chapman, Dorothy Grove, and John Marshall from Ritzville's Horizons group attended the Inland Northwest Partners meeting in Post Fall on June 11 with Ritzville's Coach and INWP Board Member, Monica Babine.

Over 50 Horizons members were in attendance coming from Washington and Idaho.

Sprague's group was among the presentors. Good job Sprague!!

Ritzville's Dorothy Grove created a story board and brochures highlighting Ritzville's activities thus far. Together with Debbie Chapman, they fielded questions from the attendees.

Horizons Meeting Notes - May 30, 2008

Ritzville Horizons Meeting Notes
DRAFT
May 30, 2008
Grove Home

Participants:
Debbie Chapman Karen Cady
Dorothy Grove Monica Babine

We welcomed Karen Cady to our meeting today. Karen is a friend of Debbie’s and is doing some business in the Ritzville area.

Since our May 15 meeting, Ann has been updating the blog – which we appreciate very much. Dorothy shared several items she thought would be good to include in the blog post section of the strategic report. We discussed the need to finalize the plan by June 16. Both Debbie and Dorothy asked for copies of the interim strategic plan – it will be emailed to them. We may use email to gather additional information to include in the plan.

Both Debbie and Dorothy plan to attend the Inland NW Partners meeting on June 11. Information about the session has been sent to the Mayor and is in the City Council packets. After the Council meeting on Tuesday, June 3, we will determine who else to invite to fill the 5 registration slots available from Horizons. Dorothy is working on the tabletop display for the meeting and is gathering photos from the Journal and Debbie.

Preparations are underway for the Sue Price trainings on June 25 and 26. In addition to the article in the Journal on May 15 about the sessions, the Chamber has developed and distributed flyers around town. Carol Simonson, from the Chamber is also extending personal invitations and working with the Journal to run an ad. Carol asked for help from the Horizons committee regarding catering orders. Debbie will coordinate with Carol on this and possibly an ice cream social which was discussed earlier. Carol may need to be out of town so she would like to have someone from the committee at each event. Assistance includes being at the church early each day to make sure lights are on, the room has chairs, caterers can set up and Sue can get in early to prepare for the session. We also need to have a sign-in sheet at each event to turn into the Horizons staff. Debbie said she planned to be there on the 25th. We need someone to help on the 26th also. Dorothy will be out of town both days so she can not assist.

Under New Business we talked about several activities that we could do during the next month since we have almost $2000 in our Horizons budget. Ideas included a field trip to Port Hadlock and/or other distance learning centers; offering scholarships to the pool for low-income families; support for families with disabilities; and holding a community clean-up day. We spent some time brainstorming about the clean-up event. It was thought that this would be a good follow-up activity to the “clean up” letters recently sent out by the City. Dorothy agreed to talk with her husband, Dave, about doing this because of his role at the City. We discussed holding it either on June 14 or 21 from 8 am-noon, followed by hot dogs in the park. This would be a partnership activity and would involve asking churches, scouts, 4H, etc. to help out. We would need to develop a sign-up system both for volunteers and those who want help in their yard. In addition to food expenses, we might also need to use some of our funds for transporting items to the dump. An option would be to have this be our Horizons celebration too. There are a few “graduation” questions the NW Area Foundation would like us to gather input on and we could do that at this event. If we decide to do this we need to have a conference call the first week of June to plan it.

Monica provided an up date from the Horizons staff. Several Horizons communities are considering developing Horizons signage like those for All-American City, etc. Our group thought a plague that could be mounted on the distance learning/resource center would be a better fit for Ritzville. Monica announced that the NWAF plans to fund 15 new Horizons communities in Washington. It does not appear they will offer funding for “alumni” communities such as Ritzville. WSU however, is looking at potential resources to continue supporting alumni communities. We talked about other partners that may be able to continue Horizons related activities. Monica asked the group about local Extension office involvement. Several items were mentioned such as workshops/trainings for family and household management, canning, emergency preparedness, financial planning, bullying issues, as well as creation of a resource directory and/or bulletin board with community information, services, etc. We also discussed the partnerships that have already been developed during Horizons with Chamber, RPDA, City of Ritzville, WSU IDI and Big Bend Community College (BBCC). Several ideas were shared about classes that could be offered by BBCC – customer service, work ethic, continuing ed, etc. It might be a good idea for someone from BBCC to attend the Sue Price training. Police, sheriff, hospitals might also be good partners.

