South Dakota

Estelline is the latest Blog of the Week! This prestigious award was given to the community of Estelline for giving their blogs a new jump start! We held a blog training on March 11th and had several new users get signed up. We have seen a lot more traffic and some new posts in the last week or two.

Thanks to technologically savvy Karl S. they have a shiny new header with images from Estelline and they added the minutes of their monthly meeting. New blogger Ron O. has also been putting in his 2 cents worth and Don G. shared some photos. Thanks for your renewed efforts and we hope to see lots more as you get some of your strategic plan projects started!

It was a little slow out on the blogs these last few weeks, so I am going to hold off on naming a BOTW. We would love to see your community showing of some photos from the digital cameras. Or maybe your ready to try some of your videography skills?

 Show us what projects your community is working on or show your committees in action. I just sent the March Questions, maybe you can use the digital camera to record someone’s answer. I know a lot of communities are adding new bloggers too, so we may see some new and exciting posts in the next few weeks that are Blog of the Week material!

OK, I know that the BOTW awards have been a little scattered lately so they may become more bi-weekly rather than weekly. And sometimes it’s one event or one post that can propel you to BOTW status–quality not quantity–here’s an example…

Oldham earns the BOTW title this week for their problem solving abilities! Faced with the challenge of the lack of high speed access for potential community bloggers, shortly after the blogging “Report Cards” were delivered in January, Oldham told us:

“Many who would like to blog do not have access to high speed Internet. Several have tried to use the blog with dial-up but our dial-up service is very slow at best. We are talking about ideas overcome this but any solution at this point involves getting people to more “meetings” and finding time for that is difficult.”

Sound familiar in your community? One of Oldham’s recent blog entries describes how they solved the problem! The local Internet provider, Alliance Communications was approached and agreed to offer FREE high speed to the Horizons group. Great job on being resourceful in your community and finding a way to solve the problem!

Montrose is this week’s blog of the week! Montrose asked for input from some 5th graders on why “We Love Our City”. Sometimes adults get all caught up in the ins and outs of the business of community development…worries about money, time, energy etc. But kids have a way of simplifying things down to our CORE VALUES about community.

Some themes we heard from them include…caring people…people who work together to get things accomplished…people who are friendly and generous…the benefits of living in a small town and the list goes on.

 Thanks to the 5th Graders in Montrose we are reminded why working toward making our communities better places is so important for this generation and the next. Congratulations Montrose…thanks for sharing these stories and keep up the good work!

Where did the week go already! I was in Sisseton on Friday so I didn’t post this week’s BOTW, so here it is…

Sanborn Central has been named Blog of the Week for this past week for:

• Highlighting a community service that helps to alleviate poverty (the Food Pantry & Super Bowl of Caring)
• Explaining how Horizon’s and the work of community residents has changed the future of their 3 communities.
• Marketing the upcoming Regional Collaborations Seminar and being willing to learn from our first Horizons cluster of communities.

Congratulations to Forestburg, Artesian & Letcher for their continued progress!

 Faith has been named this week’s Blog of the Week for highlighting a Horizons project idea that has come to fruition in their community! A brand new fitness center was created with donated equipment. They started small, and are hoping to work their way up to a bigger, better one in the future. Great job on making things happen in your community! We’d love to see some pictures, how about a grand opening photo opportunity? Watch the Faith blogs for more in the future!

Ok, we are catching up a bit on the “BOTW” awards, so this is cumulative from late December into January. Tripp was chosen as this week’s blog of the week for adding videos! It was fun to see Tillie and Maureen, and the committee. Thanks for being willing to try a new technnology by adding video! Keep up the good work Tripp!

Philip has been named this week’s Blog of the Week for including input from youth in their community. A while back they included input from some 2nd Graders and this week they have been adding Points of View from community teens. Getting input from lots of community groups will help you formulate your action plans. So whether it is teenagers, singles and families or senior citizens, the only way community change can happen is if people feel they have a voice in helping to achieve those objectives. So great job Philip for sharing these POV’s on the blog.

Armour earns this week’s Blog of the week title. Armour was the first community to have their COMPLETED! strategic plan posted on the blogs! Very impressive, and a great resource for other communities to see how another Horizons community has done theirs.

I also like their header–using three great photos to create a collage, creative! Great job in highlighting local events, adding new user-friendly features to the blog and writing about events that affect poverty, leadership and community. Great job Armour!

Presho has some great things on their blog that other communities can learn from!

• Lots of background information, how they got this far, everything you ever wanted to know about the Horizons project in Presho.
• Sharing the Vision & Mission Statements, asking for community feedback.
• Photos and stories tell the story of community work.
• Specific questions to elicit responses from community members - for instance asking for input on location of a thrift store.
• Sharing ideas, “getting the ball rolling” and asking for input on the shop local campaign.
• Poll asking, “What’s the first Change Presho project you want to work on?” Letting people have a say in setting priorities for action.
• Adding the “Recent Comments” link on the sidebar so people can easily see what others have added to the conversation. Want to know how to do that on your community blogs? Ask the folks at Presho!
• Clever ideas and marketing, one of my favorite ideas I have seen so far is their “Change Presho” idea. So simple and yet potential for great things in the future!

Great job Presho!!! 

Congratulations Whitewood for earning the Blog of the Week award! Whitewood bloggers learned early to take advantage of what other communities were doing–they borrowed some ideas from Newell.

We have also seen some comments and conversations starting between Whitewood community members and other communities. Our bloggers in Whitewood have done some great things:

• Highlighting community activities (PTO events, Soup Supper, Horizons Celebration Event, etc.)
• Showcasing a new community business (Shop 4 Less)
• Projects in progress (City Hall update, History Book, etc.)
• New community services (Newspaper)
• Finding volunteers/filling community needs (Food Baskets)
• Recognizing people or groups (Consumer Handbook volunteers)

Whitewood has a great start on their blog, can’t wait to see more! Congratulations!

I have been so impressed by the great blogging that is already occurring in our Horizons communities!!! When you see the collective impact of what the 21 Horizons communities have accomplished this past year, it is really quite amazing!

I want to highlight a “Blog of the Week” and this week’s winner is Newell! Wow! What a great start. Here’s a snippet of the things they have done to receive this prestigious award: