Idaho

These days the fastest growing group of business owners is women who use their entrepreneur spirits, leadership and creativity to start businesses. According  Luz Robles, director of the Zions Business Resource Center http://www.utahpolicy.com/brc/DirectorLuzRobles.jpg  to the Center for Women’s Business Research, in 2006, 7.7 million firms were either woman-owned or women held the majority share. Women account for 29.7 percent of all businesses in the U.S., a 42.3 percent increase since 1997. Women are having a direct impact in our national and state economy.

 Zions Bank is committed to working with women to make their dreams a reality by offering a series of micro-grants for women. The 2008 Zions Bank Smart Women Grant enables deserving women with hopes of starting a community-oriented business or project to have access to funding to make this a reality.

 Grants are open to female residents in both Utah and Idaho and are awarded in six different areas including small business start-up and expansion; child and elder care; community development; continuing education and teacher support; health and human services; and arts and culture. Community review panels will select the grant recipients.

Applications are available online at www.smartwomen.zionsbank.com and are due by July 31, 2008.

The Idaho Partners for Homebuyer Education, Inc., a 501(c)(3) created by IHFA and several organizations statewide, has designed an education program called Finally Home!® to help address many issues that potential home owners face. The program covers all the steps involved in making that big investment, from qualifying for a mortgage and choosing a Realtor®, to making an offer and closing costs.Participants who successfully complete Finally Home!® may be eligible for the following incentives:

Down payment and closing cost assistance

Programs that accept higher debt ratios

Using “gifted funds” at closing

More than 14,000 students statewide have been educated through the program since its inception in 1999. Approximately 200 classes are offered statewide each year through eight regional training partners. The Idaho Partners for Homebuyer Education, Inc. anticipate educating 2,500 during 2006.

CLASS SCHEDULE:

Designed specifically for first-time home buyers, classes are taught throughout the state by regional training partners. Click on a location near you for class schedules:

The fee for the classroom course is $10 per student except the classes held in Lewiston. Community Action Partnership, the Regional Training Partner is Lewiston, initially charges $10 for the class but refunds it upon completion.

	Adams County and Valley County
	Boise
	Caldwell
	Coeur d’Alene
	Idaho Falls
	Lewiston
	Nampa
	Pocatello
	Post Falls
	Hailey
	Valley County

An online course is also available statewide. The online course can be accessed at: www.ihfa.org/FinallyHomeOnlineCourse, and the fee for the online course is $50.

Idaho Horizons is part of a large-scale poverty reduction/leadership development program funded by the Northwest Area Foundation. Six other states and their communities have blogs that are authored by community members just like you. Check out what those communities are doing by starting at the state pages and exploring. These blogs are informative, interesting AND inspiring…

• Iowa (click on a community blog listed in the ‘blog roll’)
• North Dakota (click on a community blog listed in the ‘blog roll’)
• South Dakota (click on a community blog listed in the ‘blog roll’)
• Minnesota (click on a community blog listed in the ‘blog roll’)
• Montana (click on a community blog listed in the ‘blog roll’)
• Washington State (click on each individual community and then click on their ‘blogspot’ link)

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

“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).

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) sometimes called the Earned Income Credit (EIC), is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families. Congress originally approved the tax credit legislation in 1975 in part to offset the burden of social security taxes and to provide an incentive to work. When the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.

To qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated to file a tax return.

The EITC has no effect on certain welfare benefits. In most cases, EITC payments will not be used to determine eligibility for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, low-income housing or most Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments.

Find out if you are eligible for the EITC by answering some questions and providing basic income information using the EITC Assistant.

“Labels are for cans, not for children” states third grade teacher Valorie Lewis of Stigler, Oklahoma. Lewis overcame many childhood hardships growing up in severe poverty (including living in a horsetrailer for over a year) and she now works daily to instill a sense of worth and respect for others in her pupils in the high poverty school district she teaches in. Check out this inspiring article from USA Today here.

The Study Circles Resource Center has a web article about 2 of our Horizons communities, Bonners Ferry and the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. Check out what your neighbors are up to! The website also talks about other study circles across the nation and the topics they are talking about (education, immigration, racial equality, police & community, etc.)

The University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences publication, Programs & People, has devoted its winter 2008 issue to poverty and programs that the college offers to work with individuals and communities dealing with the real world impacts of poverty. To read the articles (including one about Horizons), please visit the publication’s website.

Inspired by the successful and innovative Handmade in America collaboration in the Blue Mountains of North Carolina, Two Degrees Northwest is about creating a place-based economy, where dollars are firmly tied to heritage, landscape and community. Moreover, it fosters regional thinking, entrepreneurism, and community and resource stewardship.

Uniquely Idaho is a collaborative effort of… University of Idaho Extension — Idaho Dept. of Commerce — USDA Rural Development — Idaho Rural Partnership — Idaho Transportation Department — Idaho Commission on the Arts — Idaho Department of Agriculture — Idaho State Historical Society — Idaho Parks and Recreation — And countless local and regional partners!

Click here to read the first issue of the Uniquely Idaho Newsletter and see what’s going on in YOUR community.

For more information, please contact Lorie Higgins, University of Idaho Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology (higgins@uidaho.edu; 208-885-9717)