Building Hope – Translating Hope into Action
Hands-on Fun with Science Drones with Jim Barcellos of University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension (UNCE). For ages 8-12. Sponsored in partnership with Healthy Communities. Tues 10am-noon on Tuesday, June 13th at the Silver City Park.
Engineering Fun for Kids: Tuesday June 20th from 10am to noon at the Silver City School House, kids will be “Mining for Chocolate” with the Society of Women Engineers. Sponsored in partnership with Healthy Communities.
Science Fun with Jim Barcellos of University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension (UNCE). For ages 8-12. Learn how Co2 affects water with hands-on experiments. Sponsored in partnership with Healthy Communities. Tues 10am-noon on Tuesday, June 27 at the Silver City School House.
Farmers, Teachers, and HCC Staff Won Scholarships to Training at the Edible School Yard. Five school garden champions from Lyon County were selected for scholarships at the Edible School Yard Intensive training in Berkley, CA this July. Silver Springs teacher Rachel Leach, Healthy Communities school garden liaison Alex Ferguson and director Wendy Madson, and farmers and organic advocates Steve and Marica Litsinger (see also Basin and Range Organics). The five have been key partners with Lyon County School District in the development of nearly a dozen school gardens and hoop houses across the region. The goal is to keep the momentum going – they brought back even more knowledge to share.
Free Art Camp for Kids: Kudos to Zoe Hamilton of The Tiny House Gallery in Dayton for organizing a free art camp for kids ages 10-14 this July. Lots of artists volunteered to share their skills at the camp held at Healthy Communities Coalition’s new headquarters at 209 Dayton Valley Road. Kids made their own pottery, plant terrariums, collages and more. If you haven’t been to Zoe’s Tiny House Gallery yet, it features work by local artisans and artists and is adjacent to HCC’s Community Roots garden center.
Bike Safety Rodeo with Western Safe Routes to Schools for ages 5-12. Tuesday, July 18th from 10am to noon at the Silver City basketball court. Kids will learn road rules and safety, participate in bike maneuvers and exercises. Sponsored in partnership with Healthy Communities.
Stand Tall Youths Selected for All Expenses Paid Trip to National Youth Summit in D.C.: Four Stand Tall members from Lyon County were chosen by the Truth Initiative for an all expenses paid trip to join students from across the U.S. in a tobacco use prevention training program in Washington D.C. this July. The students will come back to their communities and schools with a media campaign that will be fully funded for one year by the Truth Initiative.
Engineering Fun August 1: Robotics activity with Society of Women Engineers for girls and boys ages 7-12. Sponsored in partnership with Healthy Communities – Tues 10am-noon at the Silver City School House.
Healthy Communities’ annual Youth Leadership Camp at Lake Tahoe, Aug. 2-4: For over a decade, Stand Tall teams from across the northwestern Nevada region have attended an annual Healthy Communities Coalition sponsored summer camp at Lake Tahoe. The camp is the central training event for Stand Tall teams, and also includes lots of swimming, canoeing, and fun games. This year during the 3-day camp, 100 youths from the Lyon, Churchill, and Douglas regions will be trained in evidence-based strategies for preventing use of tobacco, alcohol, prescription and other drugs in their communities, as well as in strategies for promoting good nutrition, mental health, and fitness in their schools and towns. As an added treat this year, Sue Mark and Bruce Douglas from marksearch Oakland will lead a class on cyanotypes and participants will create their own artwork to take home.
Silver City Community Garden Tour & Garden Rock Painting, Tuesday, August 8 at 10am. Take a tour of Silver City’s lovely community garden, which is celebrating its 9th growing season. The garden committee members who help make it thrive will lead a brief tour and explain a little about how plants grow from seeds and generate seeds. Then kids will go to the park, find some shade and do a garden related activity. They’ll find rocks, wash them, paint them, dry them on tarps, spray them with a fixative, and then place them around the garden fence to deter digging critters from coming into the garden.
Healthy Communities Meets Thurs Aug. 10 at Silver Springs Community Center: Special guest speakers include Valerie Melendez, Tribal Economic Development Director with Northern Nevada Development Authority. Other agenda items include a special presentation on the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for employers and a ceremony to honor the AmeriCorps members who have worked so hard and well with HCC serving Lyon County citizens of all ages this year.
Presentation for Area Employers, Saturday August 12: Dayton Chamber of Commerce, HCC, and Lyon Human Services are sponsoring a special workshop for employers in the region, focusing on financial incentives for employers to hire disabled Veterans, teens, TANF and Social Security Income recipients, etc. Nevada Credit Union meeting room, Dayton, 11am-1pm.
Preschool Fun Fair August 22: United Way’s annual “Tune into Kids” Fun Fair for Preschoolers and is Tuesday, August 22 from 10am to noon at the Silver City town park. The event, which includes free books and snacks, plus arts and crafts, hands-on science and literacy activities provided by United Way, is for parents and their children ages 2 years to 6 years. Nevada Families First of CCI will also host a booth with fun things for preschoolers and their parents to do, and information about their program. Hosted in partnership with Healthy Communities.
