SHOP AT HOME UPATE - BR&E

“Shop at Home First”

September 6th Committee Meeting

The “Shop at Home First” Committee met at 6:30 pm in the Imperial City Offices located at 740 Court Street. In attendance were Janet Beck, Tony Cribelli, Merrilyn Leibbrandt, Russ Pankonin and Leslie Carlholm.
The first item on the committee agenda was to create a mission statement. The mission of the “Shop at Home First” Committee is to increase community awareness of the variety of items and services available locally while providing education on the benefits associated with doing business here at home.
The second item the committee addressed was to determine a slogan that would be used on lawn signs, posters, and weekly ads. The committee decided on the slogan: “Give Us a Shot; Shop at Home First” All printed materials need to include the following tagline: “This project is funded in part by a grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development administered by the Nebraska Rural Development Commission.”
The third item for discussion was the “Shop at Home First” Kick Off Event. The committee members will request that Perkins County, Imperial and Wauneta Chambers host the event and provide beverages and finger food. Business owners and managers will be approached face to face by committee members and/or volunteers to update them on the event and the upcoming “Shop at Home First" Promotion.
“Shop at Home First” Kick Off Event
Location: Open Country Adventures
Date: September 20th
Time: 6:00 PM
Agenda: 6 to 6:30 Social time – with food and beverages
6:30 Speaker – Doug Cunningham
Balance of evening:
­ Questions for Doug.
­ Brief overview of campaign
­ Networking time
The Store Posters were the fourth item of discussion. In the BECA grant we requested funding for bumper stickers, but the committee felt that store posters would be more appropriate. Ann Burge has been asked to inquire if we can redirect the dollars set aside for bumper stickers to the posters instead. All the posters would be printed with a common border and the campaign slogan on them. Some of the posters would be printed with general information relating the importance of shopping local. There would also be other posters available with just the border and the slogan which could be used to create business specific posters. One of the possible uses would be to print a comparative shopping list for customers to review.
Other discussion included the importance of thanking customers for their past and continuing patronage and making this promotion fun for both the businesses and the customers. To this end the committee will explore the option of hiding an object relating to shopping in each weeks advertisement. Readers who can find the hidden object could cut out the ad and enter it into a weekly drawing for $20 in Chamber Bucks.
The committee then reviewed the budget below. Committee members and volunteers should track the hours they invest in this effort as part of the chambers in-kind contribution.

The balance of the meeting was spent roughing out the 12 weeks newspaper ads. These ads should run the weeks of October 1st through December 20th. The meeting concluded at 8:30 PM.

Site Report September 2007

Progress and Outcomes

Steering Committee/Site Coordinator Level:


Entrepreneurship:
BR&E survey completed, reviewed preliminary results. Planning town hall meetings in October to share information for both counties.

Shop Local First Campaign will get kicked off Sept 20th. BECA grant helped with this effort. This is a multi-county effort.

Leadership:
Ann reported that the leadership class will begin around November 1st. Will not offer this class to high school students this year. Deb K. and Kim C. will be heading the leadership class this year. Hope to have at least 12 and no more than 20 participants. Some interest during BR&E surveys. Need buyin from businesses. Really focusing on identifying and training new local leaders.
Charitable Giving:

Perkins County – held Annual Meeting in August. Working toward raising $75,000 by Dec 1st for Hunt Challenge. Have about $50,000 gathered.

Chase County – Imperial CF raised over $150,000 cash to met the Hunt Challenge. It is complete thanks to Pinnacle Banks most recent $10,000 donation. Will hold a celebration sometime this fall.


Youth Engagement:

Perkins County – Perkins County Youth Council – 25 kids- have helped w/12 projects and they organized in March. A county wide youth service group. Freshman to seniors. Each senior will get a scholarship. Have to have good grades to participate, just like other school activities. Strongly supported by school. Will hold a kick-off dance in Sept to recruit more kids. Committee Structure.

Chase County – County extension educator, Kim Cook, hosting an after-school ESI 4-H curriculum for 5th graders in Sept and Oct for 2 hours each Tuesday.

Plan to have a joint county e-ship workshop for all high school kids to be held in Imperial, like last year but will include all hs kids, not just seniors and will have it earlier than April.

Other Key Outcomes:

The Perkins County Zoning Commission was represented by Chris L. and they would like to work with HTC to survey Perkins County in order to update their comprehensive plan. Surveys were discussed, questions, ideas shared and the Perkins County Youth Council could assist with the survey.

Site Issues and Observations

Ethanol Plant – producing
Bio-Diesel project – on track
Pipeline Progress – wants to buy water to pressure check line, asking Grant golf course to purchase water from them





Next Meeting:

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 in Imperial

Site report May 2007

Progress and Outcomes

Steering Committee/Site Coordinator Level:


Entrepreneurship:

BR&E surveys scheduled for July 23-25th. Wauneta – 23rd, Grant 24th, Imperial 25th,

Leadership:
April 17th – graduation Suggestion – not as many students next year, many no h.s. students
First Impressions – Ann and Jana have not nailed down any towns to participate yet. Will continue working on finding parallel communities to work with.
Charitable Giving:

Both ICF and PCCF working toward the Hunt Challenge Grant. ICF very close to completion, PCCF needs their first $75,000 by December 1st


Youth Engagement:

Perkins County Youth Council – doing community service projects, will probably slow down over summer

Chase County – working w/extension educator to use ESI curriculum and will talk to Matt Fisher, Supt at Imperial HS to get e-ship curriculum in school

Other Key Outcomes:

Jana asked if there were any areas of technical assistance that was needed for the Perkins-Chase HTC groups other than assistance to the Imperial Community Foundation and the Perkins County Community Foundation with meeting the Hunt Challenges. Nothing was mentioned.


Site Issues and Observations

Joe Morris resigned as Grant City Manager, City Council in turmoil
Tim Moore from Hospital
Ethanol plant – in start-up phase, aiming for August 1st to be up and running
(already proposing a second plant next to this one, beside expansion)



Next Meeting:

September 4, 2007 – Grant

9/3/2007 agenda

Agenda for Perkins/Chase Counties HTC Steering Committee

Sept 4, 2007

11:30 Welcome and Introductions


11:45 Update from Perkins County
Youth
E-Ship/Business
Philanthropy
Other pertinent information –
Perkins County Zoning Town Hall Meeting
Ethanol Plant Recruitment
Bio-Diesel Project
Pipeline Progress

12:05 Update from Chase County
Youth
E-ship/Business
Philanthropy
Other pertinent information –
Ethanol Plant Updates


12:25 BR&E survey & Shop Local First Campaign Update

12:55 Closing comments/thoughts