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The Conscious Community
Helping Idaho THRIVE in a current of
change
A community can be sustainable over the long term only if it is not
degrading its environment or using up finite resources &
Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
--Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance
by Mary Ann Reese
Idaho was the nation’s third-fastest growing state between 2004 and 2005. Its population increased by almost half (41 percent) in 15 years—1990 to 2005—to more than 1.4 million residents. By 2050 Idaho’s urban area is projected to double and suburban development will quadruple, resulting in losses of an estimated 4.5 million acres of ranch, farm, and open-space land.
Not all communities are growing. Many have stable or declining populations but face considerable challenges related to economic and social change. Community leaders need skills and knowledge to adapt to and manage this change in ways that preserve Idaho’s rich cultural and natural resources. These are among reasons why UI President Tim White, in summer 2006, committed $1.6 million over the next five years to fund a university-wide Building Sustainable Communities Initiative.
In early 2007, a 28-member all-university team will launch:
(1) the Bioregional Planning and Community Design Academic Program, an interdisciplinary graduate degree involving UI Extension, seven colleges, and nine departments;
(2) the Learning and Practice Collaborative linking Idaho communities and agencies with faculty and students in the graduate program; and
(3) the Center for Effective Planning and Governance, a professional development program delivering non-credit training in sustainable development and management to local elected officials statewide.
The academic program is unique in the nation because it will follow watersheds and ecosystems rather than political boundaries.
“It’s very exciting,” says UI College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Dean John Hammel. “This is a pioneering effort. In support, we’re funding a new faculty position, and so are two other colleges.”
From mud bog competitions in Elk River to balloon-lined
parades in Kamiah, celebrations reflect small town prides, Pierce Gem Team (above)
poses on bleachers that they help save at their town center. Below, mayor Jim
Martin and dog ride in Elk River Days parade.
A key partner in the university-wide program is UI Extension, whose own community development team has matured from 8 to 18 faculty members since 2002 (see Charlotte Eberlein's letter). Eight stories listed under "Cover Stories" at left show the breadth of UI Extension efforts to help Idaho communities. 4-H leaders are filling a need for schools forced into four-day schedules. Community development team members have pulled together data on trends since the 1970s for each Idaho county. They offer leadership and entrepreneurship training. More than $1 million in grants from the Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF) will benefit 14 Idaho communities from Bonners Ferry to Cascade during the next 18 months.
UI Extension is an “especially valuable partner because of its history of living in and working with 42 of Idaho’s 44 counties,” says Steve Drown, head of the UI’s landscape architecture department. He is leading the university-wide initiative with Steve Hollenhorst, head of conservation social sciences.
Listening: A first UI step to more holistic help for Idaho towns
By late October 2006, UI Extension community development team members, working with faculty and students from most of the UI’s colleges, already had staged listening sessions in eight towns across Idaho.
From north to south—in Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene, Worley, Plummer, Lewiston, McCall, Marsing, Twin Falls, and Burley—UI teams took notes while county commissioners, economic development specialists, educators, legislators, mayors, and citizens drew timelines on charts, documenting which events in the past 50 years had the greatest impacts on their towns.
Marsing participants, including ranchers, cited these issues: Interstate 84 meant people were more likely to shop in Boise, hurting local shops; schools consolidated, children were bussed out of town. The post office—where people used to meet—closed.
So did town cafes. Ranchers could no longer afford to hire help; husbands and wives worked off the ranches to make ends meet. Some ranchers face selling land or becoming developers, unable to make it in ranching.
After listening, “You realize people look for quality of life that goes beyond money in the bank. It has so much to do with neighbors, with having a community,” said Drown.
Comments from all eight listening sessions are still being analyzed at our deadline, but already community needs are on the minds of initiative leaders.
“We are hearing primary and adult education is needed. So is distance education,” said Lorie Higgins, one of UI Extension’s veteran community development educators and one of six UI Extension faculty on the UI initiative.
“Developing leadership capacity and helping people work better together are issues. We know we need to think more broadly in building partnerships, so we can be sure to link communities to resources they need,” added Higgins.
The good news is UI Extension’s team already has some recent successes to draw on, none more effective than the Horizons program.
