Communities take on poverty this fall

Eden-Roslyn In Horizons Project

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September 3, 2008 | Marshall County Journal | Eden, South Dakota

From Harding County in the northwest to Gayville in the southeast, 15 South Dakota communities will take part in the third Horizons community development project starting in September.

The South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service will deliver the program to the communities over a 20-month period. The Northwest Area Foundation of St. Paul funds the project.

The project's aim is to reduce poverty and develop leadership in small rural communities in the upper Midwest. The communities selected have populations of 5,000 or less, and a poverty rate of 10 percent or more.

Each community will work with a coach during the four portions of the project, which focus on the development of Study Circles, Leadership Plenty sessions, Visioning and Strategic Planning processes, and seven months of executing a working action plan towards the community's goals.

The communities taking part in this round of the Horizons Project include Big Stone City, Box Elder, Eden/Roslyn, Flandreau, Gregory, Gayville/Volin, Greater Big Stone Lake area, which includes the towns of Corona, Wilmot, and lake residents, Harding County, Hill City, Hyde County, Kadoka, Kimball, Leola, and Reliance. In addition, a site on the Rosebud Indian Reservation will be part of the project.

Kari Fruechte is the Horizons Project director, and she says the focus is raising human capacity.

"We work hard to get a diverse group of people to identify issues in their community," she said. "Then we connect them to resources they need to succeed and overcome challenges and deal with issues."

Initial meetings in each community begin after Labor Day. For more information on the project, visit http://www.nwaf.org.

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