Debbie plans to follow up with Cecil Andrews, a speaker she heard at the Green Festival in Seattle. She presented on ways to simplify your life. No decision was made about how/if we would involve Cecil Andrews but we look forward to hearing what Debbie learns about her work.

I next meeting was not set but we will be scheduled via email.


Monica Babine
WSU Horizons Coach

Partnership with Sprague Horizons to Include Support for Families with Disabled Members

Debbie Chapman, Ritzville Horizons Steering Committee member, has been working with a group from the Sprague Horizons team to establish a parent group for those with disabled family members. In addition to networking and support, they hope to help identify training and other resources. This effort will help families with limited access to support services and may help to reduce physical, support system and financial poverty.

Ritzville PDA partners with BBCC

The Ritzville Horizons group and Ritzville's Public Development Authority have partnered with Big Bend Community College on creating a new distance learning center for the Ritzville community. As a result of the Horizons survey, the need for such a center was identified.

The Horizons Steering Committee reached out to the PDA for assistance with the project several months ago. Working together, the project is moving forward. It is our hope that by fall of 2008, the first class will be offered.

Running Start, workforce development, and adult continuing education will be just some of the classes scheduled.

Horizons will be offering financial aid to those in need.

Stay tuned for more information.

Ritzville has a new coach!!

Monica Babine from WSU's Center to Bridge the Digital Divide has been named as Ritzville's new coach for the Horizons project.

Monica has worked with Ritzville for several years. Her knowledge of the community will help her come up to speed quickly.

The steering committee met with Monica on May 15th and will meet again on May 30th. Anyone interested in attending may contact Dorothy Grove at 659-4309.

Welcome back Monica!!

Debbie Chapman Attends Green Festival

Debbie Chapman, member of the Ritzville Horizons' project, attended Seattle's Green Festival on April 12 and 13th. Gas cards from Horizons made her trip possible!!!

Held at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, a large list of speakers and exhibitors highlighted the activities.

Visit their website at http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/767/390/

Ritzville loses coach!!

Anita Radditz, Ritzville's Horizons coach for the past year and a half, has resigned her post at WSU and moved to Utah.

She will be missed.

We wish her luck in her new endeavors.

Sprague Workshop Well Attended

Five Ritzville community members attended the Sprague Horizons' Hospitality and Marketing Workshop. It was a great success. In fact, it was so well received that Ritzville is hosting another.

Hospitality & Marketing Workshop
June 25th, 6-9 PM or June 26th 9 AM-Noon
Zion Philadelphia Church Social Hall

201 W. Broadway

Ritzville

The Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce is coordinating the registration. The deadline for registration is June 23.

Don't miss out on this great opportunity. The workshop is free. If needed, gas cards and child care are available.

May 15, 2008

Ritzville Horizons Meeting Notes
DRAFT
May 15, 2008
Ritzville City Hall

Participants:
Debbie Chapman Ann Olson
Dorothy Grove Monica Babine

After introductions we discussed why each member got involved in Horizons, who they want Horizons to help, and what they are hoping to do or accomplish during the program. For each member, initial involvement was at the request of another local leader. A community “win” – successfully completing Horizons – was discussed as an important need in the community. The conversation also included hopes for employment (good jobs and good employees), leadership training, community development, and improving the community attitude (from negative to positive).

We reviewed Horizons efforts to-date and in some cases learned about activities not previously known to the whole team. We did discuss some of the challenges of the program (i.e., order of program elements, confusion over survey zip codes, visioning session). No one had seen the interim strategic plan until just recently and felt communication seemed to have dropped off along the way. The conversation also noted the portions of the program that seemed most successful and/or helpful (i.e., leadership training content, partnering with chamber).

There was consensus that the group wanted to finish the program. Since Horizons is a poverty reduction and human capital development program, we talked about how to best use the Community Capacity Building Funds given that the community resource/distance learning center is a project the team wants to continue working on. Debbie asked if scholarships for classes would be an acceptable use and we discussed how that along with other items such as transportation and child/elder care might be helpful resources. This seemed like a win-win idea for both providing training availability for community members in poverty and also helping the center be successful in filling classes.

