Choteau Community Input
Employment
- Improve wages—food and housing costs are too high for the amount of money that can be made working here
In response to the number of folks that were unable to attend the 2013 Summit because of the traveling distance involved, this year, we will be having FIVE regional Growing Leaders Youth Summits. It’s been nearly two years since the last Growing Leaders Youth Summit, and you’re going to love the ideas that have been cooking since then. The response to this event was overwhelming that this year, we are planning Regional Growing Leaders Youth Summits across the state in target areas around the Flathead, Helena, Livingston, Billings, and Havre. This is no small task, and we can’t do it alone. We need your help to make sure that this event is truly a success, and inspires young Hi-line residents to have an active role in the future of sustainable agriculture and local food systems.
Lend an ear (or more appropriately, an eye) about this opportunity for creating a truly transformative experience for high school students along the Hi-line. This is a request for your involvement in making the Growing Leaders Youth Summit a reality. The task is to put together a solid foundation of steering committee members, presenters, workshop leaders, and tour sites for an event in October 2015 that will build high school students’ sense of leadership and capacity to educate and organize their peers and communities around healthy eating and living.
This event is a collaborative effort between the Growing Leaders Youth Initiatives at the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and Opportunity Link, Inc.
If you are interested in this event or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Rosie Goldich at vista@opportunitylinkmt.org or (406) 265-3699 or Demetrius Fassas at demetrius.fassas@foodcorps.org or (859) 200-6861.
Food security is defined as the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. The following questionnaires are about the food eaten in your community, local food markets, and school food programs. Please complete the Food Security Assessment – Community if you work in the non-profit sector or are a professional in the food service, community health or food bank community. If you are a small scale farmer or producer, please complete the Food Security Assessment – Farmer. Email completed surveys to the email listed below.
The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Reclamation and Development Grants Program (RDGP) has about $50,000 of remainder planning grant funds available in May 2015.
APPLICATION DUE DATE: Friday, May 8, 2015
Guest speakers, David Jaber from the Oyate Omniciye regional sustainability planning effort of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (Pine Ridge Reservation) and Carrie Runser-Turner from the GroWNC regional planning project in Western North Carolina, provide examples of how their tribal and rural communities were able to advance their priorities through local, regional planning efforts. In addition, Jennie Rodgers, communications specialist with the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, discusses how our local communities can ensure that their priorities are incorporated into the regional plan for Northcentral MT.