Life in a Natural Resource Dependent Community My background and current responsibilities.
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Life in a Natural Resource Dependent Community My background and current responsibilities.
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Transcript of Life in a Natural Resource Dependent Community My background and current responsibilities.
Life in a Natural Resource Dependent CommunityMy background and current responsibilities.
Background
• Regional Welfare Specialist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – 7 stakes, 3 states
• Executive Director, Montpelier Gem Team (community’s economic development organization)
• Chairman of the Board of Partners for Prosperity
Description of the Community• Greater Bear Lake Valley
– High mountain valley
Principle crop – grass & alfalfaHistory of phosphate miningAgriculture & mining dependentThird lowest wage rate in state of IdahoMajority of children on the
school free lunch program
Description of the Community
Aging Population – Few young families
Declining enrollment in schoolsLargest population group – 65 and older
Decline of Business Community –Vacant storefrontsFailing businesses
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Exporting children – only the successful can return.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Loss of legacy – children unwilling to accept the life and lifestyle.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Working to support the ranch.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Layoffs in the mining industry – enduring the down times.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
The commute – second residences.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
The phenomenon of under-employment – the truck and the gun rack.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
How does the family get health insurance and other benefits?
Symptoms of Western Poverty
Nobody’s home – divorce, daycare, the empty dinner table.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
We must advertise on the web – we attract the jobless, welfare recipients, the uninsured.
Symptoms of Western Poverty
•Several generations of family living in one home
•Late marriages – sometimes no marriage
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
Asset mapping and the asset mapping town meeting.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
The Halliburton opportunity – talk about a commute.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
Bear Lake Valley and its greatest natural asset – water.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
A large source of underground water – ‘water that Adam & Eve would have drunk.’
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
The value of the western dialect and of church missionary service.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
Manufacturing in the Bear Lake Valley – we weld and we sew.
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
Our greatest natural asset – the Bear Lake and what are we doing about it?
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
•Downtown restoration
•Industrial park•Tourism, tourism and tourism
Creating New Economic
Opportunities for Rural People
Two new feasibility studies – bottled water and tourism.
Some of the Good Things
Legacy of our past – Allinger Park, the Seniors Center, the Library.
Some of the Good Things
Downtown restoration and how we’re using our history.
Some of the Good Things
Bears everywhere!
Some of the Good Things
National Oregon/California Trail Center.
Some of the Good Things
Bear Lake Memorial Hospital
Some of the Good Things
Free Senior Health Carnival and Elementary Students Health
Fairs
Some of the Things You Should Know
About Us
We’re proud. Often unwilling to admit that we’re living in poverty.
Some of the Things You Should Know
About Us
We’re independent but very willing to help each other.
Some of the Things You Should Know
About Us
We’re ambivalent about growth and economic development.
Some of the Things You Should Know
About Us
We don’t like to feel that we’re the subject of analysis.
