Chase and Perkins County HTC Team

Entrepreneurship Investigation Camp Update 3-10-08

2008-03-10T10:11:00.000-06:00

Attached is the proposed ESI Camp curriculum for your review. I have also attached a copy of the January meeting minutes for those who may not have received it previously.

Please take a look at our ESI Camp distribution list and let us know if we have inadvertently omitted anyone.

The next step will be for the PowerPoint committee to compete the presentation for the schools. We should try and have this completed in the next couple of weeks.

Have a good week.

Leslie

Entrepreneurship Investigation Camp Meeting

January 29, 2008

Target Audience

§ Next year’s (2008-2009 School Year) 6^th 7^th and 8^th graders

§ 12-15 youth (6 or 7 from each county)

§ Can work individually or in a team

§ Start with Chase/Perkins to fill class, if need can advertise beyond county

Marketing Plan

Power point presentation in schools

Work with schools to get the grades come together for a short presentation

Dates

July 7-11, 2008

8:30-12:30

Snack and Games around 10:00

Loans/Funding

Possibly LB40

Banks

Parents

Registration cost of $15.00

Application

Have an application that kid use to apply for the camp. On the application include an area for kids to write about their business idea

Location

Imperial in 2008

If the camp goes over well and we want to hold a second year the next camp will be in Grant.

Amy and Debbie will work together to transport from Perkins County to Imperial

Mentors (Business Support for Youth)

Need to find people to help as a business mentor

Have those people help with camp in some sort of way and be available to help youth with their business following the camp.

Committees

Class Structure – Leslie, Kimberly, Amy, Val

Marketing/Application – Brenda, Debbie, Amy

Mentor & Tech Support (Support System) – Jo, Tim Moore, Shaun Meyer

Games/Snacks – Kimberly & Debbie

Email Address

Kimberly Cook kcook2@unl.edu

Debbie Kuenning dkuenning2@unl.edu

Shawn Stutzman shawnstutz@chase3000.com

Jo Leyland jol@imperial-ne.com

Amy Thelander communitydev@gpcom.net

Leslie Carlholm lesliec@imperial-ne.com

Class Schedule

Have done by March 1^stand ready for next meeting.

Youth Council

Involve Chase & Perkin’s County Youth Council in camp.

Next Meeting

March 4, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. MT in Grant at Amy’s office

What is an Entrepreneur?

Cover Definition of Entrepreneur

Edwin Perkins Story

Kool-Aid Story Questions 1-6

Provide list of local entrepreneurs Questions 1-5

Ask Marcy Nesbitt (M&M Jazz) to speak during the snack period

Playing the Part

Dress like a pro (1,2 and 3) – Use clothing cutouts to emphasize different dress codes

Think Positive Questions 1-4 and 7-10

Acting the Part – Have kids draw cards depicting different comments and behaviors and let the group determine which are professional.

Staying in Business and Out of Court

Provide handout with the protection marks and corresponding definitions

Bring in items and have students look for and identify protection marks.

Provide handout for Pay My Uncle Sam Step 2 #1-6

Provide list of mentors and their contact information

Leader of the Pack (legal structures)

Building Your Reputation

Provide a handout with a list of personal values.

Where do you stand?

This I believe

Building you reputation

Go over Monday’s Homework

Draft Mission Statement

Activity 1: Your Personality DNA

Provide list of examples from Activity 2

Participants need to complete mission statement for their business.

Draft Goals and Objectives for Business (Maximum 3 goals)

Format:

Goal______

Objective _______

Goal______

Objective _______

Who is the Intended Target?

Introduction

Activity 3: The Customer Profile

Activity 4: Who is YOUR Customer, really?

Packaging & Product Investigation

Activity 1: Bring in a variety of products for students to examine.

Activity2: Investigating Your Products or Service

Who is the Intended Target?

Activity 1: Who is the Target Market?

Provide handout of questions 1-7 for participants to fill out while watching TV

Packaging & Product Investigation

Activity 3: Packaging a Product Prototype

Participants should start designing their prototype packaging.

Participants share information gleaned from homework activities

A Thorough Sweep of the Competition

Activity 1: A Thorough Sweep of the Competition

Products at All Costs:

Activity 1: The Price Puzzle

Activity 2: Buy My Products

Activity 3: Calculating the Selling Price

The Clues are Everywhere

Activity 1: Name that Business

Activity 2: Community Recognition

Activity 3: Business Name, Slogan and Logo

Finish Business Slogan and Logo

Continue designing packaging prototype

Participants share their Business Slogans and Logos.

The Advertising Detective

Activity 1: The Advertising Detective – Bring in example ads (18-3) for participants to evaluate.

Activity 3: Word up!

Activity 4: Don’t Always Pay for What You Get

Participants need to write a press release for their business.

We’ll Keep in Touch

Activity 1: Keep Your Customers Coming Back

Questions 1-3 & 6

Participants will work on their individual business plans. Worksheets will be provided to determine:

§ Start up costs

§ Operating Expenses

§ Costs of Goods or Services Sold

§ Balance Sheets

§ Cash Flows

§ Pricing

We’ll Keep in Touch

Activity 2: We’ll Keep in Touch (Advertising Campaign)

Participants need to complete one type of advertisement material for their business.

Participants will share their advertisements with the group.

Participants will need to finish the financial worksheets for their business plans.

Participants will present their business plans to loan officers.

Red Carpet Training

2008-03-05T12:53:00.002-07:00

http://ruralinitiative.nebraska.edu/development/tourism/red_carpet.html

Perkins County Red Carpet Training will be March 27th and April 3rd at the Midwest Electric Community Room from 6:00PM to 8:30PM

March 26 / April 2 - Chase County (Imperial)

Entrepreneurship Investigation Camp

2008-01-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

We are planning to hold a dual county ESI Camp next summer targeting 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who have a business idea and would like to put together their business plan and conduct product or service testing before launching their businesses.
This camp would be higher level of entrepreneurship training similar to a mini-EDGE class. We hope to develop an ongoing relationship with the camp participants as they start their businesses and develop a mentoring and technical resource support system for them.
If any of you would be interested in participating in planning and conducting this camp and/or becoming part of the mentoring support system, we are meeting on January 29th in the Lied Imperial Public Library meeting room at 10 AM. The meeting is anticipated to last 1 1/2 hours.
The meeting agenda is attached.

Entrepreneurship Investigation Camp
Lied Imperial Public Library
January 29, 2008
10 AM

Agenda

1. Determine Marketing Plan
a. Outside Dual County Area?
b. In Chase and Perkins Counties Schools?
2. Dates
3. Class Structure
a. Number of Days?
b. Hours per Day?
c. Application form with Busyness Idea?
d. Games?
4. Location(s)
5. Transportation of Students (if one location)
6. Snacks
7. Entrepreneur/Business Mentors & Technical Support System
8. Determine Subcommittees
9. Set date for next meeting

HUNT CHALLENGE UPDATE

2008-01-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

HTC Communities Excel at Building Endowments—The Hunt family (owners of Great Plains Communications) has made $50,000 challenge grants to six of the communities their company serves. The purpose is to build an endowment to support HTC type activities (supporting youth, leadership, entrepreneurship and philanthropic giving). The terms of the challenges are a three to one match and a series of six benchmark goals.

· Imperial has cleared the sixth benchmark, raising $150,000, which the Hunt family matched with $50,000 for a total of $200,000 for their endowment, just 16 months into the fundraising campaign.

· Creighton has cleared the second benchmark, raising a total of $120,000 including the Hunt challenge grant.

· Wausa has cleared the second benchmark, raising a grand total of $132,000.