Yerington Tobacco Prevention/Cessation Presentation August 31: free presentation on tobacco cessation resources, tobacco prevention, and e-cigarettes on Thurs. Aug. 31st at 6pm at the local library’s community meeting room. The presentation, which will include light refreshments, is hosted by the Yerington Task Force for a general audience (all ages) with HCC’s Tobacco and Other Drug Use Prevention Coordinator Tammy Watts, plus trained teen leaders from HCC’s Yerington Stand Tall team.
Dayton Walk in Memory – Walk for Hope September 9 at 10am. The 11th Annual “Walk in Memory – Walk for Hope” community suicide prevention awareness walk will be taking place on Saturday, September 9, 2017, in fifteen different communities across Nevada, including Yerington and Dayton. In Dayton, the walk begins at Healthy Communities offices at 209 Dayton Valley Road with an opening speaker, resource brochures and descriptions, snacks, and a short community walk together. Register: https://nvsuicideprevention.org/event/11th-annual-walk-in-memory-walk-for-hope/
Thrive Conference Sept 15 in Silver Springs: Do you know someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty to make her/his community a place where everyone has a seat at the table? Someone who inspires people to work toward the just and thriving future they want for their community and everyone in it? Nominate them for a Community Superhero award. Conference sponsored by CCI, HCC and Lyon Human Services. Includes 3 CEUs. Register for the conference at Community Chest Inc’s website.
December 2017 Fundraising Fun: HCC’s Moonlight and Magic Fundraiser has been cancelled, but please tuned for more details regarding our big December 2017 fundraiser!
Ongoing:
How Does Silver City Build Community? Sue Mark and Bruce Douglas of marksearch designed a unique message box where Silver City residents can share their insights about what “building and sustaining community” means to them. Sue and Bruce are current Resident Artists at the Resident Artist Program in Silver City and HCC is partnering with the Program this summer to support their summer long cultural research project that will result in a town reader of favorite book passages, a storytelling structure for the community, and a collection of new photographs and town postcards with messages from locals about their community. Events: July 1, 11, 13, 18 and 25, and Aug 19.
Community Roots, Healthy Communities’ self sustaining nonprofit garden nursery: So much more than a garden nursery, Community Roots is inspired by our community, youth, and the potential to make change. With your help, Community Roots continues to be an important part of the community, focused on positive change, healthy lifestyles, and education.
HCC’s Dayton Farmers Market: Thursdays from 3:00pm-6:30pm at Community Roots on Highway 50 and 2nd Avenue. Area youth learn how to run a farmers market, and local hard working local farmers and food entrepreneurs get added support. Plus, locals get more access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The market takes cash, SNAP, WIC and USDA senior coupons, etc.
HCC’s Jackrabbit Junction Year Round Indoor Farmers Market: Check out this little market next to the Silver Stage Food Pantry – it’s chock full of fresh food from local farmers and the community garden.
HCC’s Yerington Food Pantry: Healthy Communities’ is over the moon to announce that our Yerington Food Pantry opened on May 10th, 2017! The Pantry is thriving with lots of volunteers, and is open from 10:00a.m.-5:00 p.m. each Wednesday. It is located at 124 West Bridge Street.
HCC’s Silver Stage Food Pantry: In summer good news, for the third year in a row, the Over the Hill Motorcycle Club has made a donation to the Silver Stage Food Pantry. The Pantry is open Mon-Fri. 10am-4pm.
HCC’s Dayton Food Pantry: The pantry has moved to HCC’s new headquarters at 209 Dayton Valley Road. The friendly pantry is open Mon-Thurs 10am-4pm.
HCC’s Silver Springs Community Garden: Locals of all ages learn how to garden and volunteers help make the garden and the hoop house, and plots of alternative crops and fruit trees, thrive. Located behind the Silver Stage Food Pantry.
HCC’s Comstock Youth Works summer internships with employers in Yerington, Fernley, Silver Springs and Dayton areas. About 50 youth from towns across Lyon have learned on the job this summer, taken career-related field trips to colleges and team building events like the Tahoe ropes course, and acquired skills like how to write a resume and how to dress for an interview.
Healthy Communities’ AmeriCorps Members Team 2017-2018: Contact Jenny Claypool, Healthy Communities’ AmeriCorps Supervisor, if you’d like to be part of our team! (775) 246-7550. This year, AmeriCorps will add a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) school garden focus to their work.
Community Health Workers: Healthy Communities’ School Resource Coordinators, AmeriCorps, and many of our other staff are also certified Community Health Workers. This summer Dr. Elizabeth Christiansen from the University of Nevada Center for Program Evaluation presented the results of a return on investment study specific to a group of Community Health Workers in Nevada. The findings? When employing and utilizing Community Health Workers, there was a return on investment of 1.81. Or for every dollar spent to hire, supervise, and train the CHWs there was a savings of $1.81!
Translating Hope into Action: Understanding that people are co-producers of healthy communities, rather than simply consumers of programs and services, is key to the work done through the Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties. The Coalition works by enhancing connections with communities’ assets and by investing in and strengthening those assets. Part of that process is an ongoing discovery of the skills, abilities and experiences individuals possess that can be translated into hope and action. Working together, the Coalition membership provides more ways for people to become involved with their neighbors, to learn and use skills, and to take an active role in building their visions for their communities. Coalition work can be part of communities changing the course of their own development (adapted from Asset Based Community Development concepts by John McKnight in Building Communities From the Inside Out.)
Photo by marksearch of locals harvesting garlic at the Silver City community garden