Going - Going - NOT Gone

One of our intrepid community coaches for the Horizons program has retired. While we will miss Linda Williams as an official coach, we can still benefit from her expertise as a Master Gardener. We expect to learn a lot from her as we engage in our ambitious community gardens project this spring.

Community Gardens Are Coming to Bingen and White Salmon

On Saturday November 3, 2007 many Bingen – White Salmon Horizons community members attended a visioning session at the Pioneer Center. We used that day-long session to form Action Teams for the specific areas that the people at the Action Forum most wanted to see in their communities.

The Food and Garden Education Action Team was one of the favorite activities. The original team consisted of Jay Anderson, Bruce Bolme, Zoë Campbell, Timi Keene, and Debbie Olson. Since the visioning session, we’re delighted to have new members Brenda Spring, Clair Hook, and Lorena Lowell join the team.

This team decided that the best way to educate the community about food and gardening was to create a community garden project and have a variety of classes on local food production, nutrition, and preservation.

We developed criteria for a good garden site, and requested our communities to identify sites that would meet those criteria. The response was terrific, and we had 10 sites to look at and choose from.

Three sites had the desired location, access, water, and represented our communities very well. One is near Daubenspeck Park in Bingen. It has a storage shed, and is partially fenced. It has good pedestrian access for Bingen residents and can provide hands-on experience in food growing. About 12 garden plots, 4 ft x 20 ft, will be available.

Another is adjacent to Rhine Village, a low-income housing unit in White Salmon. Many residents are interested in gardening, and this will be their first opportunity to get their hands dirty and produce clean healthy food for themselves. This site is large enough for at least 16 4x20 plots.

The third site is on the grounds of Bambinos, a bilingual learning center for children. This location is already fenced, and includes a house for educational classes and a kitchen for learning and doing food preservation. The garage can be used for equipment storage. About 12 plots will be available here. It has good pedestrian access for many White Salmon residents, and the children at the center can have their own garden space. They will learn about food from seed to mouth, and have a better understanding of what gardening means for humans.

How to choose? Which site and which people get a community garden? In order to maximize opportunity for poverty reduction, for nutritional education, and gardening experience, we decided to S T R E T C H our capability and sponsor community gardens at all three sites. The Columbia High School agriculture department has offered to roto-till each parcel and to provide plant starts from their greenhouse.

The Team will be providing hand tools and an irrigation system at each site, plus a storage shed and deer fencing if needed, to the limit of our capability. We are asking the people and local businesses in our communities to S T R E T C H their capability as well and be generous with their time, their energy and enthusiasm, and tools and gardening equipment that they might be willing to share or donate. These community gardens are a team effort. With the active involvement of our communities we can have a win-win experience.

Gorge Grown Food Network [www.gorgegrown.com] and the Master Gardener program of WSU Extension have offered their excellent coaching and technical support. We also have the model of a successful community garden in Hood River sponsored by La Clinica to provide ideas and oohs and aahs.

All the plots will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, while taking care that land is available for children at each site.

Our Community Moves From Vision to Action

After completing the Community Circles phase and the Action Forum phase, the Horizons Program moved into the Visioning phase. On Saturday November 3, 2007, many Bingen – White Salmon Horizons community members attended a visioning session at the Pioneer Center in White Salmon. Our facilitators were the very capable and effective Monica Babine and Dee Christensen from WSU Extension. Attendees reviewed the work done during several community circles earlier in the year and many focus areas were identified and then prioritized for future action. After discussion and deliberation, the top four Action Items were: Affordable Housing; Food and Garden Education; the Northside Community Education program; and Transformational Change Agency. Each attendee chose to join the Action Team of their favorite Action Item. It was tempting to want to join more than one. Each Action Team will promote work activities that fall within its focus area.

The steering committee that provides oversight of all Horizons activities in the Bingen – White Salmon area consists of Anne Goranson-Salas, Bruce Bolme, Deborah Grove, Martin Campos-Davis, Timi Keene, Ubaldo Hernandez, and Zoe Campbell. The group meets monthly, usually at Worksource in White Salmon. The groups next meeting is scheduled for January 24 at 10 a.m. Visitors and volunteers are always welcome. For more information you can call 493-5020 and ask for Anne.

