Newsletter - November 2021 Edition

IN THIS ISSUE: Communities of Excellence Kansas PRIDE Partner Award NEW - Kansas PRIDE Toolkit PRIDE Community Happenings Childcare: Joint Facilities Resource Guide - USDA/HHS Continuing Opportunities Section External Funding Resources Up for a Community Visit? We Are, Too! Catch Us on Facebook & Facebook Live! Events Calendar 2021 Kansas PRIDE Communities

Communities of Excellence Congratulations to the communities of Alton, Blue Rapids, Caney, Iola, Lecompton, Norton, Potwin and Randolph! These communities have receive the designation of Community of Excellence! The benefits of being a Community of Excellence include: Recognition in the Kansas PRIDE Newsletter (CHECK!) Recognition in our Annual Review Recognition in the League of Kansas Municipalities Kansas Government Journal Statewide Recognition through a news release (see below for a link to access) A community bar sign that lists the designation, and active years (in this case 2022-2024) The opportunity to apply for Community of Action, Community Promotion, Community Emergency, and Volunteers Impact PRIDE Grants If your community is a Community of Action that has done a community assessment (First Impressions counts!) within the last 3-5 years, your community might consider applying for the designation of Community of Excellence before September 1, 2022. Click on the image in this article to connect to our Promotions Page for more information. Here is a link to a recent news release (CLICK HERE to access). Share widely! Thank you for all you do, and again, Congratulations to our Communities of Excellence! - Jaime Menon, K-State Research and Extension PRIDE Program Co-Coordinator, [email protected]

Kansas PRIDE Partner Award This year's Kansas PRIDE Partner Award goes to Mandy Wilson of the K-State Research and Extension Bookstore. This award is given each year to honor a K-State Research and Extension employee who goes the extra mile for PRIDE communities. To quote one of our communities Mandy has assisted through the sign ordering process: "Mandy is extremely understanding, patient, and helpful! She went above and beyond to assist us - she's a real gem of a person!" Congratulations, Mandy, and thanks for all you do for Kansas PRIDE communities!

NEW! Kansas PRIDE Toolkit Jan and I are SO EXCITED to introduce to you, the NEW and IMPROVED Kansas PRIDE Toolkit! During the pandemic Jan and I decided that the Toolkit needed a revamp, so we did some research and found some great information from Penn State and The Ohio State that inspired us to redo the entire thing! A huge THANK YOU to the Kansas PRIDE, Inc. Education and Marketing Committee for reviewing the information to make sure things were relevant and accurate with the times! We have broken the toolkit down into shorter, more absorbable videos, and have added great resources both to the videos and the handouts associated with the toolkit. The Toolkit includes: GETTING ORGANIZED - Board Roles and Responsibilities FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY - Financial Management Tips and Tools for Raising, Managing and Spending TELLING YOUR STORY – Ways to Catalog Work and Communicate Your Effectiveness STAYING ON TARGET - Creating Your Mission and Vision  VOLUNTEER MOTIVATION AND MAINTENANCE – Recruiting, Recognition and Retention VOLUNTEER NATURE – Beyond Generation - Understanding Connection and Communication Check out the new offerings, by FOLLOWING THIS LINK or clicking on the image in this article. We are so excited to be getting this information out to you to help support you through your local PRIDE community operations and endeavors! Keep a look out on our Facebook page, we plan on introducing the videos there, and staying on for any Q&A that might naturally come from the new videos! - Jaime Menon, K-State Research and Extension PRIDE Program Co-Coordinator, [email protected]

PRIDE Community Happenings

The Grainfield Community Development Committee (PRIDE) let us know that they've completed their Stadium Bleachers project at Wheatland High School. Using a Volunteers Impact PRIDE Grant, and partnerships with USD 292 and volunteers (local Mason, city council member, students, parents, and more), they were able to pour the concrete and get the bleachers installed. The bleachers look great!

Blue Rapids was very busy in the last quarter. They helps their 150(+1) celebration with food, games, a time capsule opening, and fireworks. The family fun night was also a success with a pulled pork dinner, cake walk, roller skating and live music. Both events were in partnership with the local Chamber of Commerce. Mural painting, playground planning, seasonal flags, a fishing contest, and Yard of the Month also took place.

Norton PRIDE added the reading of the Community Folios to the end of their meetings in order to learn more about the program and to bring up questions. Additionally, they partnered with the local Kiwanis to post over 50 holiday flags, got the Leadership Norton County '21-'22 going, and worked on downtown beautification efforts. These and other projects were made possible in the 3rd quarter by 2,710 volunteer hours.

Childcare: Joint Facilities Resource Guide - USDA/HHS USDA-Rural Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Administration for Children and Families, have issued a Joint Facilities Guide. The purpose of the guide is to provide useful information to help stakeholders in rural communities address the need for improved access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning facilities. The guide can be found here, and a link to the kickoff video providing additional information can be found here.

