Leadership Plenty Trip to the Capital

Leadership Plenty Trip to the Capital
2-2-06

Approximately 47 members of Leadership Plenty Groups across the state met at the Capital in Lincoln on Thursday, February 2, 2006. There were Leadership Plenty groups from Butler, Seward-Polk, Thayer-Nuckolls, Perkins and Chase Counties. Those in attendance from the Perkins/Chase County group were Joe Morris, Shaun Meyer, Brian Long, Lisa Haskins, and Dave Vapenik. Instructors Dennis Kahl, Connie Francis & Phyllis Schoenholz were also in attendance, along with Ann Burge from SWNCBC.

Our tour started in the Warner Chamber, where we organized our groups for photos with Governor Dave Heineman. We were honored with a few minutes of Governor Heineman’s time as he spoke of the value of our small communities, and with pride the ‘best state to live in.’ He encouraged the Leadership Plenty classes in what we are trying to accomplish, as many small voices are powerful. We were given time to ask Governor Heineman questions. Topics of discussion that arose were regarding Homeland Security, terroristic threat, animal ID, methamphetamines, the Business Advantage Tier, and Governor Heineman’s perspective on Home Health Care.

We then were allowed to view the Unicameral in action.

We then gathered for a session with Laverne Barrett, who spoke on ‘What’s Beyond Leadership Plenty’, and left us with two very good points: 1) ‘If what you are proposing is quality, it shouldn’t be a problem’, and 2) ‘You don’t have a right to criticize if you won’t get involved’.

We ate lunch with our Area Senators: Baker, Combs, Stuhr, Kremer, and Langemeier. There is great concern about the 36 Senators that will term out in the next 2 years.

We met Dorothy Anderson, who is the Constituent Services Director and has been with Senator Hagel since 1997, and Josh Moening, who is a Field Representative for Congressman Jeff Fortenberry.

We then had the chance to tour the Capital.

Our next Leadership Plenty Session will be held in Imperial on February 28, 2006, where our group will graduate from the Leadership Plenty Class.

Perkins County High School Survey Complete

The Perkins County Schools used a web service called Zoomerang to conduct the Youth Committee's survey. 135 responses came back which has to be close to 100%. The results have been downloaded to an Excel Spreadsheet and printed copies are available.

Here are the results of the question " What would you like to see change to make Perkins County a more desirable place to live/return to?"