· Perkins County has cleared the first benchmark, raising a grand total of $100,000.

Congratulations to these HTC communities for their philanthropic success!

Business Transition (Succession) at the Imperial Inn on January 29, 2008 at 6:30 PM

2008-01-23T17:42:00.001-07:00

Dana Beck of the Center for Rural Affairs presented a power point display on creating a plan of succession for businesses. A plan keeps the business open and growing in small towns, she stated. (Republican photo)

By Carolyn Lee
The Imperial Republican
About 30 people attended a meeting concerning the transition of business ownership Tuesday night in Imperial. "Planning for Business Success" was sponsored locally by banks in the area, BW Telcom and Farm Credit Services of America in Imperial.
A presentation on the Rural Enterprise Assistance Project, or REAP, was the main focus of the evening.
Sponsored by the Center for Rural Affairs, REAP consists of the elements of networking, business management training, credit and technical assistance.
As representatives of businesses from Grant, Wauneta, Imperial and Benkelman listened, Tara Hosick of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development explained that when a Business Expansion and Recruitment survey was made in Chase and Perkins Counties recently, the main concern was the transition of ownership of businesses.
She said the concern was not just for the critical needs of the business, but also for the aging population in small communities. "What do you do about a business before you just close it?" she questioned, so that a community doesn't lose that business.
Randy Raile of BW Telcom of Benkelman said his family's fourth generation business is a case in point.
In 1989 his parents, the owners of BW Telcom at the time, were killed in an auto accident. There was no plan of succession in place, and not much estate planning.
Although he was able to take over operations, Raile said that under other circumstances, "the people you might want to sell to might not have the same morals and values." Small business is the character of little communities, he noted.
Sometimes it's better to have a business successor from within the community.
"Find an individual and teach them how to run the business," he urged.
How do you retain those individuals? Raile said a good pension plan and split-dollar life insurance to ensure longevity are the answer.
He also suggested a business evaluation for the true value every 10 years or so for IRS records, life insurance on the key business person to pay down taxes, and "last to die" insurance, for the health of the business concerned.
Dana Beck of the Center for Rural Affairs explained REAP's "Harvesting the Entrepreneurial Venture" to the group. Business succession is important, she stated, because one third of business owners in the United States are over the age of 55.
According to the Small Business Administration, the primary cause for business failure is lack of planning. At some point, every business owner leaves their business, she noted, whether voluntarily or otherwise.
Over two thirds of owners expect their business to remain in the family, while only 35 percent survive to the second generation. Business owners also think there is plenty of time to make a written strategic plan.
Beck said an advisory team can aide in a business succession plan. Team members may be an attorney, accountant, lender and financial planner and/or business consultant.
The team and business owner will assess the current health of the business, identify priorities, set time frames and communicate with each other.
Beck said the place to start is by updating the business plan, networking with other businesses, and identifying candidates as potential business transfers.
She also said that besides the team of advisors, a business owner might want to reach out to successors such as young adults and alumni from the community. Another plan is to involve youth in the community, to make them aware of business opportunities.
The evening was organized by the Chase-Perkins Counties Hometown Competitiveness Program, in partnership with the Imperial, Perkins County and Wauneta Chambers of Commerce.
The project is funded in part by a grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development administered by the Nebraska Rural Development Commission.
Leslie Carlholm, Economic Development Director for the City of Imperial, said representatives of the Creighton University School of Law will be in the area Feb. 11 to talk with business owners interested in creating a plan of succession. She may be contacted at the city offices for more information.

“Planning for Business Success”

http://picasaweb.google.com/kevinpoppe13/BusinessTransferHTCImperial

Locally owned businesses mean big things for rural Nebraska towns and the successful transition of these businesses is vital to the future of our communities. All businesses will transfer at some stage of their life cycle, but only one out of three businesses have a written strategic plan for business succession and the majority of companies have no plan of any kind for continuing their business to the next generation.
Do you know where your business is headed? Would you like to find out where to start on the road to succession? Allowing adequate time for strategic business succession planning provides the opportunity for increased flexibility and creativity in transferring business ownership to the next generation.
Planning for Business Success is an “After 5 PM” Event organized by the Chase-Perkins Counties Hometown Competitiveness Program in partnership with the Imperial, Perkins County and Wauneta Chambers of Commerce to discuss these issues on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 in the Conference Room of the Imperial Inn, 748 East 12th Street, Imperial beginning at 6:30PM. This project is funded in part by a grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development administered by the Nebraska Rural Development Commission.
This event is open to all business people, potential buyers, farmers, and ranchers regardless of Chamber membership.
********************************************************
“Planning for Business Success” Agenda
6:30 PM Welcome and Networking Time
7:00 PM Tara Hosick, Nebraska Department of Economic Development
7:10 PM Randy Raile, BW Telcom
7:20 PM Dena Beck, Rural Enterprise Assistance Project-REAP
“Harvesting Your Entrepreneurial Venture”
8:00 Questions, Evaluations and Wrap Up
8:30 PM Adjourn
********************************************************

January 8, 2008 Steering Committee Meeting

2008-01-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

Agenda for Perkins/Chase Counties HTC Steering Committee

January 8, 2008

12:00 Welcome and Introductions

Kathy, Amy, Ann, Kevin, Leslie and Jana via phone

12:05 Update from Perkins County

Youth - have worked on several community service projects

E-Ship/Business

Philanthropy -- We think we made the match???!!!

Other pertinent information –

** Field Trip to Ord

* Tim Moore resigns from HTC Steering Committee

Perkins County Zoning – updated Comprehensive Plan

Ethanol Plant Recruitment – Madrid up and running

Bio-Diesel Project – appears to be working on it some

Pipeline Progress – bought water from Golf course to test line

Noble Energy (Natural Gas) exploration in Perkins county and others, looks promising, purchased a building in Imperial

12:25 Leadership Plenty Update - Signup deadline Jan 15^th, only 3 people right now

12:30 Update from Chase County

Youth (ESI update) 9 kids completed the mini ESI sessions (5^th graders) -- plan to do an ESI camp this summer, hopefully a multi-county effort

E-ship/Business

Philanthropy Need to plan a party to celebrate making the match for the Hunt Challenge!!! Hopefully will celebrate success at Annual meeting in March.

Other pertinent information –

Ethanol Plant Updates – in a holding pattern

12:55 BR&E survey & Shop Local First Campaign Update – both went really well. Shop Local First committee consisted of Wauneta, Perkins Co and Imperial. Oct receipts highest ever in Imperial.

Red Carpet training – one meeting in each county.

Business Succession workshop Jan 29^th . Dean Beck w/ REAP to do presentation and Creighton University to do followup.

1:00 Closing comments/thoughts

Blog Address ---- http://chase-perkins-htc.blogspot.com/

2007 Business Retention and Expansion Survey

2007-11-01T22:03:00.000-06:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbqxts6_2gq224w

Entire results of the Chase and Perkins County BR&E survey at the above link.

Shop at Home Poster's Delivered to Imperial, Grant and Wauteta

2007-11-01T09:47:00.000-06:00

Shop at Home Posters Delivered to Imperial, Grant and Wauneta.

