Hospitality Training

Sue Price presented her hospitality training to over 40 eager citizens of Ritzville and Lind this past week. She came early and did some secret shopping. Ritzville received some good and some not so good comments. The critiques were well received by the attendees.

As evidenced by the amount of conversation in the parking lot, everyone went home energized and ready to create their WOW moments for Ritzville's visitors.

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.

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.

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.

Strengthening Communities

I hope you've saved Thursday for lunch together.

The next Strengthening Communities Forum will be at the Ritzville High School Library on Thursday, 2. 28.08, from noon to 1:00 pm.

The lunch topic is around empowering today's volunteers. Let's think of new ways to attract volunteers .

Bring your sack lunch and bring a friend; treat yourself to time to think about ways to strengthen your community organization.

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.

LeadershipPlenty

At the completion of our Study Circles and a 3-day LeadershipPlenty training workshop, Ann Olson, Dorothy Grove, Debbie Chapman and Marge Schoessler were ready to train, teach, and share this knowledge with the Ritzville community.

LeadershipPlenty® curriculum consists of nine modules that address primary civic skills that enable graduates to confidently identify problems in their communities and implement a plan of action to combat those problems.

To learn more about the content of individual LeadershipPlenty® modules, take a look at the module summaries outlined on the PEW web site at PEW Partnership

Study Circles

Study Circles are at the heart of a process for public dialogue and community change. This process begins with community organizing, and is followed by facilitated, small-group dialogue that leads to a range of outcomes. Study circles don't advocate a particular solution. Instead, they welcome many points of view around a shared concern. A study circle program...

• is organized by a diverse group of people from the whole community.
• includes a large number of people from all walks of life.
• has easy-to-use, fair-minded discussion materials.
• uses trained facilitators who reflect the community’s diversity.
• moves a community to action when the study circles conclude.

Ritzville's Horizons' group held Study Circles at City Hall over a period of several afternoons last February. We shared meals and great conversation. Several wonderful ideas for projects were identified, such as a community resource center open 24 hours a day/seven days a week, a mentoring program for teens, and a community garden for all ages. These ideas will be revisited during the Visioning phase of the Horizons project. It's not too late to get involved.

Visit StudyCircles.org for more information on how you can use Study Circles in your organization.

The Beginning of This Journey

An incredible opportunity for Ritzville is being provided by both the Horizons Program and Northwest Area Foundation.
The Horizons program is about the changes a community can make to move from poverty to hope, from population and economic decline to prosperity. This initiative is for rural communities of fewer than 5,000 and with poverty rates of at least 10 percent.

Open to all community members, Horizons focuses on practical strategies and tools. More specifically, it provides locally-delivered training, skill-building, and coaching to strengthen community leadership and civic engagement systems. Experience has shown that small communities can thrive if they have a strong leadership system.

Northwest Area Foundation identifies, shares and advocates "what’s working" to reduce poverty for the long term. Our foundation partners with select communities in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, providing technical assistance and financial resources through our Ventures, Horizons, and Connections programs. We also cooperate with other organizations and communities to gather and share practical knowledge.

For more information on how you can participate in upcoming leadership training opportunities, contact any of the team members. They will be happy to give you more details! Take a leap, jump on the bus, be a leader....join this Horizon's group.