Although we ran out of time and did not cover everything on our agenda, we did get a good start on discussing items that need to be completed including:
Updating the blog with previous activities and keeping it current (Ann said she could help with this and Debbie has pictures to include.)
Completing the final strategic plan
Completing and submitting the application for Community Capacity Building Funds
Determining who will attend the Inland NW Partners meeting from Ritzville
Developing a Ritzville Horizons display for the Inland NW Partners meeting (Dorothy will do)
Identifying any other events to be complete in the next couple months (i.e., Sue Post workshops, attending the Big Idea, or visiting a distance learning center, doing something related to the needs of the disabled, holding a celebration, etc.)

It will be important to get together again soon to continue efforts. In addition, there is a need for ongoing communication and assistance with details regarding each item above. This will be accomplished via email, face-to-face meetings, and telephone.


Monica Babine
WSU Horizons Coach

WHAT THE VISITOR WANTS – DO YOU HAVE IT?

Visitors are the people who come to your town to visit – for a quick stop, a few hours, or a few days. Visitors can be friends and family of locals, tourists on vacation or attending a special event, or people stopping by on a trip to somewhere else.

The longer a visitor stays the greater the opportunity for the community, local businesses on the street, in-home businesses, and non-profit organizations to benefit financially.

On Wed, March 19, 9:30- Noon, in Sprague at the Chamber’s Community Center, 3rd and C Street, Sprague Horizons is hosting a workshop led by expert Marketing Consultant Sue Price to discover how to increase the number of visitors stopping, staying, and spending. Free Workshop for members of the Sprague, Lamont, and Ritzville communities but pre registration required to wa_sprague@yahoo.com by March 14 – seating is very limited, filled on a first come basis with snacks provided. Gas cards available to those who drive in. Child/elder care funds available.

What's Your Dream for Ritzville

New Mayor, Linda Kadlec, has challenged the community to share their dream for Ritzville. Some really great dreams have been submitted. The Journal has printed many of the dreams and will continue to do so as long as they keep coming in.

What's your dream? Submit all of your dreams to the Ritzville Chamber of Commerce, City of Ritzville, or the Journal.

Together we can make a difference.

"If you don't have a dream, how ya gonna make a dream come true?"

Distance Learning Center

The Horizons Project Steering Committee has joined with the Ritzville Public Development Authority to create a distance learning center in downtown Ritzville. Stay tuned for updates as work progresses in this area.

The learning center could be used for adult education, running start, workforce development and much, much more. It should be a great resource for the community.

It is a dream come true in the making.

Ritzville Horizons and Chamber Partner for Christmas Celebration and Visioning

A great family-friendly time was enjoyed by 130 community members to celebrate the holiday season. Thank you to the Chamber for partnering on these festivities! Following the party, a Horizons visioning session was held where it was detrmined that a strategy of "community education, life-long learning twoard a vital economy and competent workforce through the development of a community learning center" would help address Ritzville's poverty reduction and community prosperity needs.

Ritzville Survey Preliminary Report

The top 3 areas of concern expressed by those returning surveys that were mailed to every household in the Ritzville zip code:

#1 Better/More Jobs
#2 Youth Activities
#3 Improved Economy


On October 27 at the Circle T Restaurant community members could provide ideas to meet these concerns. Following are those ideas. Nov 30 will be the next opportunity for ideas from community members, and that evening participants will create a strategic plan to address those items selected.

#1 More/Better Jobs

• Be willing to change; more open minded to new things
• We need to promote the quality of life to be expected in living here. If potential employers want to live here bad enough, they will bring jobs with them.

#2 Youth Activities

• We have so many vacant store fronts, open one to be a youth center with pingpong, foosball, video games, etc.
• tennis court, handball court, soccer field
• training opportunities & scholarship opportunities to return to the community upon graduation

#3 Improve Economy

• Welcome newcomers to community so they are willing to state and make this their home.
• Retail downtown needs to be concentrated even in one block so the businesses can build off each other.
• More things to do will keep tourists here longer.

What one project should Ritzville undertake?

• Skateboard park
• Downtown public restrooms (visitors need these)
• Signage to direct people to downtown
• Pea Patch program (community garden)
• Hospitality Training
• Resource Center - brochure

Link to the full survey report

Survey Results Coming Soon

You are invited to an open house to view the results of the surveys. The results will be presented to the community on Sunday, October 21, 2007, at the Circle T from 2 - 4 pm.

Everyone will be encouraged to comment on the findings. Bring your friends and family and join in the fun. Coffee and dessert will be served. You might even win a door prize.

Survey Goal Met

Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out their survey and send it in! We have met our goal. The results are being compiled by WSU and will be presented to the community in the near future. Watch for an upcoming event.