Chamber Buck's being awared in both counties for winners in finding the hidden clue in both newspapers. "Chamber Buck winner named Karen Brown is the winner of $20 for finding the hidden element from the Shop At Home ad series. Find the hidden art in this week's issue for a chance to win"

SHOP AT HOME UPATE - BR&E

2007-09-10T14:20:00.000-06:00

“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

2007-09-10T14:17:00.000-06:00

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

2007-09-10T14:16:00.000-06:00

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

2007-09-04T08:34:00.000-06:00

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

Tracking Report 3/28/2007

2007-04-18T13:42:00.000-06:00

Site Coach Tracking Report

Site: Perkins/Chase HTC

Coach: Jana Jensen Report Date: March 28, 2007

Progress and Outcomes
Steering Committee/Site Coordinator Level:

Entrepreneurship:
Chase – LB 840 guidelines are being reviewed by attorney.
Chase – BR&E survey is planned for Imperial and Wauneta, invited Perkins county to participate also. Deadline to know is April 15th.
Leadership: Ann Burge reported on Second Regional Leadership Class – 19 participants/ 8 students
April 17th will be graduation; trip to Lincoln to Unicameral went well - _?__ participated
Next year, not as many students to participate because of schedules and conflicts
Charitable Giving:
Perkins raised $50,000 toward the Hunt Challenge in their 1st year
ICF gave $5000 in grants and held their 2nd Annual Celebration, March 24th. ICF has raised $136,000 for the Hunt Challenge and has $15,000 in pledges. They have met the goal!
Youth Engagement:
Youth Day – 12 students, 1 – Wauneta, 11 – Imperial (all seniors), no Perkins County because of overloaded schedule w/State boys and girls BB games. Will hold in the fall, not spring, too many conflicts and it will be offered to other classes.
Perkins County continue to work on getting their Youth Council organized.
4-H Curriculum was discussed
Chase County, YLLC – Youth Leaders in Longhorn Country worked with 4th graders on Crackernomics, 40 youth participated
Other Key Outcomes:
Leslie Carlholm submitted the BECA grant, (awarded $8,115)
Madrid ethanol plant to open May 1st. Bio-disel plant in Grant open June or July.
Wauneta’s ethanol plant permits have been approved.
Imperial has the potential for two ethanol plants.
Site Issues and Observations
Madrid ethanol plant has been a great economic boost to Perkins county. The local motel is full because of the new pipeline construction. No rentals available and not many houses available for purchase. Madrid businesses, as well as Grant businesses have seen a nice boost from the construction folks working on the plant.
Businesses in both Perkins and Chase county are concerned about the Walmart coming to Ogallala. The BECA grant, if awarded, will provide training and assistance to businesses that wish to strategically prepare for Walmart.

BECA award announcement for Chase Perkins HTC

2007-04-18T13:30:00.000-06:00

2007 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Partnerships receive $224,942 for Building Entrepreneurial Communities
LINCOLN, NEB. (April 11, 2007) — Governor Dave Heineman, along with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and Nebraska Rural Development Commission, has awarded $224,942 to 10 partnerships through the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act (BECA). This is the final of three application cycles awarding a total of $500,000 BECA funding for FY 2006-2007. BECA is part of the Nebraska Advantage package.
"I'm pleased that in addition to helping provide funding for economic development projects, this program is helping local communities expand and strengthen their entrepreneurial partnerships," Gov. Heineman said. "This program has been successful in helping revitalize Nebraska's rural communities because it encourages local leaders to be involved in the entrepreneurial process. I congratulate each of the partnerships receiving funding and hope that these grants are just the start of a long and successful journey for these new business ventures in Nebraska’s rural areas."
The BECA grants encourage regional projects, and all 10 projects that applied this cycle received funding. Projects must provide 100 percent cash match.
The projects include:
• Chase and Perkins counties received $8,115 to provide educational and technical assistance that targets rural sustainability to existing business owners and entrepreneurs. The Chase-Perkins County Hometown Competitiveness Steering Committee is partnering with the Southwest Nebraska Community Betterment Corporation, local governments, and chambers of commerce to provide the services. The cities of Grant and Imperial will match the funding with LB 840 Economic Development Funds.

Pillars
The HomeTown Competitiveness Newsletter
April 2007

Success Stories

Partnerships Receive $224,942 for BECA– Governor Dave Heineman, along with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and Nebraska Rural Development Commission, has awarded $224,942 to 10 partnerships through the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act (BECA). Four of the 10 partnerships included HTC communities– Chase and Perkins County, Drive for Five Initiative (Columbus), Cambridge-McCook Vision 2010, and Butler County Development Initiative. Read the full press release at http://pio.neded.org/press/2007/07rel32.htm.

2007 Chase-Perkins BECA Grant Application

2007-02-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Based on the estimates received the final project cost ended up at $16,230 with a 50% match of $8,115 or slightly over $4,000 per county.

If funded Abraham’s Legal Clinic (Creighton University) has committed approximately 100 hours ($17,000) of In-Kind support to our Business Transition efforts. Their letter was submitted with the application.

The BECA grant application was hand delivered this morning to the North Platte office.

Grant Amount Requested: $8,115 (Project Total: $16,230)

Project Summary: The Chase-Perkins County HTC Steering Committee will be partnering with local governments, chambers of commerce and service agencies to provide educational and technical assistance to businesses and entrepreneurs. These training opportunities will increase the business capacity in our communities in the areas of Business Transition, eCommerce, Marketing/Advertising, Customer Service and Shopping Locally.

The steering committee is submitting five educational and technical assistance trainings for consideration.
1. Business transition: The goal of the business transition workshops is to prevent the loss of goods and services from our communities while providing area youth the choice to stay and/or return to the area to live, work and raise their families. Our intention is to partner with Creighton University’s Abrahams Legal Clinic to provide workshops targeting local attorneys, bankers and accountants followed directly by workshops targeting local business owners, potential buyers and budding entrepreneurs. The budget includes two additional trips to Chase and Perkins Counties in order to provide businesses the opportunity to confidentially receive one-on-one consulting and seek answers to their business transition questions. The intent of Abrahams Legal Clinic is not to complete with local professionals, but to assist in ensuring that essential legal services are being made available in rural communities

2. eCommerce Series: The way business is conducted has changed. The availability of modern technology in rural communities provides new possibilities for both existing businesses and potential entrepreneurs to market goods and services globally. According to a Technology Business Survey conducted in 2003 by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Educators 59% of the 600 small businesses surveyed did not have a web presence. In order for our communities to use modern technology as a business tool, residents of all ages need to become better educated on the use and capabilities of the internet. In addition to assisting existing businesses tap into new markets, the eCommerce Series provides an excellent opportunity to plant the seed of entrepreneurship in area youth. The e-Commerce Series will consist of three workshops presented by UNL Extension Staff and “The BIT Mobile:”
eKnowledge: The master navigator program provides an opportunity for individuals of all ages to learn how to navigate the Internet and incorporate its use at home, school and work. This workshop focuses on the “basics” including how to surf the net, use search engines and email.
eBusiness: This workshop will help business owners and entrepreneurs explore the aspects of starting a web-based business and selling on the internet.
More eBusiness: This workshop is more advanced and will delve deeper into internet marketing and web-store design.

3. Marketing/Advertising: As the market place has become more competitive, it is imperative that businesses understand who their customer is, what that customer wants, what motivates that customer and who the competition is. This workshop will help existing business and potential entrepreneurs understand who their customers really are and how this information can be used to effectively target their advertising dollars towards that demographic. Mid Plains Community College will be partnering on this workshop and has committed class room and computers as part of their In-Kind contribution.

