The Kansas Hometown Prosperity group from Chautauqua County met Thursday evening in the school at Cedar Vale to discuss various ways to pull residents of the county together.

Carla Palmer, who chairs the local committee, introduced several speakers who gave updates on the program which was started in 2008.

At the most recent meeting held in Sedan, the group reviewed findings based on dozens of local interviews, surveys and observations of the Hometown Prosperity project.

Chautauqua County is one of three communities chosen in 2008 as a part of the Kansas HomeTown Prosperity Initiative sponsored in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kansas Farm Bureau and USDA Rural Development. The HomeTown Prosperity philosophy centers around four areas for community sustainability: youth retention, entrepreneurship, leadership, and wealth retention. Communities participating in the project receive assistance through independent analysis and coaching to help community leaders strengthen existing efforts in those four areas.

The group is making every effort to include each part of Chautauqua County in the project and several new faces were seen at Thursday night’ s meeting.

“We truly want to involve everyone from every part of the county,” said Palmer who introduced several speakers.

Lana Everett spoke on the importance of leadership and its role in keeping communities moving forward.

Cynthia Leniton who resides on a ranch between Cedar Vale and Grenola spoke on education and how communities need to work together to assure their children of a good education.

Jack Newcomb, business development coach for the QUAD organization, gave an overview of community development in a four-county area, noting that he loves living in Chautauqua County. “It’s gorgeous,” he said, which made a Cedar Vale resident comment, “… I think you’ve just come up with a new slogan: Chautauqua County: It’s gorgeous!”

Steve Clark brought up the “invisible wall” which has hurt communications and cooperation for more than a century. “I’ve lived in Cedar Vale and now I’ve lived on the eastern side of the county for many years. I’ve heard about the Cedar Vale and Sedan rivalry and that’s OK in sports, but I believe we need to work together to make sure we have a future,” he said.

Clark serves as president of the Sedan Area Foundation and it was suggested by several in the audience that a name change my promote better participation. Clark agreed and said he would bring that issue to the attention of the foundation’s board.

Lonnie Stieben from Southern Kansas Telephone Co., addressed the meeting regarding the corporate and foundation support which is being granted to the
Kansas Hometown Prosperity project. Stieben represents STC throughout south-central Kansas and is involved with five different programs similar to this one.

Palmer said the next step will be for the steering committee to meet and devise future goals and projects.

See a complete story in the Feb. 25 printed edition of Prairie Star.