Pillars Update 1/24/2007

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Pillars
The HomeTown Competitiveness Newsletter
January/February 2007


Success Stories

Butler County Moves Forward with Inter-local Agreement– The governing board of the newly developed Butler County Development Board held its first joint meeting in mid December. This board is comprised of representatives from city and county government, the Butler County Development Alliance, David City Area Chamber of Commerce and the HTC Steering Committee. This agreement marks unprecedented cooperation in the county in bringing the various stakeholders together in a shared development vision for the area. The development plan put together by this group recognizes the elements of HTC as foundational to economic development and shows a balanced focus between local development and appropriate levels of business attraction. To learn more about this agreement, read the news article at www.htcnebraska.org/files/BCInterlocal 1-4-07.pdf.

Cambridge Works Towards Phase 2– After wrapping up Phase 1 of HTC last fall, the community of Cambridge is making plans for Phase 2 engagement. The Steering Committee and HTC team set several priorities for Phase 2, including local business development, development opportunities with the new ethanol plant, and youth and young adult opportunities. The Steering Committee is preparing reports and presentations for the community with the hope of creating a broader base for the HTC working groups. For more information on Cambridge’s plans as they move forward to Phase 2, contact HTC Site Coach Don Macke at (402)323-7339 or don@ruraleship.org.

Read other community success stories at www.htcnebraska.org/success.

HTC in the News

America the Creative– In an article published in The Economist, Chuck Hassebrook, Director of the Center for Rural Affairs, offers suggestions for alternative funding sources for rural communities. In the article, Chuck proposes that the federal government shave 5% off its enormous farm-subsidy program—which goes mostly to mega-farms—and give it to small businesses. “You could quadruple what the federal government spends on entrepreneurial rural development,” he says. Chuck also highlights local philanthropy as a valid option for rural towns. Read more creative ideas coming from rural America in the article at http://www.htcnebraska.org/files/The Economist-Reviving small towns.pdf.

There's no business like Girl Scout business- Girl Scout Troop 288 of Ord was recently highlighted in the LEADER, the national Girl Scout magazine. These sixth graders were highlighted for their entrepreneurship project that resulted in nearly 200 products sold and more than $400 in sales. Read the article from the LEADER at http://www.htcnebraska.org/files/GirlScoutsLEADER12-06.pdf.

HTC Hosts National Academy– Thirty participants from 10 states attended the fourth annual national HTC Academy, held in Lincoln, Nebraska, in January. The HTC Academy is a three-day, intensive overview of the HTC framework for community building. The curriculum includes an overview, half-day sessions on each of the four HTC pillars, and a short “back home” planning session. This year’s participants included two community teams from Nebraska and participants representing rural community development agencies from eight other states and the District of Columbia.

Upcoming Trainings and Conferences

Rural Philanthropy Conference– The Nebraska Community Foundation invites you to the inaugural Rural Philanthropy Conference: Using the Transfer of Wealth to Build Your Community Foundation. The conference is February 7-9, 2007 in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It is designed to offer individuals building charitable assets a chance to learn about the importance of intergenerational transfer of wealth and to see how a grassroots strategy to motivate donors to give back is being implemented in Nebraska and other states. To learn more, visit http://www.nebcommfound.org/RP-TOW.htm.

MarketPlace: Opening Doors to Success– The Center for Rural Affairs is very excited to be offering a new kind of one-day event in Nebraska, MarketPlace: Opening Doors to Success. Small business development drives job growth and economic development in rural areas. The conference will offer training, networking, and professional development opportunities for startup and existing small businesses, service providers, rural communities, and family farmers and ranchers. For more information, visit http://www.marketplacenebraska.org/.

New on the Web

The HTC website offers background information on HTC, its partners, and its sites, as well as highlighting success stories and recent news. View the site at http://www.htcnebraska.org. The website offers a log-in feature for those directly involved in HTC efforts (sites, coaches, resource team members).

Features to Check Out on the HTC Website:
Community Success Stories– http://www.htcnebraska.org/success
HTC News– http://www.htcnebraska.org/news
HTC Events Calendar– http://www.htcnebraska.org/events

Best Practices
HTC Shares Accomplishments– For the reporting period ending December 31, 2006, the HTC Collaborative submitted a report of activities and accomplishments to CFED. Some of the most notable achievements include: two communities engaging in Phase 1 work and another moving forward with Phase 2; an HTC Field Day was held and attended by over 90 people, and an HTC Champions session was facilitated by Dr. Richard Foster of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Read the Executive Summary at www.htcnebraska.org/files/CFED1-07.pdf.

David City Celebrates 2006– In Butler County, the HTC community of David City hosted a celebratory evening as the David City Chamber of Commerce held its annual banquet. At the banquet, the David City Area Foundation made eight grants and highlighted accomplishments of past grant recipients. The joint celebration of the Chamber and DCAF also included a keynote speech by Jeff Yost, President of the Nebraska Community Foundation. Yost encouraged the attendees to plan gifts for their hometown’s future. In addition to Yost’s comments, Pat Hilderbrand stepped into the role of Chamber president and remarked on the accomplishments of 2006 and challenged the audience to “step out of the box and become involved.” The evening’s activities and celebration were a great recognition of the hard work of Butler County residents in creating a positive future for their hometowns. Read the news articles on the event at www.htcnebraska.org/files/BCChamberDCAFevent1-18-07.pdf.

Hunt Challenge Grants Generate Fundraising Activity in HTC Communities – Four HTC communities in Nebraska are currently raising funds to match $50,000 Challenge Grants issued by the late Robert and Jeanette Hunt of Blair. The Hunts were founders of Great Plains Communications, a telephone company that now serves 76 communities in rural Nebraska. The purpose of the Challenge is to build endowments of $200,000, each of which will provide annual earnings to support HTC activities. If the community can raise $150,000 within 3 years, the Hunt Family will match it with $50,000.
Imperial (started January 2006) — The Imperial Community Foundation volunteers raised over $122,000 in cash in the past year toward their $150,000 goal. After they reached their initial $75,000 benchmark in August, representatives of the Hunt family awarded them a $25,000 check. They will begin making grants in the fall of 2007.
Perkins County (started March 2006) — The Perkins County Community Foundation (Grant, Nebraska) has raised $40,000 in cash and pledges. They have had a number of small donations and have hosted a number of community-wide fundraising events. They are concentrating on specific donor visitations in hopes of receiving a couple of larger donations to help them achieve their goal. NCF development staff will be making visits with the fund advisory committee in the next two months.
Wausa (started August 2006) — Wausa Community Foundation has raised $49,500 in cash and an additional $25,000 in pledges toward their initial goal of raising $75,000 in the first year.
Creighton (started January 2006) — Creighton Community Foundation’s strategy was to reach their goal with a “founder’s club” of at least 75 donors at $1,000 each. They have raised $36,689 in cash and have $3,250 in pledges toward their $75,000 goal. They have also confirmed $70,000 in new expectancies from planned gifts since the Hunt Challenge was issued, plus two new scholarship funds have been established totaling $15,000.

Read more on how these communities worked toward their goals at www.htcnebraska.org/files/Hunt.pdf.

HomeTown Competitiveness- A Come Back/Give Back Approach to Rural Community Building
650 J Street, Suite 305 * PO Box 83107 * Lincoln, NE 68501
www.htcnebraska.org

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Lisa Heinert
HTC Coordinator
P.O. Box 83107, Lincoln, NE 68501
Voice: (402)323-7345; Fax: (402)323-7349
lisaheinert@nebcommfound.org
www.htcnebraska.org


~But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint us~