4. Customer Service: As local business and potential entrepreneurs are encouraged to develop goods and services to fit “niche markets” as a strategy to survive the encroachment of the big box store, good customer service will be a must. To meet this need Red Carpet Training will be offered in both Chase and Perkins County. The cost of the dual location training includes:
A pre-meeting to answer questions and to create enthusiasm for the program
Teaching the sessions
Mystery shopper evaluation before and after the program to establish baseline data and capture program success stories
An evaluation summary of the class
A CD containing the entire curriculum customized to our area – so it is ready for us to teach again and again
The rights to use the customized material to teach additional Red Carpet Service classes

5. Shop Local Campaign: The shop local campaign will be a concentrated 12 week public education effort leading up to Christmas 2007 emphasizing the benefits of shopping locally. The shop local campaign will use factual information to combat the local consumer’s perception of the convenience and savings derived from shopping at the big box stores. The goal of this program is to educate area residents on the goods and services available in our communities, what the cost differential really is between local businesses and the box stores and how keeping local dollars in our communities benefits all area residents.

Leadership Plenty Class Spreads Knowledge of Entrepreneurship

2007-01-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Leadership Plenty Class Spreads Knowledge of Entrepreneurship to >Area Citizens>> The third session of the leadership plenty program was held at >Midwest electric in Grant on Tuesday, January 16th. The day began >with a presentation from UNL extension representatives Doug Anderson >and Kimberly Cook. They talked about the UNL extension Umbrella >everyone seemed very eager to learn about it. The next speaker was >Tara Hosick from Curtis Nebraska, a development consultant at the >Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Brian Vasa, the >Economic Development Consultant from Nebraska Public Power District >followed Tara with his presentation on building up your community >economically and also shared a bit of information on NPPD and what >it does for the community. He also discussed with the class many >interesting facts and ideas about entrepreneurship.> The afternoon session followed up with a presentation by Jana >Jenson, The Assistant Development Director from the NE Community >Foundation. Jana talked about Home Town Competitiveness (HTC) and >how we can spread this around our community. Kevin Poppe, District >Manager for Great Plains Communications explained what GPC does for >our community. The class ended with a presentation from Ted Tietjen. >Ted is a board member from Southwest R C&D, and also owns Turtle >Island.> The class heads east next month to visit the state capital in >Lincoln, and will have the pleasure to listen to our state senators, >and the opportunity learn about our own states ideas about >leadership.

Chase/Perkins HTC Meeting notes 1-25-07 in Grant

2007-01-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

Chase/Perkins HTC Site Notes – January 25, 2007

Location: Southwest Community Betterment Office -- 11:30 to 1:00

Present:
Shaun Meyer, Tim Moore, Amy Thelander, Ann Burge, Deb Kuenning, Jana Jensen, Kevin Poppe, Kathy Schilke, Leslie Carlholm, Val Foster.

Leadership – 19 participants, one had to bow out (___ juniors from each HS)
- will attend Legislative Day in Lincoln Feb 1st
- April 17th will be graduation
- going well with new format

First Impressions – Ann Burge and I to set up with a community for Grant and Imperial

Perkins County

Youth – Tim Moore and Amy Thelander, Ryan Henricks (instructor at Perkins Co HS)
- Youth Voting Project rec’d recognition from Secretary of State
- Perkins County Youth Council – 27 kids at first meeting
- 5 Committees: publicity, recruitment, fundraising, social, community service
- Working on Kick-off project, maybe revitalize old theatre, set up as a business for the kids to operate and learn e-ship
- Youth Council will be doing Class Olypmics
- Would like to do Priceless Preteen Leadership Program, summer camp, (Val Foster)
- Deb Kuenning, extension educator for Keith, Perkins, Arthur was present, we
Mentioned the new 4-H curriculum and I told her I would have Craig Schroeder contact her

E-Ship/Business
- Ethanol plant at Madrid, 188 million gallons, $215 Million dollar project
- Madrid is offering a free lot program to encourage folks to build there
- Adams Bank has land to build duplexes on and is looking for someone to work
with
- Chamber is getting involved in the welcoming new employees, may do a welcome event with support of ethanol plant
- They said the impact would be $100 million a year, Madrid’s two restaurants are serving over 150 meals at noon.

Philanthropy
- working toward meeting the Hunt Challenge Grant, have raised $40,000 + but
need to reach $75,000 by the end of March

Chase County

Youth
- Youth assisted with LB 840 success
- Dialogues Across NE was a huge success, working with existing team and may expand members
- Mr. Jason Speck is teaching E-ship classes in his Vocational Ag classes
- Leslie is working on a Youth E-Ship Day for all high school in Chase/Perkins counties called, Discover – Decide – Deliver
- NEED email for Kimberly Cook, extension educator for the Southwest 4

E-Ship/Business
- Proposed ethanol plant in Wauneta and also 2 near Imperial
- BR&E survey was a yes
- Leslie will be writing a BECA grant for funding to offer five workshops/classes
in the following areas to both businesses in both counties:
§ business transfer
§ customer service
§ shop local campaign
§ e-commerce
§ marketing/advertising
approximate budget is $4000 for each workshop/class = $20,000
$10,000 local match is almost committed
- We talked about getting someone to come in and present ways to work with the fact that Walmart is coming to Ogallala and how to prepare the business
community for that.

Philanthropy
Imperial CF is working hard to get the Hunt Challenge complete by their Annual
Meeting, March 24th. They will be awarding their second round of grants.

Leslie believes she has people from Wauneta interested in the HTC program, Ted and Joyce Grimm

Shaun Meyer Report
Gave a report on her trip to the HTC academy in Lincoln. She handed out a two
page summary and also talked about her experience. She has asked to help with
the youth pillar. Shaun, THANK YOU for taking the time to attend the academy
and welcome to the HTC Program. (Ann thanks for taking care of all that!)

Other issues discussed:
- Housing, the lack of it for all the employees coming in to work in the ethanol plants and how we must try to get them to land in Chase and Perkins counties

Pillars Update 1/24/2007

2007-01-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

If you have trouble viewing this email, you can access the newsletter online at www.htcnebraska.org/pillars.

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

To be added to or removed from this mailing list, please contact info@htcnebraska.org.

-------------
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~

Pillars Update 1/24/2007

2007-01-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

2007 Action Recommendations

2006-11-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

2007 Action Recommendations

Entrepreneurship

Ø Offer additional assistance to those businesses that have been identified as growth entrepreneurs.
Ø Identify and conduct interviews with businesses that are potential transfers within the next ten years and begin identify potential entrepreneurs that would transition into these existing businesses and possibly expand.
Ø Offer an EDGE class beginning in the fall of 2006.
Ø Enhance networking of resource providers in region to support local development goals.
Ø Provide technical assistance to new start-ups and expanding businesses.
Ø Work with youth task force to support young entrepreneurs interested in starting new businesses or buying existing businesses.

Charitable Assets

Ø Have PCCF raise their first $75,000 and reach their first goal of the Hunt Challenge by March 2007.
Ø Have both ICF and PCCF raise the remaining $75,000 in the next two years to then have over $200,000 in their unrestricted endowment fund.
Ø Have both ICF and PCCF continue to grow their foundations by promoting charitable giving within both counties.
Ø Encourage the fund advisory committee for both ICF and PCCF to attend NCF trainings.

Leadership

Ø Hold the second regional leadership development class beginning in the fall of 2006.
Ø Send a second team of volunteers to the HTC Academy in Lincoln in January 2007.
Ø Encourage more youth leadership involvement in city councils, county commissioners meetings, school board meetings, etc.
Ø Support young adults moving into leadership roles in community.
Ø Establish the LB 840 program in Imperial. (passed at election)
Ø Better utilize the large group of highly educated women in the area.

Youth

Ø Continue to offer e-ship classes in both high schools.
Ø Offer e-ship classes in both middle schools.
Ø Provide one day per semester highlighting e-ship for grade school students.
Ø Recruit youth and young adults into leadership class.
Ø Recognize young adults who have moved into both communities in the past year and work toward getting them engaged in the HTC program.
Ø Introduce the 4-H E-ship program if a champion can be identified.

