“A diamond in the rough,” is the way people describe their hometown of Plummer, Idaho, on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. When planners began to talk about improving U.S. Highway 95 through the nearby town of Worley, the people of Plummer galvanized efforts to use the construction project as a springboard to polishing the area’s image and economy.
“When you drive through town, there’s nothing to attract and keep you. Plummer and Worley have new businesses with career-ladder jobs, but they’re still plagued by the look of poverty. In the past generation, the downtowns have virtually disappeared,” said Laura Laumatia, a Plummer resident and chairperson of One Sky North Idaho, a nonprofit organization that promotes community development on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. “We saw this as an opportunity to spruce up the towns with roadside landscaping, sidewalks and even a pocket park,” said Laumatia, who is also a coach with the Horizons program – a locally delivered initiative funded by the Northwest Area Foundation, to train and develop new and stronger leaders with a lens for long-term poverty reduction. Moving from poverty to sustainable prosperity means designing, owning and fueling the many interlaced efforts required to understand and instigate this shift. Building capacity and leadership among individuals, communities and organizations is essential if the changes are to last and strengthen over time.
The Foundation seeks to help organizations and communities increase leadership skills through training, seminars and other capacity-building efforts. The Horizons program is one example. Its purpose is to expand and strengthen leadership within small, rural communities so that they are better equipped to address poverty and move the community to prosperity. Over the last several years, the Foundation has supported the work of several university extension services and a tribal college to design and deliver the 18-month training and coaching program directly into communities across the Foundation’s region. Each of these institutional grantees has developed a clearer lens about poverty and leadership. Plummer is one of the close to 300 communities that have participated to date; each with a population of 5,000 or fewer, with a poverty rates of at least 10 percent, and with a history of significant population change. Each community has its own story of leadership and change.
At first many Coeur d’Alene Reservation residents thought the highway project was too big to take on because it was directed by the state highway transportation office in the city of Coeur d’ Alene. Their perspective changed with the information, skills and confidence they gained through the Horizons program. They felt they could influence this project, and excitement grew when they saw their ideas making an impact.
“The Idaho Department of Transportation said, ‘we’d love to sit down with you and talk about it.’ This led to us collaborating with University of Idaho graduate students on more projects related to beautification, including drafting a zoning ordinance that would support the development of a core downtown in Plummer. More people became involved in the local planning process because they understood how they could have an impact,” said Laumatia.
The U.S. Highway 95 project now awaits funding; however, Plummer is not standing still. Community members are moving forward to rebuild their town’s unique charm. They have partnered with one of the town’s leading employers, a manufacturer of aircraft components and other high tech products, to begin landscaping projects. Members of a community development team have approached businesses and homeowners about remodeling their structures.
“You can see an impact on the community when we put pride in the way we look. It sparks a hopeful attitude toward the future,” said Laumatia. “Although it’s a slow process, we want to make improvements to attract more business and to retain our young people.”
Currently there are people who work in this town of just under 1,000, but choose not to live there. By restoring an aesthetic expression of the community’s cultural heritage, residents hope to motivate more people to put their roots down in Plummer, and work to increase its prosperity for the long term.
For more information: Horizons Community Blogs
