Bedford, IA

Nearly 400 individuals from across the state attended the 21st annual Main Street Awards Ceremony held on April 18 at the Des Moines Marriott Downtown. Of the more than 110 projects considered for awards this year, 23 were selected and 17 received honorable mentions.

Michael Tramontina, director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, presented the awards during the celebration. In addition, 34 local volunteers who had been selected by their community for Main Street Volunteer of the Year awards were honored. “Iowa’s historic main streets are the heart and soul of our communities,” said IDED Director Michael Tramontina. “The enthusiasm, talent and dedication of the local Main Street staff and volunteers are vital to keeping our downtowns thriving and healthy. Congratulations to the hard working Iowans who are receiving awards this year.”

Jane Luttrell of Bedford received the Volunteer of the Year award for the community. (Jane was actively involved in Study Circles and Horizons Action Groups.) Jane has gone above and beyond and has been a shining example of an outstanding volunteer. The Bedford Main Street Program was in the midst of many changes in 2007 and as soon as the program had a clear direction in July, Jane was there from the start to do what needed to be done. She helped set up the Fourth of July barbecue, stuffed hundreds of Main Street Fair bags, and promptly found her place on the newly established Organization committee. She made time to meet with the Main Street Review team at the annual visit to insure that she and the rest of the organization committee had a clear idea of where Bedford’s Main Street program needed to go. She has been instrumental in re-establishing Bedford’s Welcome Basket program (Horizons Action Group) and has hand-delivered dozens of them herself. This effort was key to getting the word out that our program was back on track and people could associate a welcoming face to the newly merged Bedford Area Development Center.

Jane donated her time to attend the Tri-State Exchange and got to experience the big picture of what Main Street is all about. She has put in many hours on the Organization committee helping to give Bedford Area Development Center the structure it needs to be a positive force within the community. She has helped to develop a budget for the Organization committee and design BADC’s new fundraising piece that was launched in 2008. She has delivered brochures where needed, volunteered with special events, gathered promotional items for welcome baskets and fair bags and remains always just a phone call away to help in any way that she can.

Jane was also involved with the process of merging the Bedford Area Economic Development and Bedford Area Chamber/Main Street entities together by giving support for the transition when needed (Horizons Action Group). Her willingness to donate her time and her “can do” attitude are qualities that you can always count on form her. Jane is one of Bedford’s best and the Bedford Area Development Center has truly benefited from her involvement in the organization.

The Iowa Legislature adopted the National Main Street Center’s Four Point Approach to downtown revitalization by establishing Main Street Iowa within the Iowa Department of Economic Development in 1985. Main Street Iowa, the premier program of the Iowa Downtown Resource Center, currently provides services to 39 designated communities. For more than 20 years, this program and its communities have been looked upon as the “best of the best” in a national effort to revitalize downtowns across the country.

Current Main Street communities are: Bedford, Belle Plaine, Bloomfield, Bonaparte, Burlington, Cedar Falls, Central City, Charles City, Conrad, Corning, Dubuque, Dunlap, Elkader, Greenfield, Hamilton County S.E.E.D., Hampton, Iowa Falls, Keokuk, LeMars, Marcus, Marshalltown, Mason City, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Vernon, New Hampton, Osceola, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Sac City, Spencer, State Center, Story City, Washington, Waterloo, Waverly, West Branch, West Des Moines, West Union, Woodbine.

Horizons is partnering with area churches to select two housing rehabilitation projects in Bedford to address needs within the community. Forms can be used directly from the newspaper or picked up at Bedford City Hall, Taylor County Public Health, the Senior Center, or MATURA Taylor County Neighborhood Center in Bedford. The deadline for selection is May 9, 2008 and forms can be turned in at the Taylor County Public Health office located in the basement of the Taylor County Courthouse. Income guidelines will be used to select the projects.

The name of this project is My Fathers’s House and it is designed to provide assistance through volunteer labor and time to a homeowner needing small scale upgrades to their home. Once the two homes are selected, an evaluation will take place to determine what problems the group can reasonably address in one weekend. Plans are to have the homes selected by the May 10, 2008. Father’s Day weekend has been chosen as the work weekend for this project - thus lending to the name, My Father’s House.