A big population growth and more stored and paved roads put in
A growing community with people coming into the area instead of leaving.
A large business coming into Perkins County that could bring lots of jobs, and make Perkins County more noticeable.
An addition of businesses that would bolster the local economy and give alum a reason to return and other people a reason to move in.
An increase in business and stores so people wouldn’t have to go long distances to get their supplies.
Better convince for shopping and getting supplies.
Better jobs
Better maintained country roads
Get a fast food chain, like a McDonald’s; I think the double cheeseburger on the dollar menu was the best move they ever made.
Change the Electric Taxes.
Getting more businesses around, and getting more interest in grant for more population.
Have more places to hang out for kids
Have more technology and businesses that people will enjoy
I don't any ideas to make PC a more desirable place.
I don’t know I’ve only lived here for not too long.
I guess just the population needs to grow. I don't like the landscape but you can't change that.
I personally would like to see Perkins County to be bigger. More people to come to this area.
I think having more kid friendly and be able to do lots of stuff then driving around town.
I think it needs to be less crime, drugs, and alcohol. It might also need some cleaning up.
I think that having more businesses with more job opportunities would make it better.
I think that if we brought more of a variety of business to town, we could gain more population.
I think that it would have to gain businesses and population.
I think that Perkins County needs to have a few more places or entertainment, and a lot of the professions that myself and my friends are going into don’t have jobs around Perkins county.
I think that there needs to be more things to do. There's not a whole lot going on in this area.
I think that there should be some bigger businesses. They would bring more people to Perkins County
I think they should have more interesting things to do here in Grant, like better stores and a better, cleaner park. Maybe expand on their services.
I think to make Perkins county a more popular place to live, it would be nice to get more businesses in Grant that a lot of people will like to go to.
I think we should find something else for teens to do. The closest place to go for entertainment is 20 miles away, which could become unsafe.
I would add more lively events for younger people, and give more young family opportunities.
I would find Perkins County more desirable place to live, if it was a bigger communities, and had more opportunities.
I would have more places that people would be attracted to coming to. I would have more businesses or fun activities that people could go to.
I would like it to have more job offerings, and a lot more people to come to Perkins county and live here.
I would like the county to acquire more businesses and more job opportunities.
I would like the houses to be cleaned up and looking nice so people were more interested in living here.
I would like to get bigger and get some fast food places and other stores.
I would like to have Better Opportunities, More People, and Bigger Stores, More fun things for kids.
I would like to see a bigger future for Perkins County
I would like to see a recreational center for the youth. Also if there was more businesses to bring in more people to this town.
I would like to see a way to get more people into the area. To get jobs that most people are interested in.
I would like to see a wider range of job opportunities, and then I would probably return to Perkins County.
I would like to see bigger businesses come and have more things to do. So more people would move here
I would like to see it gain more businesses and when new businesses do come, I want them to be able to maintain the business. I would like to see more job opportunities.
I would like to see more attractions for younger citizens to move to Perkins County.
I would like to see more business and job opportunities
I would like to see more businesses and a few more people living here.
I would like to see more businesses brought in that would help the economy. These businesses should, although, bring in good types of persons.
I would like to see more businesses come in to the area.
I would like to see more businesses coming to Perkins County. I would also like to get more of a nicer lifestyle in Perkins County.
I would like to see more businesses; mainly restaurants because I think that will make people want to come back.
I would like to see more job opportunities for people.
I would like to see more opportunities for teenagers to be active in ways other than sports.
I would like to see more people coming to Perkins County. I would also like to see a growth in businesses in the area.
I would like to see more people involved in the churches and organizations.
I would like to see more small organizations and businesses. I would also like to see more entertainment.
I would like to see Perkins County become a bigger economic opportunity. My plans for the future don't correspond with the small town.
I would like to see Perkins County get bigger and attract more people
I would like to see Perkins County grow in the business part to bring more people in to live.
I would like to see Perkins County have an increase in its youth population, also maybe a clothing store or something. I would like to see this county be not so isolated.
I would like too see it become more technology based
I would love to see more people move in and that means more business needs to be brought o the area.
I would probably like to see more places for kids to hang out. More places to go and have fun.
I would want more stores. More things to do.
I'd like the population to go up, and gain more businesses, and opportunities.
I'd like to see a few more people and businesses come into Perkins County.
If I could change one this it would be something to do like build somewhere to go
If I wanted to see Perkins county change by putting in more businesses that could help other out in getting jobs. That don’t require a high school diploma.
If it had more opportunities for people. Also if their was more businesses like stores around.
It already is desirable it just doesn’t have very many opportunities that aren’t ag related. I love the environment but the economy is low. The people are awesome, the society isn’t I guess.
It is a great place to come back to when you want to raise a family, but until you have a family, it is boring and small. We need more things for kids to do.
It is a small, nice community. Everyone is kind and enjoyable to be around. You can escape from the real world, and the big city crowds, and make your own path out here. It is also a good community to raise children in.
It would be nice if there were more stores and opportunities to get jobs and have fun.
Make it so that there is more money involved in farming.
Maybe a Fast Food chain like McDonalds
Maybe the possibility of more businesses being opened. Also more recreational places that people can go to do fun stuff.
More Business opportunity, Younger population.
More businesses in the community and living area would probably make the community more desirable.
More businesses need to open including some kind of recreation we don't even have a theater. No one moves in, no new businesses, no real point to return except to stay in the same place.
More businesses to make availability of goods and opportunities more likely. Also, have some career options and prepare those who are not going to be involved in Agriculture.
More choices of schooling bigger businesses less meat products more veggies and greens
More economic/social opportunities for young people.
More fast food restaurants, more housing and more businesses.
More food places maybe and somewhere where teens can go and shop or just hang out.
More job Opportunities. More stores and things
More jobs and different activities to do
More of a younger community with younger families.
More opportunities for people to get jobs after school and be able to support a family after they return.
More opportunities such as more small businesses
More or better housing and more services
More people coming to the town and more business growing as well.
More people would have to move to Perkins County for the town to survive. The school has already had to combine with another town. This prob. will happen again later on in life. People need to help their community grow as one.
More places open later for the younger crowd because everything closes around 10 now
More recreational places for entertainment.
More social opportunities
More Stores
More stores that are closer than Ogallala or North Platte
No because the economy of Perkins County is fine the way it is.
Nothing I feel its fine, I just would like to see the world
One younger people. Two more stores so we don’t have to travel to get things
Open more businesses though we may lose these in the future it may bring more people in and one day we may be gaining ground.
Opportunities
People need to move back to Perkins County and open new business that hopefully might help tourism. Fuel prices need to go down so that farmers can afford to farm.
Perkins County needs to add a few more stores like a Wall Mart or something more fun for people to do.
Perkins County needs to establish more places for its youth to go and hang out.
Recreation, water,
Some how make Perkins county a more reliable place to get good and necessities rather than traveling to larger towns.
Start adding more businesses and bring in more job offers and more homes
Take down some of the old houses that nobody lives in. Clean up some of the areas in this town so it doesn't look so trashy.
The addition of some large businesses.
The scenery and landscape around Perkins county is not desirable, and that cannot be changed. I would like to live in a place with mountains and trials and bike paths, rather than flat country roads.
There could be more businesses and places to work. For high school students to work.
There is no way I could make Perkins County more "desirable" without changing the entire look of the community, and I wouldn't want to do that. I like our community the way it is.
Their needs to be more attractions, like shopping options and sports like softball and baseball in school. There are also not many places for people to eat.
Their needs to be more business, like places to eat, or gather, and more shopping in the surrounding area. There is not much to bring kids back here to raise their own families.
Their needs to be more jobs so people would even consider living here.
This county needs more outside of school activities for teenagers. This community also needs to be more open to the idea of letting outside people from other communities start new businesses here.
To be more things to do in Elsie or in Madrid
To maybe have more entertainment and to open back up the bowling alley.
We need more businesses to provide clothing and other services, in order to have people come into the area. The just isn't enough and gas prices keep rising.
We need more opportunities for jobs and more organizations to support our community.
We need to better business and also we need to get a better school system, we also may need to get a clothing store or something like that.
We need to have more businesses and opportunities to bring people to the area.
Well I actually think it’s a perfect county. So I wouldn’t like to see anything change.Yes there should be change to make it a more desirable place to live because it’s not really all that desirable to live in now.

