Horizons Program overview

Horizons is a community leadership program aimed at reducing poverty in small rural communities. It is funded by the Northwest Area Foundation and facilitated through Washington State University. Bingen and White Salmon are fortunate that they are eligible for this program.

The Community Circles phase was completed this spring when many participants attended several sessions to understand poverty and develop ideas to reduce it. Following that, four members of our community attended three days of training in Moses Lake, shown in the picture. One person, Bruce Bolme, received intensive media and public relations training. The other three people, Zoe Campbell, Ubaldo Hernandez and Wendi Zeober, received Leadership Plenty instruction.

Leadership Plenty is being offered this summer and will be offered again this fall. Participants in the Community Circles and Leadership Plenty will then work together to lead a community visioning process. That process will produce a community vision that will result in solid action on leadership and poverty.

Pamela Roberts: Horizons PR Facilitator

Pamela Roberts of Jefferson County 4-H instructs community members on the uses of online communication systems to highlight community resources and activities.

Fast Track to PR Techniques

On Saturday, June 30, the Washington State University Technology Van was in White Salmon to provide free hands-on training in community public relations techniques and technology. The location was the White Salmon Library, where from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. students learned about blogging, advertising techniques, and using a digital camera.

Leadership Plenty is here in White Salmon and Bingen

Leadership Plenty is a curriculum developed by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. It is designed to equip citizens with skills such as effective communication, conflict management, and partnership building that they can use to work together as community leaders to reduce poverty. The training is free and consists of a total of nine modules which will be offered in both English and Spanish to residents of Bingen and White Salmon over the age of 16.

A Spanish speaking class has begun. It meets Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. until noon. A bi-lingual class for both Latinos and Anglos is being organized. It will provide an opportunity for citizens who want to encourage integration of our Latino and Anglo cultures.

More classes will be available this fall. To register for any of these classes, call Zoe Campbell at 509-493-8202 for the English training, or Ubaldo Hernandez at 541-490-9412 for the Spanish training.