Anyone wishing to volunteer time, tools or money toward My Father’s House would be most welcome. Volunteer contributions, as well as, any questions can be directed to Bedford Area Development Center

Recently, High School Student Government students and Bulldog Advisor Groups worked hard to collect food items to be donated to the local food pantry. Office staff, custodians and many other classes participated. The winning group filled four boxes with food; the winning group was Mrs. Kettle’s group that used themes of “Put Food in Our Kettle” and “Kettles Can Do.”

The Pick Up Sticks Project by the school is not the only efforts underway to clean and beautify our community. Many more things are happening within the community by a lot of different people and groups. Take a look at some of the community efforts:

Annual Town-Wide Clean Up (April 28-May 2)–Tags are available for special items needing dumped while all other allowable items can be placed in a dumpster provided by the City of Bedford

Trash or Treasure Weekend–(April 26-27)–Households can place unwanted items on the curb for others to search and find needed items

Ahren’s Memorial Garden–The group that raised funds and received a grant to beautiful a downtown lot where a building had been burned and then demolished will be gathering to clean up the garden. They are also beginning to raise funds to bring an artist to town who can create and paint a mural on the exposed wall across the street from the garden. This exposed wall is also due to another downtown building being removed.

Bibbons City Park–The park was opened early by the City to allow community members to gather free firewood. A number of the old large trees in the park were devasted by this winter’s ice storm. The firewood was free to families who could cut the large limbs themselves and haul off the firewood.

Downtown Spring Clean-Up (May 3)–Sponsored by the Bedford Area Development Center Design Committee, community members will be washing front windows of downtown businesses, picking up trash, sweeping and weeding sidewalks.

Join Hands Day (May 3)–This is a national day of service sponsored by the Modern Woodmen of America and other fraternal benefit societies that brings youth and adults together for a community service project. Groups in Bedford will be painting, planting flowers, landscaping and picking up school grounds. Patricia Bucher is the Project Coordinator for this local initiative.

Purple Palace–A teen center that was built in the 1970’s by the owner of a local lumberyard has been donated to the City of Bedford by its board to become the Bedford Community Center. A group of volunteers has been working to clean and repair the building for use by the community.

This listing is by no means complete and it does not list any of the individual efforts taking place to make Bedford a clean and welcoming community.

When the SPA Committee members approached the Middle/High School Principal and Guidance Counselor about creating a community service/volunteer program with the school, they were immediately presented with an idea for a community service project. Mrs. Antisdel and Mrs. Bowman wanted to get the middle school and high school students involved by picking up the small limbs and sticks leftover from this winter’s ice storm. They wanted to help the elderly and disabled who were unable to do the work themselves clean up their yards. They had the willing and able students, however they were unsure about how to get a list of community members needing the assistance. That is when the Horizons group jumped into action to help get project started. (It also inspired the group to create the Every 1 Counts Community Service Program.) The SPA Committee contacted all 10 churches in the community, the Senior Center, Taylor County Public Health and the MATURA Taylor County Neighborhood Center to enlist their help in identifying elderly and disabled community members. Everyone contacted was very helpful and the list began to grow.

Of course, mother nature still does not want to cooperate. The middle school students were scheduled to begin work on the list of approximately 35 yards needing a little help on April 11. Due to cold rainy weather, the date was postponed to April 18 at which time it was postponed once again due to rain. Hopefully, either the middle school students, high school students or a combination of both groups can work together on April 30 to finally pick up the last of the sticks.

In spite of the weather, other groups have helped the project when the opportunity presented itself. Tinker Tots Preschool took one of their neighbor’s yards from the list; staff along with school-aged children in their child care program raked the yard and swept sidewalks. A member of a local church who lives in New Market was listed; 4-H groups worked on this yard along with many other yards as part of their community service project. A community member whose name was not on the list was visited and her yard cleaned by the track team as they were on their way to practice. Way to go everyone…and hope for beautiful weather next week!

