By Michael Howell
The Stevensville Main Street Association was instrumental in landing a $7,500 “capacity building grant” that the organization used to improve communications between their organization and other organizations in the community.
The grant money was used to facilitate a series of meetings with leaders from and a set number of members from the Town of Stevensville, the Stevensville Civic Club, the Stevensville Community Foundation, and the Stevensville Main Street Association. The groups met for three, three-hour sessions that were facilitated by Geoff Badenoch.
Badenoch said that first he had each group describe themselves and what they do. Then they each performed a SWOT analysis and identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to their successful operation. Then the members of the groups were mixed up and participants made suggestions for an action plan to address the issues that had been identified.
Badenoch said that it was a very good way for groups to get a view of themselves and of other groups in the community.
“It improves communications all the way around,” he said.
Some of the things that came to the forefront as shared concerns, according to Main Street Director Joan Prather, were some common concerns about retaining strong leadership and vital memberships.
“We discussed how to groom new leadership and how to recruit youth into our organizations,” said Prather. She said other common concerns included having enough volunteers and enough money to operate.
Prather called the meetings “a collaborative success.”
“I think everybody found it to be very helpful,” she said.
One outcome is a plan to continue a “leadership forum” that met several times last year. The Stevensville Civic Club is organizing a new series of those meetings in hopes of keeping the momentum going. For more information contact Jamie Nobi at Rocky Mountain Bank, 777-5553.