Imperial Communinty Foundation accepts Hunt Challenge Grant

2006-08-15T08:48:00.000-06:00

Imperial Community Foundation members accepted a $25,000 check after meeting the Hunt famliy challenge to raise $75,000 for Foundation's endownment, an addtional $5000 check was awarded since the funds to date are at $90,000.

Perkins County Foundation's funds are currently at $31,000 and will host thier annual benifit golf tournament on August 27th.

Perkins Community Foundation's Hunt Challenge Benefit BBQ is Successful

2006-06-02T16:51:00.000-06:00

The Perkins County Community Foundation continues to be successful in its fundraising efforts to meet the Hunt Challenge. Our most recent success was the benefit BBQ held on June 2, 2006 at Valley Bank in Grant.
First, I would like to give a big thank you to Don Softley and Valley Bank for donating all of the food and supplies for the BBQ. This allowed all proceeds to go directly to the Hunt Challenge. We raised $1775.50 during the day, with one donor giving $1,000, and the remainder coming from individual donations. Besides a gusty wind at times, the day went very smoothly with a good crowd showing to enjoy brats, burgers, chicken and polish sausages along with chips and a cold drink.
We have also recently had other donations made for the Hunt Challenge. Two weeks ago, the City of Grant was very generous in giving us $5,000 in Keno funds and we also received another $1,000 donation last week from Delores Swan in memory of her husband, Robert.
After tallying each of these donations, our proceeds breakdown as of June 2, 2006 is as follows:
· TOTAL CASH IN HAND: $17,608.83
· TOTAL AMOUNT PLEDGED: $9,666.66
· GRAND TOTAL: $27,275.49
Our total cash contributions needed by December 31, 2006 is $57,391.17
While our total amount needed to be raised is $122,724.51
The Community Foundation has several other fundraisers in 2006 that will directly benefit the Hunt Challenge. These include the 4th of July celebration, which we are co-hosting with the Perkins County Chamber of Commerce, our annual benefit golf tournament on August 27th, and our Tots of Perkins County 2007 Calendar. Although these events will help us to meet this very important challenge, we still need individual donors to step forward with contributions. Any and all donations are encouraged and welcomed. Those with questions are asked to call Chairman Becky Uehling, or any foundation board member.
Posted By:
Becky Uehling,
PCCF Chairman

HTC Contact list

2006-06-01T15:26:00.000-06:00

Chase Perkins HTC Site Coach
*Jana Jensen jandjjensen@starband.net

Our link on the HTC website http://www.htcnebraska.org/gisuccess

HTC Leadership
Task Force Leader
*Ann Burge swncbc@gpcom.net

Members: 2005 Leadership Plenty Class

Brian Long brianlong@pchsgrant.com
Cathy Weiss cathy@fsbimperial.com
Cory Schuller cschuller@GPCOM.COM
Cyndi Weiss cweiss@fvcoop.com
Dave Vapenik dvapenik@valleybankne.com
Francisca Morales fmccch@gpcom.net
Jayson Bishop jbishop@midwestecc.com
*Joseph N. Morris grantsuper@gpcom.net
Rev. Kay Alnor revkaya@hotmail.com
Shaun Meyer hiline@gpcom.net
Spencer Neely sneely@GPCOM.COM
Tammy Delatour tdelatour@valleybankne.com
Tim Moore tmoore@pchsgrant.com
Tony Cribelli tcjcaclm@bwtelcom.net

HTC Imperial Foundation
Task Force Leader
*Leslie Carlholm (E-mail) lcarlholm@chase3000.com

Members:

HTC Perkins County Foundation
Task Force Leader
*Becky Uehling buehling@gpcom.net

Members:

Ashley Colglazier ash_colglaz@hotmail.com
Cori Sis tsis@chase3000.com
Debbi Osler sosler@sktelsie.net
Don Softley dsoftley@valleybank.com
Jan Schilling jan_schilling@gps.esu16.org
Janet_Lagler janet_lagler@gps.esu16.org
Jeff Wallin rowton&wallin@gpcom.net
Michelle. Ross michelle.ross@pinnbank.com
Nicole Long nlongart@hotmail.com
Alice Tines Does Not Have Email

HTC Entrepreneurship - Business Development

Task Force Leader
*Leslie Carlholm (E-mail) lcarlholm@chase3000.com
Donald W. Softley (E-mail) Dsoftley@valleybankne.com

Members:

Bill Daiss billdaiss@gpcom.net
Chris Loeffer (E-mail) perkinszoning@hotmail.com
Deaver Computer (E-mail) bdeaver@gpcom.net
Dennis Demmel (E-mail) dennisdemmel@hotmail.com
Jeff Skeels (E-mail) jdskeels@gpcom.net
*Joseph N. Morris (E-mail) grantsuper@gpcom.net
Kathy Schilke (E-mail) k_schilke@fsbimperial.com
Miles Colson (E-mail) mgcolson@abtbank.com
Rod Cornelius (E-mail) rcornelius@pinnbank.com

HTC Youth
Task Force Leader
Melanie Carman (E-mail) MKCarman@abtbank.com
Tim Moore (E-mail) tmoore@pchsgrant.com

Members:
*Amy Thelander communitydev@gpcom.net
Dave Vapenik dvapenik@valleybankne.com
*Marci Vlasin marci_vlasin@gps.esu16.org
Martina Spurlock masmmsicpa@gpcom.net
*Ryan Richmond ryanrichmond@fsbimperial.com
*Val Foster limabean@chase3000.com
*Alex McNair mcnaira@chase3000.com

HTC Steering Committee

Members:

*Jana Jensen jandjjensen@starband.net

*Joseph N. Morris grantsuper@gpcom.net
*Leslie Carlholm lcarlholm@chase3000.com
*Ann Burge swncbc@gpcom.net
*Kevin Poppe kpoppe@gpcom.net

*HTC Academy Graduates

HTC Meeting held at Turtle Island Sales

2006-06-01T14:17:00.000-06:00

Tuesday May 30th the HTC Steering Committee and Task Force Leaders met at the Turtle Island Sales Conference Room followed by a tour of the Turtle Island's eBay Drop off store.

Our successful application for the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Grant was discussed.

We were funded for a group tour to Valley County to view their HTC successes for $1000 with match of $1000 for a $2000 budget. Leslie will work on details as to when would be the best time to go. Possibly in the fall.

Also each county was funded for a Needs Assessment Survey for $4000 with a $4000 match. Ann Burge will work on the details and may have the Youth Committee involved.

We were also funded for a total of $6000 dollars members to attend the HTC Academy in Chadron this fall.

Matching Funds will be provided by the City of Imperial- $2500, the Grant Economic Development Committee- $2500 and Great Plains Communications- $5000. Also the Kellogg Foundation will provide $10,000 of assistance for technical service if we need to bring in speakers, programs, etc.

Chase County High School Youth Survey Results

2006-05-23T13:39:00.000-06:00

Chase County High School Youth Survey Results.