How do we get our youth and other members of the community involved? That is a question or topic of discussion that started in study circles and has continued through the action forum, LeadershipPLENTY, community visioning and all of the other group meetings that have happened and continue to happen. There is definitely not one all-encompassing answer to that question; however, one of the first action groups that was working to merge and create the Bedford Area Development Center had the foresight to create a Volunteer Sign-Up Sheet to get the ball rolling. These sheets have been available at most Horizon events as well as several community events, including Bedford in Bloom and the Taylor County Fair, to start gathering a list of community members interested in getting involved.

This fall at the community visioning meetings, an action group was formed to improve the Spirit, Pride and Attitude (SPA) of the people of Bedford. Members of this group decided to continue the effort of getting more people involved and to take it a step further. The co-chairs of this group met with the Bedford Area Development Center’s Board to get their support and then proceeded to meet with the Principal and Guidance Counselor of the Bedford Middle School and High School. They proposed a Volunteer or Community Service Program with the school.

The discussion with school administration is still preliminary, but everyone agrees that the school and community could both benefit if our students could work on projects to help the community and community members could in turn volunteer at the school. Lots of suggestions have been thrown on the table including a mentoring program; these conversations will continue throughout the next year.

From these early discussions two things happened, an initial partnership for a community service project (see upcoming blog) and a realization that it is difficult to know what community service projects exist and who to contact. Hearing this concern from the school personnel and from others within the community, the SPA members decided to pursue a formal community service program. Dennis Norton of Gravity explained that Horizons has made a difference in the Bedford Community and that people are realizing that they need to reach out and help others within the community. He agreed that a process or system needs to be put in place to match up community service projects and community members in need with those who can provide resources or services.

From this realization, the Every 1 Counts Community Service Program was created. With its motto of “All that is needed is 1 Heart to Care, 2 Hands to Make a Difference and 3 Minutes to Find Someone in Need,” the SPA members formally joined the Organization Committee of the Bedford Area Development Center as a subcommittee. This group will be working to create a database that not only encompasses all of the volunteer information collected from the Volunteer Sign-Up Sheets, but to gather information on service organizations located in the community as well as a list of community projects needing assistance.

The goal is to slowly gather information and build a functioning database. The database will be housed with the Bedford Area Development Center Director so that everyone in the community will have one initial point of contact. The staff at the Center will be able to access the information and provide contact information or lists of projects needing assistance. We hope that this will not only help to build a partnership with the school as they plan their academic year and try to incorporate some service learning projects, it will also benefit any other non-profit or community-based organization needing help with a project to get matched up with a service group or communtiy member wanting to get involved.

Yes, it has been quite some time since Bedford’s last post, but it is not because nothing has been happening in Bedford. In fact, I would say it is quite the contrary–everyone has been so busy that they have not had time to stop, reflect and to communicate what has been going on. So, if you will humor me and give me a chance to look back and reflect on what has been happening in Bedford during this post, I promise you will see some posts in the very near future communicating the specific events and efforts going on.

When Horizons began over a year ago in Bedford, it was like a giant boulder being dropped in our very small quiet pond. Before Horizons hit, the surface of our pond was stagnant and below the surface lay dangerous debris. Along the edge of the pond, there were people waiting and whispering among themselves. After Horizons hit, big waves were created almost immediately; some of the underwater debris was destroyed or moved aside and it created such a commotion that it got a lot of people talking–to each other.

Bedford was ready and waiting for something–no, anything to happen. Community members joined study circles and began to communicate with each other; in addition, they started talking to each other in new and different ways. Immediately, these community members discovered they shared so much in common, had the same concerns, same visions and were ready to do something about it.

The Action Groups that followed the study circles really created the big waves and changes in Bedford. Other community members came to share in the same visions and to make things happen. From these study circles, three action groups were formed and really laid the foundation for what has continued to happen in Bedford. One study circle created a business and service directory, a Bedford Brochure and welcome baskets to make new families feel welcome in our community. The second action group worked to merge three entities that were once the core of Bedford but recently had no directors and barely enough volunteers to keep the groups running. This action group sought the help of the City Council, the existing leadership in these entities and merged the Bedford Area Economic Development Center, Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Program into one strong organization (Bedford Area Development Center) and filled it with a common director and assistant (both of whom were Horizons leaders or participants). The third action group had a long term goal in mind and continues to work to bring state-of-the art communications and internet to Bedford to enhance economic development.