Horizons Vision and Planning Event

Greetings to Horizons Participants and future Horizons Participants
We gathered your ideas and suggestions to make Bingen and White Salmon a better community and we want to share them with you. And, we want you to select the high priority action items to work on first.
Please join us at our Horizons Community Project of Visionary and Strategic Planning. Together, let's build a better place to live!
We are meeting at the Pioneer Center this Saturday,
November 3, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Lunch will be provided.
The Pioneer Center is located at 501 NE Washington Street in White Salmon.
Please invite your friends who live in this community.
Thanks,
Your steering committee for Bingen and White Salmon

Washington Gorge Action Programs

Washington Gorge Action Programs is a non-profit, serving the Klickitat & Skamania, Washington communities as an action agency for the public benefit of the following:

# Community Services
# Family Services
# Weatherization
# Emergency Assistance
# Emergency Services
# Food Assistance
# Emergency Shelter
# Housing Development
# Domestic Violece
# Sexual Assault


Click Here for the Washington Gorge Action Programs website.

WorkSource: Central Washington

You can visit the WorkSource centers directly. Select the location below to learn about contacting them, and what you will find when you visit them:

* WorkSource Columbia Gorge
* WorkSource Goldendale Affiliate
* WorkSource Sunnyside
* WorkSource Toppenish Affiliate
* WorkSource Yakima
* WorkSource Kittitas

* WorkSource Central Washington

Our Vision

The OneStop Workforce Partnership of Central Washington will…

1. Be Customer / Consumer Driven
2. Utilize Integrated Technology Systems
3. Have Accessibility, i.e. Easy Access (also for special needs) and be easily
recognizable
4. Share Resources and Current, Updated Information
5. Emphasize Co-Ownership and Interdependency Between Partners
6. Be Outcome Based, Using Quality Improvement Strategies
7. Each Partner Organization will offer Access to Identified Levels of Core
Services.

Our Mission

To provide an effective, comprehensive, and fully integrated delivery system of services for successful employment. To bring together business, economic development, employment, training, education, labor, and social services to share responsibility for universal access and workforce development. To share resources to increase service delivery capacity and efficiency, and provide access to information and services across organizational lines.

Membership to the OneStop Workforce Partnership of Central Washington is open to all interested parties. Anyone interested in becoming a member of the partnership should submit a letter of interest to the full membership,

What Services are available?

There is a dependable menu of services that may be directly offered at one or more locations:

For the Job Seeker...

* Resource Room - FREE access to computers, phones, fax machines, copiers, and Internet, all for your use in resume writing and job search activities.
* Job Search Assistance - Let our staff and resources help match you with a job suited to your skills and career needs.
* Workshops - Several FREE workshops are available. Topics include writing effective resumes, interviewing, dressing for success, financial planning, and more.
* Unemployment Insurance Information - You can file a claim for unemployment insurance simply by dialing 1-800-362-4636. More information is available at gotoui.com, or from our WorkSource centers.
* Recruitments and Job Fairs - Many businesses come directly to us to fill their hiring needs. Make sure we have your resume, so that we can call on you when those opportunities arise. And watch for information about job fairs in your area.
* Career counseling and assessment - Our experienced staff can help you determine what sort of career you are best suited for, and what you can do to advance to an even better job.
* Transitional assistance (dislocated workers) - If you have lost your job because of a lay-off or business closure, let us help get you back into the working world as quickly and as successfully as possible. We may even be able to help finance your training for a new career.
* Information on job trends and labor market data
* Veterans services
* Help in finding federal or state dollars to cover some or all of the costs of training
* Information about employment and training providers to help you make informed choices
* employer assistance through recruitment and pre-screening of applicants

For the business / employer...

* Automated or assisted job posting
* Recruitment and pre-screening of applicants.
* Unemployment Insurance information - how to reduce your premium burden.
* Information on wages, benefits and labor market data
* Infomation about state taxes.
* Human Resources - Let our staff augment, or act as your HR Department.
* Tax Credits - There are many ways you can earn significant tax credits, while training new employees to fill your open positions.
* Customized training - Need special training for your employees, so you can grow your business and stay competitive? Contact us for information about how we can help.

These services are offered by a number of partner organizations who participate in this one-stop system. The cooperation among these partners makes the blend of these services seamless to you, the customer.

Where are the access points?

You will find many of these services, and/or information on how to access them in person, here on our website.

Klickitat County: Environmental Health Services

Our Mission

Improving People's Health by Reducing Exposures to Environmental Hazards. This is accomplished by:

* maintaining a safe supply of food and drinking water
* discovering the mechanisms of environmentally related diseases
* treating and disposing of solid and toxic wastes
* reducing air, water, food, and noise pollution

Click Here for the website.

Klickitat County: Personal Health Services

Our Mission

We work to promote and protect the health of Washington citizens. This is accomplished by:

* Improve health through disease and injury prevention, immunization, and newborn
screening for prenatal disease programs.
* Prevent illness and death caused by behavior choices
* Provide education to help people make good health decisions
* Control communicable diseases
* Strengthen families

Click Here for the Personal Health Services website.