Youth Survey: Spring Semester 2006
1. What grade are you in?
Response
Count
Frequency
9th
40
26.49%
10th
36
23.84%
11th
41
27.15%
12th
32
21.19%
Other
2
1.32%
Valid Responses
151
100.00%

2. What is your gender?
Response
Count
Frequency
Female
80
53.33%
Male
70
46.67%
Valid Responses
150
100.00%

3. If I were absolutely free to go into any kind of work that I wanted, my choice would be:
Response
Count
Frequency
Lawyer
2
1.32%
Music
2
1.32%
Business
4
2.65%
Teaching
4
2.65%
Medicine
4
2.65%
Graphic design
3
1.99%
Ranching
3
1.99%
Nursing
3
1.99%
Undecided
2
1.32%
Sports medicine
2
1.32%
Sewage Maintenance
2
1.32%
Don't Know
3
1.99%
Other Responses
117
77.48%
Valid Responses
151
100.00%

4. Does your family own a business in the surrounding area?

Response
Count
Frequency
Yes
58
38.67%
No
92
61.33%
Valid Responses
150
100.00%

5. If you were absolutely free to do so, would you like to own your own business, farm or ranch?
Response
Count
Frequency
Yes
75
50.00%
No
36
24.00%
Don't Know
39
26.00%
Valid Responses
150
100.00%
6. If I were absolutely free to do whatever I wanted after high school, I would:

Response
Count
Frequency
go immediately to work in my family business, farm or ranch
3
2.29%
go immediately to work for a local business
1
0.76%
move to another community and go immediately to work
1
0.76%
join the military
6
4.58%
enroll in the local community college
6
4.58%
enroll in a college in another community
72
54.96%
enroll in a college in another state
42
32.06%
Valid Responses
131
100.00%
7. If I were absolutely free to do as I wanted, the highest degree I would seek to earn would be:
Response
Count
Frequency
None
7
4.90%
Associates Degree - 2 year
20
13.99%
Bachelor's Degree - 4 year
43
30.07%
Master's Degree
55
38.46%
Doctorate Degree
11
7.69%
Vocational/Technical Certificate
4
2.80%
Other
3
2.10%
Valid Responses
143
100.00%
8. As to continuing my education beyond high school, my family:
Response
Count
Frequency
has strongly encouraged me to continue
116
78.38%
has given me some encouragement to continue
14
9.46%
has never said much about it
14
9.46%
feels that I would be better off going to work after school
3
2.03%
feels that I should quit school and go to work
1
0.68%
Valid Responses
148
100.00%
9. If I were absolutely free to live anywhere I wanted, it would be:
Response
Count
Frequency
very near where I live now
23
16.55%
in an area much like this one, but in another part of Nebraska
13
9.35%
in a larger community (but not one of the big cities) in Nebraska
27
19.42%
in one of the big cities in Nebraska
7
5.04%
in a rural area or small town in another state
13
9.35%
in a big city in another state
36
25.90%
in another country
7
5.04%
other
13
9.35%
Valid Responses
139
100.00%
9A. If you chose Other on Question # 9, please specify your answer
Anywhere but here
Arizona or California
as far away from Nebraska like Jamaica
city-college smaller town-raise family
don't know
In a larger city and later move back to Imperial
in a small town similar to this one (anywhere) depending on job openings
In a suburb of a large city
Laramie Wyoming
small community maybe this one maybe somewhere else
Where ever life takes me
Where I live now
10. If you are currently working and would like to stay in the area and continue working but also want to pursue a college education, would you be willing to stay here and complete your college education through online classes?
Response
Count
Frequency
Yes
55
37.67%
No
91
62.33%
Valid Responses
146
100.00%
11. Are you interested in being involved in community organizations?
Response
Count
Frequency
Yes
87
60.42%
No
57
39.58%
Valid Responses
144
100.00%
12. Would you be interested in attending an entrepreneurial workshop, that would help you decide if owning a small business is right for you?
Response
Count
Frequency
Yes
64
42.95%
No
85
57.05%
Valid Responses
149
100.00%

13. What are your interests and what would you like Imperial to have that we don't have already (Football, Softball, Reading, Art, and Fast Food restaurants, Rec Center, etc.)
Volleyball, Basketball, Softball, Swim Team, Track, FFA, FCA, Church, English, Reading--Fast Food restaurants, Rec Center and a Mall
School pass. Swimming or bus us out of town
WalMart, a city pond or small lake
A place where teens can hang out. Fast Food Restaurants, Rec Center
Art, Cross Country, Track
Rec Center, McDonalds or Arby's
Football, Track, Art
I am not interested
My interests are Volleyball, Basketball, Track, FFA, FCCLA, Reading, Art, and 4-H. The City of Imperial should have a Rec Center, a better Swimming Pool and a Fast Food restaurant.
Fast Food restaurants
Rec Center, Fast Food and Pool Hall
FFA, Animals, Like to see more people in Imperial minding their own business!!
Art, Rec Center, Roller Rink
Rec Center, Youth Center, similar to YMCA but smaller
Waterfront activity, sports, music, rec center, intramural sports, more fast food restaurants; more activities for teens-YMCA
Interests-Golf, Hunting, fishing, wakeboarding
A place for teens to go. Also a place for single/young parents
Family rec center/were families can go and spend time with each other or a teen center.
Volleyball, reading, swimming and a nice swimming pool & a teen center.
Fast food restaurant Arby's
Chipotle restaurant
a mall
I want to be a diesel tech or work in auto body a few more fast food places
Town potluck or something to get us to work together, Softball, Art
Rec center, Chinese Restaurant, and an ice skating pond
dancing, dance studio
Recreational center
Rec center would be good. I'm interested in case work and criminal justice. Having a rec center would help keep kids out of trouble.
Softball, Reading, talking on the computer-something to do fun on weekends other than movies or bowling
REC CENTER!!!
Music, Running, Politics and Sonic Burger, Wendy's and a Rec Center.
Clothing Store
My interests: Music, reading, writing What I would like: program that would allow home schoolers the option to take public school courses.
Rec Center
I like Art, baseball, and writing, and would like to have baseball be a school sport.
Fast Food restaurants (1 or 2) Rec Center
Rec Center, School swim team
Indoor Pool
Golf, Theatre, Music, Reading, Rec Center or similar
Fast Food, Wal-Mart, Rec Center, and younger athletic leagues such as football for grades 3-6
Boxing League or Fighting Club, where people can take out their frustrations.
Rap Station, Boxing, Skate Park, Rock from 70-90 station NO MORE KADL
Rec Center (YMCA), Volleyball league & Tennis
Skate Park, McDonalds
Recreation Center, Fast Food restaurant
Places to go hang out.
More Softball Fields, Rec Center
Fast Food restaurants
Volleyball, A boys volleyball team or a WalMart
Fast Food restaurants
A place such as the old school or any inside basketball court that kids could go play without worrying about locked doors.
I would like them to have a Rec Center so kids would have something to do, and stay our of trouble.
Football, basketball, Rec center
Rec Center
Sports, Running, Fitness, and Rec Center or Some Kind of indoor pool.
Fast Food, Cabelas, Wal-Mart
Fast Food Restaurants, Rec Center, better stores
Volleyball, Basketball, Football, Rec Center, just some place we can to and do fun things instead of going out to eat and going to the movie all the time.
Rec Center
Rec Center and more fast food restaurants.
Rec center, more fast food, and better place to hang out
school baseball, football, YMCA, fast food restaurants, coffee shop
High school baseball, Rec Center, football
Art fast food
Soccer, Dairy Queen, Chinese food, mall, skate board
Fast food restaurants and a walmart
football, basketball
A walmart, more restaurants, and skate park
Rec Center
Arbys, Rec Center, Wal-Mart
Art
A skatebording rink
Reading, Art
Hockey
Skate park
Rec Center
WalMart
Wal-Mart, Arcade, (Rec Center)
Reading, Science, Technology
Act, History; More History
I would live to have a Rec Center with an indoor pool.
I like musical theater, I think we should have more musicals
Interest-Volleyball, basketball, lifting Better volleyball net for the Wellington gym more gyms
Fast Food, Hockey, Rec Center
Wal Mart would be nice, Rodeo animals Sams
Soccer, Mall
Rodeo, hunting
Fast Food, rodeo team
Fast Food Rec Center
fast food Rec Center Rodeo team Rodeo
More places for kids to go hang out at, and more things to do on the weekend.
Teen Center
Rec Center
Tennis in school
Rec Center
A better Arena at the fairgrounds
Rec Center
A Wal-Mart or a type of Mall
Rec Center or a place for teen-agers to hang out, arcade
A New Swimming Pool for the area and also so the Summer Swim Team could use it to hold more events, such as meets.
Rec Center, Soccer Field
Nothing
Kids, babysitting, waitressing,
I would want Fast food restaurants and a Real Rec Center.
Fast Food restaurants, clothing stores, Rec Center.
I would like the city to be more of a leader than the city being like king of the town. Also I would like to see more support for the derby it brings in the most money throughout the summer.
Football Wrestling Rec Center
Fast Food
Fast food restaurants
more football related stuff and restaurants
Rec Center, Music
restaurants, teen center
Teen center or Rec center
Fast Food restaurants, clothing store
rec center, indoor swimming pool
Rec Center, somewhere to hang out
I'm interested in Art, music, & sports. I would like a Walmart, a Rec center, & more restaurants
Walmart McDonald Wendy Arby Jockin Jack Popey Chickens Shopko Radio shack Best Buy the Buckle Toyota parly shop Pro football Univerty Hockey Ring More space on this paper manufacturing plant interstate Pro Rodeo Mascar track YMCA Hotel and Motel Casinos Mexican Moffy Russians Six Flag and Disney Mechiles Mexican Resterunt Shile Sport center
Wendy's, interstate, soccer field, Mexican restaurants, sports place
An indoor basketball court that would be available to kids use. (Rec Center)
fast food
sports, FFA need - more food places/restaurants & a place for older teens to hang out
Hockey, Fast Food restaurants, Clothing Stores
Super WalMart, Outback Steak House
Music is my main interest. I would like to see more youth activities.
Rec Center, Fast Food
Rec Center, Softball, Volleyball
Football, Rec Center