Community coaching: Horizons grants tackle leadership, poverty
Literally dozens of federal, state, and private agencies offer help for struggling communities. But other issues get in the way. “Primarily we aid communities by helping them learn how to work together.
If they can’t do that, all the grant programs in the world won’t save them,” says Higgins, who, with Priscilla Salant, led the first phase of Horizons in 2004 to 2005.
She worked closely with Ken Cohen, then a UI graduate student and coach for the first three Horizons communities—Kamiah, Elk River, and Orofino. UI Extension’s Mary Schmidt and Kathee Tifft gave leadership training in Kamiah, Orofino, Pierce, and Weippe.
The Northwest Area Foundation, which serves eight states including Idaho, has invested $150 million in community-based poverty-reduction programs since 1999, and it plans to invest another $50 million during the next three years.
Its Horizons grants help rural communities with populations of less than 5,000 residents to develop and support a broad base of leaders. The goals: To halt population and economic decline, create a promising future, and reduce poverty. For more about how they work, including results from Idaho towns, see www.nwaf.org, and select Programs/Horizons.
Intensive and delivered locally, Horizons efforts rely on community coaches—in northern Idaho they’re hired by UI Extension and Community Action Partnership-to bring in knowledge, training, and support. “We bring resources right into the community, helping people build the skills, connections, and confidence they need to turn their communities around,” said Salant, who oversees the second phase of Horizons and serves as UI's coordinator for outreach and engagement. “Horizons also offers a great opportunity for UI students and faculty to engage with communities,” adds Schmidt, Horizons project director.
It works. Just ask participants in Elk River, Kamiah, Orofino, Pierce, and Weippe.
Successes in five Idaho towns
All five towns now have organized so club, church, school, and civic leaders meet regularly to share goals and strategies and trade resources. They all have economic development plans and are implementing them. Many individual Horizons participants ran for local office, and won!
Northern Idaho's Elk River (pop. 142) has a website marketing itself as a recreational hub, and since the town has no newspaper, a newsletter goes out with water bills. One town group is seeking funds for a van and driver to ferry ailing seniors in several neighboring towns to medical help in Moscow and Pullman. A new USDA Forest Service kiosk at the Elk River Falls trailhead will encourage visitors to linger and spend more in Elk River.
Kamiah (pop. 1,148) has found ways to keep the town pool open in summers and has hired grant writer Debbie Evans, who already brought in monies to restore Victorian downtown murals and add a bandstand to its Clearwater River park. Area schools are getting annual help, thanks to Nez Perce tribal leaders committing 5 percent of casino earnings to their schools. That was thanks to John Strombeck, who ran for tribal treasurer after sitting in on Horizons leadership sessions. “I think what I learned there helped me decide to run for tribal council. It gave me more confidence and guidance.”
Pierce (pop. 551) lost residents after its mill closed in 2000. Horizons helped residents find their heart again. This summer, citizens rebuilt rotting bleachers by the town ballpark-the town’s hub. They also cleaned up a fishing pond, negotiated with Idaho Fish and Game to stock it, and are working together to revitalize their town center.
The “Good Morning Orofino” network meets monthly so civic groups can help each other achieve their goals; a youth center opened with help from UI Extension.
Why did Horizons training work so well? Cohen, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on his Horizons coaching, sees it as an example of land-grant university extension systems re-envisioning their approach to community development efforts. “There is a shift from knowledge delivery, where extension personnel deliver programming, to a collaborative community capacity-building approach, where extension personnel co-generate programming with participants,” Cohen says. It’s tough, and requires perseverance and special skills.
Tony Delphous, whose family runs the Elk River Lodge and store, praises Higgins and Cohen. As a result of their Horizons training, “We’ve stopped our bickering and learned how powerful it is to work together on common goals,” she says. But also important, in her view, is Higgins’ and Cohen’s dedication-faithfully driving the 106 miles roundtrip from Moscow throughout 18 months of workshops.
“We can’t even get beer, Pepsi, or Coke delivered here,” laughs Delphous. “We have to drive to Deary (27 miles) to get those supplies. But Lorie and Ken came HERE every month. That really made the difference. They came to us. If they could come, the least we could do is show up. They gave us hope.”
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