Swan Valley Plans for Sustainable Economy

SWAN VALLEY - The Swan Valley Community Foundation will be hosting Swan Valley First! June 21 from 3–8:30 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall. The event will be an interactive, facilitated hands-on workshop for Swan Valley residents and business owners and will focus on promoting a “sustainable local economy.”

“This is a project the Swan Valley Community Foundation has been interested in for a very a long time,” said John Mercer, the president of SVCF. “The economy in the Swan Valley is something that hasn’t received very much attention in an organized way.”

The workshop will consist of two planning sessions and will include refreshments. The first session will brainstorm Swan Valley’s economic assets and what an ideal economy will look like for the next decade. The second session will revolve around specific actions residents can take to best use the assets to create a sustainable economy.

Dan Clark, director of the Local Government Center, and his team from the Montana State University Extension service will facilitate the event. The Local Government Center works with small rural communities and local governments to develop action plans and achieve community goals.

“What we’re doing in Swan Valley is working with all stakeholders trying to create some sort of a vision and action plan to start implementing that vision,” said Clark. “Setting goals is really the focus.”

By the end of the workshop, the goal is to emerge with an action plan that has clear, specific steps to be accomplished. The chosen action plan will receive financial support from the SVCF to carry out the initial steps.

The workshop is funded through a grant from the Donner Foundation. The grant is a key part to starting the planning phase. Past efforts to look at ways to boost the economy were hampered by funding issues and never got momentum.

According to Mercer, the crux of the matter is bringing together anyone who is interested and looking for a pragmatic and hopefully creative solution so the community will be viable into the future. Part of his goal is to look at ways younger families in the community can participate and make a viable living.

He imagines that small, specialized makers or small web based companies could thrive in the Valley.

“We’re such a small community that it doesn’t take a lot,” he said. “If we had three new businesses come into our community and it provided 10 jobs that would be a huge change for us.”

Even though the SVCF is organizing the workshop, participation by the rest of the community is key.

“The role of the community foundation is to convene everyone, to call people together and say what do you want to do,” said Mercer. “Once that’s identified, the foundation can roll up its sleeves, go to work and find the resources to make it happen.”

All residents are encouraged to attend. Attendants must RSVP by June 18 to attend. You can email cccfx@mac.com, send a letter to SVCF, P.O Box 961, Swan Valley, MT 59826, or call a SVCF board member (see ad page 7 for numbers).

 

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