Leadership Plenty ' Moving talk to action'

The Leadership Plenty Class met for session No. 8 on January 24th, at the Lied Library in Imperial, NE.

The speaker was Dennis Kahl from the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative, Lincoln. Dennis was also our speaker on December 13th for session No. 6 on ‘Building Strategic Partners.’


The topic of discussion for this session was ‘Moving from Talk to Action.’

‘Moving from Talk to Action’ sounds pretty self-explanatory, but not as easy as it sounds.

Throughout our Leadership Plenty Class we have tried to pinpoint the things in our communities that would encourage growth. We have brainstormed about the general things that we can do to make our communities more attractive to people. We have even looked at the different things in our community that we could change, and figured out WHO could be involved in those changes. But to actually draw up an ACTION plan, that is a different story…

I don’t have to explain this to anyone who has tried to head a community project that had every good intention, but slowly dissipated. Dennis explained that the hardest part of reaching a goal is to actually come up with a detailed plan of action.

Dennis discussed the 3 phases of ‘Moving from Talk to Action.’

‘Phase One: Finding a Starting Point. Phase One involves describing the current situation and the factors contributing to it and deciding, what needs changed? Then, identifying the core values and principles that will guide the group’s work and deciding, what matters most? Then, creating a long term vision describing how the situation ought to be in your community in regards to the issue you are addressing. What should the long term results be?’

‘Phase Two: Mapping the Journey. Phase Two involves research and collecting information about what works. What have other communities done in similar challenges? What works to address this issue? What are effective strategies? Next, build relationships. Who needs to be included in your efforts? In determining who need to be involved, look at who will be most affected by the issue and give them a voice in the issue. We then need to decide what groups or individuals are needed to design and implement the solution. The next step is determining who will do what and when, in other words, define responsibilities and time frames. Part of the research also includes identifying which organizations provide financial support for this type of work. The last part of phase two is to set a time line, establishing interim goals to track progress.’

‘Phase Three: Revising the Course En Route. Phase Three explains the importance of celebrating successes and accomplishments as the project moves along, to sustain and build momentum. At this point, it is also important to put an evaluation of the project in place. With evaluation, you can determine effectiveness and make changes to your Action Plan. This allows the project to continue to be molded and shaped to work for everyone.’

There continues to be some of the same topics coming up within our particular group, such as: Making our communities attractive to young people & the need to reverse rural to urban migration. These topics are easy to write and say, but they involve so much more. The statements are very broad. What we are doing now is trying to determine WHAT would make our community more attractive and HOW do we reverse rural to urban migration?

Leadership Plenty was developed by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and is sponsored locally by the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative, Southwest Nebraska Community Betterment Corporation, City of Grant, and City of Imperial.”

The next Leadership Plenty Class will be on February 28th and the Lied Imperial Public Library.

Article submitted by Shaun Meyer.