Having a blast at the Baseball Bash

What's the best way to celebrate the region and the people, communities, businesses and organizations WCI works with that help make west central Minnesota so great? Have a party at a fun regional event, of course!

WCI rented out the Tastefully Simple Terrace at Knute Nelson Memorial Stadium in Alexandria (home of the Alexandria Beetles) on July 19 and invited folks from the nine-county area to enjoy ballpark fare and an evening of camaraderie and baseball (see photos, upper right. Or go to our Flickr site to see larger photos).

The Pope County Men's Chorus--which includes former WCI Board Chair Ralph Lang--sang the National Anthem. Five-year-old Connor Wood from Brandon, whose family is involved in the Brandon Early Childhood Initiative, threw out the first pitch.

Throughout the evening the guests swapped WCI trading cards in order to enter a drawing for one of five $100 grant awards to the regional nonprofit of their choice. And kids designed their own signs to cheer on the Beetles, who won 7-5 over the Green Bay Bullfrogs. Go, Beetles!

Most guests stayed until the very end, some asking as they left: "Where are you holding the party next year?" Anyone have any suggestions? Let one of the WCI staff members know!

Nature puts on a show

The WCI offices are located at the prairie's edge, just where it meets the gently rolling hills of lake country. Our location gives us a front row seat to summer storms as they move in from the Dakotas. We gather at our office windows and watch Nature's drama unfold as black, ominous clouds in swirling, otherworldly shapes roil their way across the sky, and the daytime turns suddenly dark as night.

U of M-Morris program connects students and communities

The "Connecting Students and Communities" (CSC) program provides a University of Minnesota, Morris undergraduate student to help local units of government, K-12 schools, or community-based organizations in the areas of research, project administration, or other support. Students benefit from working with different organizations and learn ways to complete project goals.

The program is offered by the Center for Small Towns (CST) at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and the University of Minnesota West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership to 12 west central Minnesota counties -- Big Stone, Chippewa, Douglas, Grant, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, and Yellow Medicine -- are encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply for this free assistance is July 25, 2008.

Priority is given to projects that include:

• Community-based renewable energy
  
• Local and healthy foods
  
• Healthy landscapes and water


• Natural- and cultural-based tourism


• Economic development


• Other project areas will also be considered.

The student will be available for up to 10 hours a week during Fall semester from August 27, 2008 (or the time of student hiring) through December 12, 2008.

Download the CSC application online at the Center for Small Towns web site.

Deadline for the application is July 25, 2008. For more information contact Jessica Beyer at (320) 589-6451 or jbeyer@mrs.umn.edu

(Paper) hats off to kid ingenuity!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.


Pete Morsch, communications and mentorlink coordinator for Metro Youth Partnership, sent WCI the best thank you recently, accompanied by some great photos of a recent event. Here's what Pete said about RiverArts:

The Metro Youth Partnership (note the name change--you might remember us as the Moorhead Healthy Community Initiative) and our Early Childhood Alliance have benefitted from the support of the West Central Initiative for years now, working toward sound social and emotional development for all young kids in our area.

Last week, we provided activities for young kids (and grown-ups too) at RiverArts, a monthly arts and entertainment gathering put together by Moorhead Parks and Recreation. As you can see by the photos, the kids ate up our simple newspaper hat recipe. Watching the creativity and ingenuity at work is a real trip, and of course we got the parents in on the fun as well.
Prairie Public television brought in Maya and Miguel characters to life (with the help of our VISTA volunteer and friends), and the kids just flocked to our booth.

Thanks, WCI, for putting kids first, and supporting the ongoing work of non-profits like Metro Youth and the Moorhead Early Childhood Alliance.

Resources to help families make ends meet

Rising grocery prices. Pain at the gas pump. Home foreclosures. These days the economic news isn't good for families.

Families are having to make adjustments in many areas of their budget. Sometimes economic stress can result in short tempers and lack of communication. The University of Minnesota Extension has resources that can help families not only with strategies to help manage family resources but also to improve communication--especially with children--in tough economic times.

Just some of the topics include:

• Adjusting to Suddenly Reduced Income


• How Kids Can Help Mom or Dad
  
• Staying Resilient in Times of Change

Check out all of the U Extension's helpful parenting information here.

Be proud of what you did on your summer vacation

Are you wondering what to do on your summer vacation? Would you like to do something different, something that would make a real difference in people's lives? Consider helping out at this summer's Group Workcamp, a unique community service event, locally sponsored by West Central Minnesota Communities Action, Inc.

During the week of July 21-25, 2008, more than 400 church group kids from across the country will make Wheaton High School their headquarters as they paint and repair approximately 50 homes in Traverse County during the week.

The workcamp is encouraging church groups, service organizations, local businesses, individuals and families to take part. There are several volunteer opportunities, from community coordinators to painters to kitchen help. In addition, individuals are needed the week before to help set up for the volunteers. Visit the workcamp's Web site to learn more.

Fergus Falls learns a thing or two about social media

Folks from Fergus Falls and the surrounding area learned last night that "Twitter" is not the sound a bird makes, and "mashup" isn't what you do to your potatoes--at least not on the Web.

Participants of the blogging and social media workshops held at West Central Initiative on June 23 broadened both their vocabulary and Web 2.0 knowledge. The workshops were presented by Tim Erickson from E-Democracy.Org.

Erickson encouraged the group to consider how they could use some of the online tools to engage their communities. He shared sites that were doing just that, like Locally Grown Northfield and new york mills mn. He also encouraged participants to look at how they can share their interests, concerns and info with others through blogging. Some examples include Lida Farm, Travels with Children, Bluestem Prairie, oh, and West Central Blogger, of course!

Tim also recommended these fun, short "how-to" online videos:
Blogs in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
Social Media in Plain English
Wikis in Plain English
Online Photo Sharing in Plain English

Finally, here is Tim's list of things to keep in mind when starting/keeping a blog (in a nutshell):

1. Figure out who your audience is.
2. Keep it personal.
3. Read other blogs.
4. Link to other blogs.
5. Post regularly.
6. Just do it.