CONTINUING OPPORTUNITIES SECTION

From K-State Research and Extension GRANT WRITING WORKSHOPS In 2021, K-State Research and Extension Grant-writing workshops went online. The online workshop is designed to be presented to participants in two 3-hour courses and will cost $60. Local Extension agents are the hosts for the workshops, but since workshops are online, you can attend any workshop in the state. There are two ways to participate: go to our website (https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/community/) and under "Events" on the right side you can register at a scheduled workshop or ask your local extension agent to host. For more information, contact Nancy Daniels [email protected]

FIRST FRIDAY E-CALLS K-State Research and Extension offers entrepreneurship webinars every first Friday of the month.  Visit our Webpage for all past sessions. Registration information for upcoming sessions can be found HERE. FIRST IMPRESSIONS Ever wonder what people visiting your town think? First impressions are important as the community works to improve the overall quality of life and develop its sense of place. Interested in First Impressions for your community? Visit our Webpage to learn more.

External Funding Opportunities Want to put your new grant writing skills to use? Here are some opportunities for project funding outside of the Kansas PRIDE grants: The Abelard Foundation West is committed to supporting grassroots social change organizations west of the Mississippi River engaged in community organizing and building a strong informed voice on public policy issues; expand community control over economic, social and environmental decisions affecting the community’s well-being; and represent the interests of the community. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are January 15 and June 15 with grant opportunities from $6,000 to $12,000. Visit the website for more information and eligibility requirements: https://www.commoncounsel.org/Abelard+Foundation+West/ The Firefighters Charitable Foundation offers grants for community smoke detector programs and community AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators). The grant cycle is continuous and the application can be found here: https://www.ffcf.org/organizations The McKee Foundation awards grants in the areas of civic, cultural, education, youth activities, rehabilitation and welfare, and community funds. Awards are only made to 501c3 organizations. Grants range from $1,000 to $35,000 and the deadline for this upcoming round is December 1, 2021. For more details, visit: http://www.mckeefoundation.org/ifa_guidelines.htm Additional Funding Resources Is your Kansas PRIDE community looking for funding to help with certain projects? Let us know what the project is, how much you're seeking, and what your timeline looks like. We have access to a grants database and likely can give you some links to potential funding sources. Just email us at [email protected] with your request and project idea. Not a Kansas PRIDE community? This resource is a great reason to join! You can also reach out to your local Extension office which should have access to the database as well. - Jan Steen, Kansas PRIDE Program Co-Coordinator, [email protected]

Up for a Virtual, or in Person, Community Visit? We Are, Too! Our offer at the end of each newsletter is to engage your community remotely, or in person! Our model has changed slightly - we prefer virtual for initial steps as our introduction videos can be shared widely throughout the community. We would be more than happy to host a Zoom meeting where your PRIDE group members, city council members, chamber participants, Masonic Lodge, or other groups could individually log in to see the presentation or discussion and ask questions. In person is a great way to get assessments or other community planning done, and we are happy to do a survey read out as a neutral party, or help you through a Strategic Doing session. Just e-mail us at [email protected] to set up a schedule. To view pre-recorded webinars giving an introduction to the program, step-by-step instructions on how to enroll or report, fundraising, recruiting volunteers, and more, head over to our Education page for more. Keep your eye on that page, as we will be updating our Toolkit soon! - Jan Steen and Jaime Menon, Kansas PRIDE Program Co-Coordinators, [email protected] We often post items of interest on our Facebook page between newsletters. Grants, volunteer training, project ideas, and even the occasional Live stream will pop up. Click the button below to like and follow the program activity there: Like Us On Facebook!

EVENTS CALENDAR Quarterly Report Dates: January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, October 15th  Awards Deadlines: May 1st, September 1st

2021 Kansas PRIDE Communities The following communities are currently enrolled in the Kansas PRIDE program. To enroll your community visit our Enrollment and Reporting page and click on the light blue "Enroll" button to get started.

Admire Alton Anthony Arlington Ashland Axtell Basehor Belleville Blue Rapids Burden Bushton Caldwell Caney Clifton Columbus Conway Springs Council Grove Delia Dover Dwight Elk City Ellis Erie Florence Fort Scott Glasco Grainfield Grinnell Harper Haysville Herndon Highland Humboldt Independence Iola Kinsley La Harpe Lakin Larned Lecompton Leon Leonardville LeRoy Lewis Lincoln Lucas Luray Macksville Marion McFarland Melvern Moran Mount Hope Newton Norton Olsburg Osawatomie Overbrook Ozawkie Perry Potwin Quenemo Randolph Riley Riverton Rossville Rozel Russell Saint George Savonburg Scranton Sheridan County (Hoxie/Selden) Stockton Toronto Vermillion Wakefield Wichita (South Central) Wilson Yates Center

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