Chase and Pekins County HTC Program awarded Building Entrepreneurial Communities Grant

2006-04-19T16:27:00.000-06:00

Gov. Heineman Awards First Building Entrepreneurial Communities Funding

(Lincoln, Neb.) Gov. Dave Heineman awarded $140,000 in funding to nine projects as part of the first wave of applications through the new Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act (BECA) created as part of the Nebraska Advantage incentive package. “I’m very pleased we were able to make this funding available for areas of our state that need it most,” Gov. Heineman said. “The goal of the BECA program is to help jump start the revitalization of our rural communities. In addition to this funding, BECA grants will be matched dollar for dollar by those directly involved in strengthening local economies.” The Building Entrepreneurial Communities program provides grant funding to help create programs that generate and sustain wealth in economically depressed communities and regions of the state. BECA is administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and Nebraska Rural Development Commission (RDC). RDC reviewed 13 applications and forwarded recommendations to the Governor.

The nine projects receiving funding include:

Building for the Future of Our Area will receive $13,000 in funding for a cooperative project involving Furnas and Harlan counties. The project is aimed at stimulating small business growth and development, as well as long-term sustainability of local communities.
Furnas/Harlan Partnership, Inc. prepared the application, and a group of cooperatives and local community leaders will provide matching funds. Knox Business Transfer project will receive $2,470 that will be used to help equip 15 to 25 Knox county business owners with effective strategies for business transfer.
The Knox County Development Agency submitted the application and will provide matching funds. The Creating Virtual Entrepreneurs project will receive an $11,020 grant to help Cheyenne county entrepreneurs implement eBusiness and eCommerce web technologies.
The Cheyenne County Technology Committee and Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce prepared the application and will contribute matching funds for the effort. Building Blocks for Community Revitalization & Prosperity will receive $25,000 to help promote entrepreneurship and leadership in the Valentine and Cherry county area. The project will help build community capacity and encourage revitalization. The Valentine/Cherry County Economic Development Board prepared the application, and an additional $25,000 in matching funds will come from Valentine and Cherry county.
Valley County Youth Initiative will receive $17,000 to help attract and retain area youth. Valley County Economic Development prepared the application on behalf of Valley county and the city of Ord. The city and Loup Valley’s Rural Public Power District will provide matching funds.
Chase-Perkins Hometown Competitiveness Program will receive $9,000 do continue a program that identifies issues that affect the ability to attract and grow the local youth population, and helps develop and sustain leadership development programs, charitable giving efforts and entrepreneurship services. Southwest Nebraska Community Betterment prepared the application on behalf of the southwest Nebraska region. Great Plains Communications and the cities of Grant and Imperial will contribute matching funds.
Tri-Edge, the Cambridge/McCook Entrepreneur Development Program, will receive $4,000 to help enhance economic development efforts by offering a new entrepreneurship development program. Cambridge Economic Development prepared the application on behalf of the cities. Several partners including the Cambridge & McCook Economic Development Councils, local business owners and chambers of commerce, Rotary Clubs and individuals will provide matching funds.
Building the Future of Medicine Valley will receive $30,600 to increase the tax base of the area and help attract and maintain businesses, students and families within the designated school districts. The Medicine Valley Economic Development Corporation (MVEDC) and city of Curtis prepared the application on behalf of partnering groups including: Frontier County, the villages of Maywood, Stockville and Moorefield, Medicine Creek Chamber of Commerce, Medicine Valley Schools, Maywood Public Schools, and Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. MVEDC, Free Land Partners, and Curtis’ LB 840 funding will provide the match for the project.
Western Nebraska Entrepreneurial Initiative will receive $28,000 to create a program that will provide education and technical assistance for young small business owners and entrepreneurs. Twin Cities Development prepared the application on behalf of towns and organizations pledging to contribute matching funding, including: Scotts Bluff county, the cities of Scottsbluff, Gering, Bridgeport, and Mitchell, Twin Cities Development, Western Nebraska Community College, and the village of Morrill.

Leadership Plenty Graduation

2006-03-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Leadership Plenty Class met for the last time on 2-28-06, for their graduation from the class. Members graduating from the Perkins / Chase County area class were: Tim Moore, Brian Long, Shaun Meyer, Jayson Bishop, Spencer Neely, Cory Schuller, Dave Vapenik, Joe Morris, Tammy Delatour, Rod Ready, Allison Sandman, Tony Cribelli, Cyndi Weiss, Lisa Haskins, Amos Davis, Rev. Kay Alnor, Francisca Morales, & Cathy Weiss.

Our final session consisted of two topics, Evaluation and Strategic Communication. Presenters were Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, University of Nebraska Extension, and Connie Francis, University of Nebraska Rural Initiative.

Both Evaluation and Strategic Communication play an important role in developing and following through with a plan.

Most people think of evaluation as being done at the end of a project. What needs to occur, however, is evaluation throughout the project. The reasons for evaluating are to see results, see progress toward results, to identify opportunities, make adjustments and to learn and grow. Cheryl reminded us of the saying ‘If you don’t know where you are going…how will you know when you get there?’ Cheryl began our session with having us try to draw both sides of a penny from memory. Even though we all see and use pennies on a daily basis, none of us could replicate all of the details on a penny. Upon further study of an actual penny, with a magnifying glass, there were details that we didn’t even know existed. On the side of the penny with the Lincoln Memorial Building, there is a very small etching of Lincoln in the middle of the pillars, and there is a very tiny ‘FG’ off to the right of the steps. Another realization that we take it for granted. ‘We see it, but we don’t really look at it’. The point being, in order to make improvements, we sometimes have to look at things in a different way.