These action groups (waves) along with leadership training and community visioning meetings have created a more welcoming pond that a lot of community members are wanting to jump into; they want to get wet and keep the ripples moving along the surface of the pond. If fact, that has been one of the most unanticipated surprises/benefits of Horizons. Even community members who have not been involved with Horizons or, perhaps only minimally involved, are also standing at the edge of the pond and throwing stones or pebbles in the pond to create waves and ripples too.

As we move through the final phases of Horizons, the Bedford Community is looking forward to the future with renewed hope and anticipation. Bedford has at its core a strong organization (Bedford Area Development Center) filled with Horizons’ trained leaders and strong committees filled with enthusiastic volunteers; it has a new city council who advocated strongly for Horizons and its principles. It has people who not only care about each other, but have remembered to talk to each other and to bring others into the conversations. It is a community that is finally starting the journey to become strong again and, in turn, begin to help all facets and groups within the community to become strong again too.

So what is really happening? Keep watching for upcoming posts.

There has been mention of how the Horizons program has affected Bedford especially in regard to the recent Mayoral and City Council elections. A report on the numbers of people running for these positions definately shows that leadership is on the rise in Bedford.

Both of the candidates running for Mayor were involved in the Horizons program in one aspect or another which shows that dedication and involvement in community issues is a needed quality for someone running for such a position.

What was even more outstanding was the number of people running for the five City Council seats that were up in 2007. A record number was attained with 12 people committing to fill those seats. Out of the 12, half of the prospective candidates participated in some aspect of Horizons, showing that the skills learned and momentum gained from the program were key factors in the increase in numbers.

The increase in candidates also sparked the first ever candidate forum so that the community could get a feel for each candidate and make an informed decision at the November election. The final result ended with two candidates out of the six invovled in Horizons to be elected to the City Council and of course one of the Mayoral candidates with Horizons experience was also put into office.

I was pleased to read the monthly school newsletter and see acticles, pictures and comments on how our youth are making a difference both inside and outside the walls of the Bedford Community School. Specifically addressing poverty, our elementary-aged kids (preschool through fifth grade) participated in “Make a Difference Day,” by collecting canned and nonperishable foods to help stamp out hunger. All items were donated to the local Neighborhood Center that serves families and children in need. In addition, the fifth grade classes gave back to the community by raking and removing leaves this fall for our local elderly.

In the Bedford Middle and High School, members of the student government recently attended a conference where they listened to a speaker talk about building connections in schools. Students shared perceptions they had about our school and heard things other schools did to make students feel welcome and a part of the school. According to the article, our school government participants came back with pages full of suggestions and enthusiasm to make these suggestions reality. “Their goal from this conference is to make everyone feel positive and a part of Bedford Middle and High School.” Right now, there are stars containing the names of each student in the middle and high school hanging in the commons area. A banner on the wall says it all, “Everyone is a Star.”

One issue that surfaced during all three of Bedford’s Study Circle groups last year was the fact that clear, open lines of communication are a must to have a productive, thriving community.

Many issues in relation to poverty were discussed including the fact that a state of poverty doesn’t just apply to a lack of financial security. Other factors can play a pivotal part in ensuring that everyone is living a secure, happy life.

Many of the Study Circle participants discovered that they weren’t alone in their feeling or perceptions of what is not working within the community. A key discovery was made during this process eluding to the fact that we do have a tremendous amount of assets here for us all, yet many did not know how to make a connection to those benefits or were not aware of them.

Judy McClintock, a Study Circle and LeadershipPlenty® participant, states that, ” Without constant attention to open communication it’s difficult to get anything accomplished. I feel that this is the number one obstacle that we face in order to address these issues.”

“People need to not only be aware of the problems we all face but truly listen to each other and I think the Study Circle groups brought this to light. I discovered that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.”

“We need to use as many sources and avenues of communication as possible to keep everyone informed as to what can be done to help each other out.”

Some outcomes to the Study Circle Program have included: an updated business and service directory; the Welcome Basket program, containing community information was resumed; a community minded brochure was printed highlighting what Bedford has to offer; and the Economic Development and Chamber/Main Street organizations were merged to combine resources and help establish clearer lines of communication.