Idaho

Some Idaho hunger statistics from the Idaho Food Bank:

–An average of 66,300 (14.6%) Idaho families worried they could not afford food (known as food insecurity) between 2002 and 2004. And 17,377 (3.7%) families had members who actually went hungry (food insecurity with hunger) during the same period. This makes Idaho the 8th hungriest state in the country.

–In another study, the US Department of Agriculture ranked Idaho the 4th worst hunger state and found that 4.5% (22,098) of Idaho households experienced hunger between 1999-2001. In its previous study, done between 1996-98, USDA rated Idaho in a tie for 25th. This descent, from 25th to 4th, was the second worst among the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Only Utah’s decline was worse. (USDA: Household Food Security in the US, December 2002)

The Idaho Food Bank website has info on how to organize a food drive in your own community as well as other statistics and resources for your community and information about programs such as ‘Grow a Row’ (planting extra plants in your own garden to donate to food banks or other organizations).

Rules:
Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, April 1 (no jokes about April Fool’s day!) by midnight and be entered in the drawing for a fabulous prize.

Reflective Question: How is your community thinking about/planning for sustainability after the end of the Horizons program on June 30? What will Horizons-related groups look like in your community in one year? Are you optimistic/worried? (relieved?)

Scavenger Hunt Question: Which community has been approved to receive a $65,000 Idaho Community Development Block Grant for work on their city water reservoir?

HINT: don’t forget to check ‘previous entries’ (the link at the bottom of the blog page, or check archives in the column on the right)

This week’s winner will receive BOTH of the following books:

The Magic of Dialogue : Transforming Conflict into Cooperation by Daniel Yankelovich

Population: 485 –Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry

More free cartoons available at weblogcartoons.com

Our winner from last week’s blog scavenger hunt / answer is….. Judi from UpRiver. Please visit their blog to read her answers (http://upriver.communityblogs.us/)

Judi gets to choose a book title from our community development library:
Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets - John P. Kretzmann  or

Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Local Schooling - Paul Theobald

As promised, here are your two Weekly Questions!

Rules:
Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, March 25 at midnight and be entered in the drawing for a fabulous prize. This week’s prize-the weekly winner can choose from one of these book titles
Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets - John P. Kretzmann or
Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Local Schooling - Paul Theobald

The Questions:
1. A reflective question–What do you think of Horizons blogging? What do you like, what do you dislike? What can the UI Horizons Team do to help improve the blogging experience?

2. A scavenger hunt question (visit other community blogsites to find this answer) What is a PUG Mark and in which community would you find them?

Instructions:
These questions will be posted on your blog so you can post the answers on your website.

Find out using the Southern Rural Development Initiative’s Federal Funds Analysis Program. You can also find out what types of local programs are receiving federal funding and how local federal funding compares to that of neighboring counties.

The USDA’s Economic Research Service provides access to reports on a variety of rural development strategies. Reports include Education as a Rural Development Strategy; Recreation, Tourism and Rural Well-Being and Farm-Based Recreation. Check out other research available from their Rural Development Strategies Briefing Room.

“Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain.” A recent article in the Financial Times summarized research presented at a recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Research indicates “many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development.” For more information please read the article here (free but user must register) and this New York Times editorial (free access) that discusses the article. Another good article about the research findings is available here (free).