By the
Trout Lake Newswriters
Pat Arnold, 395-2233
Bonnie Reynolds, 395-2527
The most recent census information available to us indicates that in the year 2000 there were 442 residents in Trout Lake, 14 percent of whom were below poverty level.
The Northwest Area Foundation, using the resources of colleges and universities from Idaho, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Washington has developed a program titled Horizons to address the issue of poverty in remote and rural areas.
Horizons is dedicated to facilitating the development of a community's assets to reduce the impact of poverty in these communities throughout the northwest. Ray Thygesen and Doug Anderson initiated the process for our community to participate in that program. In the application for participation, Thygesen and Anderson identified Trout Lake's core asset as the "community itself."
To date, 27 persons from Trout Lake have agreed to participate in assessment and leadership training. These volunteers are elected civic leaders, representatives of our religious community, school personnel, agriculturalists and other business owners and retired people. All community members have skills, knowledge and interest that are valuable to the health of the community and they are encouraged to contribute their energies to this process. Planners are particularly interested in recruiting Trout Lake School students because of their fresh ideas and creative energies. They encourage people new to the community or as yet uninvolved, to participate.
Volunteers will participate in training over an 18-month period. The training is divided into segments which will include but are not limited to conflict resolution skills, economic development and technical skills. If the core group of participants completes the program, the community will be awarded a grant of up to $10,000 to facilitate the pursuit of a plan to ameliorate poverty in Trout Lake.
Be prepared to challenge ideas about addressing the problems associated with poverty. We know that in Trout Lake there are people who have limited incomes, there are people whose ideals lead them to eschew conventional materialistic goals, and circumstances none of us are aware of of, but it may be that there are resources that can empower people in ways that are yet to be imagined.
If you are interested in learning what poverty looks like in Trout Lake and what we can do about it; if you are interested in leadership training; if you are interested in community visioning and planning focused on poverty reduction; if you are interested in implementing ideas and accessing support for the resolution of problems, call Ray Thygesen at 395-2318 or email him at sandiray@gorge.net .
If you want to know more about Northwest Foundation Horizons Program refer to their web site: www.nwaf.org, and click on programs/ horizons.
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