Our next task was to evaluate 3 different kinds of cookies. In this process, we learned that everyone looks at things differently. Some of the class studied the packages, some went only by taste, price, appearance, number of cookies in a package, number of chocolate chips, the crowd that the cookies would be intended for, easiness of preparation, texture, etc…All of this about COOKIES! This particular activity pointed out how different we are in our perspectives about details.

We then divided into several small groups addressing the three top things we see as problems in our communities that must be addressed if our small communities are going to survive; Jobs, rural to urban migration and an attractive community. We then all evaluated the topics with things we would EXPECT to see, LIKE to see and would LOVE to see. These had to be measurable, though, and detailed. These were in direct relation to the different levels of change in a community; Change behavior, change knowledge/skills, and change values/conditions/status. As you can see by the progression of these particular changes, they become more complex, but if the first change occurs the others will fall into place. ‘If we create jobs and a community that attracts people, the rural to urban migration problem will resolve itself.’

Strategic Communication is something that we all need to learn to do. If you use strategic communication you will raise visibility, build credibility, attract needed resources and engage others to help. An idea always begins with a small group of people with an idea, but there is no way to accomplish it without the assistance from others. If you are trying to create an effective message it must be clear, concise, truthful, and visually interesting. It should also identify an audience, in other words, be specific to the group it is trying to reach. Connie suggested the use of ‘people stories’, which often touch the heart. And, of course include contact information. In our small groups we listed all of the ways we could think of to advertise ideas, and we came up with 115 in 5 minutes!

We would like to thank everyone who made it possible for us to attend this class. Our sponsors were: Southwest Nebraska Community Betterment Corporation, City of Grant, Great Plains Communications, Ted Tietjen, Perkins County Chamber of Commerce, City of Imperial, Adams Bank of Imperial, Imperial Public Power District, Lied Imperial Public Library and the Chase County Development Corporation. Our presenters were: Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, University of Nebraska Extension Community Development Specialist; Randy Cantrell, University of Nebraska Extension Community Development Specialist; Leslie Crandall, University of Nebraska Extension Educator; Connie Francis, University of Nebraska Rural Initiative Educator; Dennis Kahl, University of Nebraska Extension Educator; Barbara Schmidt, University of Nebraska Extension Educator and Phyllis Schoenholz, University of Nebraska Extension Educator. We would also like to say a special thanks to Ann Burge for arranging this class for us.

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.

Article submitted by Shaun R. Meyer RN.

Leadership Plenty Trip to the Capital

2006-02-13T14:40:00.001-07:00

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

2006-02-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

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'

2006-02-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-01-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

Al Gunther has submitted the $10,000 BEC Grant Application on behalf of the Chase Perkins HTC Program. If sucessful, there are matching funds available to bring the total amount to $20,000 for HTC ativities in the Chase and Perkins Counties.

Letters of Support came from the City of Grant, City of Imperial, Champion Community Center Board, Village of Madrid, Village of Wauneta, Chase County Development Corporation, Chase County Commissioners, Perkins County Zoning Commission, Imperial Chamber of Commerce, Perkins County Chamber of Commerce, Wauneta Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Community Betterment Corporation, Perkins County Highway Department, Chase County Schools and Imperial Public Power District.

Chase and Perkins County represented at the NCF Summit Meeting in Kearney

2006-01-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

We had a very successful and invigorating Nebraska Community Foundation Summit Meeting in Kearney on Friday and Saturday.

The representatives are as follows:

Front row L-R: Becky Uehling- Grant, Leslie Carlholm- Imperial, Carolyn Hall- Wausa, Beth Kollmorgen- Stratton, Peggy McDonald- Stratton, Jane Moreland- Imperial, Jana Jensen- NCF
Back row L-R: Al Gunther- Arnold & GPC, Arlynd Johnson- Wausa, Larry Forch, Jr.- Stratton, Joe Skrivan- Bloomfield, Marvin Large- Imperial, Doug Friedli- NCF
Not pictured- Lori Pankonin and Elna Johnson- Imperial

Leadership Plenty "Putting Community Development Resources to Work"

2006-01-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Leadership Plenty met Tuesday, January 10, 2006 from 1-5 pm mountain time at the Midwest Electric Community Room. This was Session 7, titled "Putting Community Development Resources to Work".

Area resource providers came in and discussed what their organization could offer the Chase/Perkins county area and gave scenarios of programs that they have assisted with.

The presenters were: Kevin Poppe, District Manager-Great Plains Communications; Tara Hosick, Business Development Specialist-Nebraska Department of Economic Development; Brian Vasa-Economic Development Specialist-Nebraska Public Power District; Roger Stockton, Coordinator-Southwest RC&D; Connie Francis, Extension Educator-UNL Rural Initiative; and Corrinne Pedersen, Manager of Membership Development-NMPP.

Leadership Plenty ' Building Strategic Partners'

2006-01-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Leadership Plenty
December 13, 2005
Dennis Kahl, University of Nebraska Rural Initiative, Lincoln

The Leadership Plenty Class met for session #6 on December 13th in Imperial. Our speaker was Dennis Kahl from the University of Nebraska Rural Initiative, Lincoln. The topic of discussion was ‘Building Strategic Partners’. Communities have begun to realize that in the attempt to solve deep-seated problems they cannot do it alone. In the process of narrowing the focus on specific problems the ‘big picture’ often gets lost, and efforts are fragmented. All of the many issues in a community need addressed, but if the community doesn’t work together, there is often a very minimal impact. Our session addressed the remedy for this community dilemma through strategic partnerships.

Partnership is ‘the cooperative relationship between two or more parties for the benefit of both or the greater good. In a community, partnerships are formed between individuals, organizations, and agencies that want to combine forces for a better result and have a notion that their own interests could be furthered by working with others’.

The idea of forming partnerships is an attractive notion for a community, but often times the community does not know how to go about forming one, and how to keep the momentum going once it is formed. The idea is to take several groups and develop goals together, instead of everyone taking a different route. We are all in need of knowledge, skills and resources that we do not have, and we all possess knowledge, skills and resources that someone else may need. The designated leaders of the group must learn to understand group dynamics, as well as manage and capitalize on conflict. Building partnerships takes time.

Dennis shared the video ‘Everyday Creativity’ with us that depicted Dewitt Jones, who is the photographer for National Geographic Magazine. This very beautiful and inspiring video was hosted by Dewitt Jones himself. He challenged us to ‘look at the ordinary, and see the extraordinary’. Dewitt said ‘we all have a passion for something, how can we make our lives and work extraordinary?’ As an example from his photography profession, ‘the lens we choose can change the perspective. There is always another perspective in everything we do. Break the pattern, embrace change, don’t fear it’. Dewitt challenged each of us to ‘not be afraid to make mistakes, break the pattern and reframe problems into opportunities’.

Dennis then had us divide into groups to discuss the biggest problems facing each of our communities. We then gathered our problems together and chose the top three issues affecting each of our communities. The top 3 issues are: 1) Job creation /retention/diversity/opportunity; 2) Rural to Urban migration; & 3) Creating a community that attracts people.

In conclusion, we need to strive to develop an attractive community with significant job opportunities that young people would want to come back to, and that, in itself will take the work and initiative of the whole community.

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 session of Leadership Plenty will be January 10, 2006 in Grant.
Article submitted by Shaun Meyer RN.

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