Hopa Mountain News Blog

Friday, January 27, 12 – 1:30 p.m. at the Bozeman Public Library

If you are interested in exploring new ways to work in the world, consider participating in this lunch time workshop on Gracious Space. Gracious Space is like a secret ingredient or special sauce – regardless of what’s “cooking” in your community or organization, it just makes everything better. Whether the project is a leadership development program, community initiative, difficult conversation on race, a reorganization, performance appraisal, coaching conversation, new vision, mission or strategic plan, a new team, or mediation – Gracious Space can make the relationships stronger and the work flow more creatively. For this workshop, plan to bring a sack lunch and engage in the practice of Gracious Space among friends.

Hopa Mountain offers a virtual seminar on understanding advocacy and lobbying on Wednesday, January 25 at 10 a.m.

What is the difference between advocacy and lobbying? Although most people use these words interchangeably, there is a distinction between advocacy and lobbying that is helpful to understand.
In this Hopa Mountain virtual seminar, learn the difference between advocacy and lobbying and different forms of advocacy that may be helpful to you and your organization in 2012. This seminar is nonpartisan and is open free-of-charge to everyone. It may be especially useful to citizen leaders, nonprofit organizations and business leaders.

This virtual seminar will be led by Dulaney Collins, a grassroots citizen advocate, leader, and presenter. Implementing various forms of advocacy and lobbying, as a private citizen Ms. Collins improved programs and reformed 33 laws in the Virginia legislature.
To participate in this Virtual Seminar with Dulaney Collins on January 25 at 10 a.m. MST, please dial (213) 342-3000 and enter access code 189808.

Hopa Mountain invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. For more information, please visit www.hopamountain.org.

Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-MT based nonprofit organization is pleased to announce that Native American students attending a tribal college in Montana or Wyoming and pursuing undergraduate degrees in earth sciences, atmospheric sciences, natural resource management, hydrology, fisheries, wildlife management, forestry, and soil sciences are eligible to apply for a $2,500 tribal college Native Science Fellowship or a $5,000 university Native Science Fellowship to be earned working with a community-based environmental science or geosciences organization that matches their career interests. Fellows will be selected through a competitive process. Applications are available on Hopa Mountain’s website at http://www.hopamountain.org/NativeScienceFellows.php

If you, or someone you know, meets these qualifications that you would like to nominate, please email his or her name and contact information to info@hopamountain.org or call Hopa Mountain’s office at (406) 586-2455. The application deadline is January 5.

Hopa Mountain offers this innovative Native Science Fellows program for Native American undergraduate and graduate students to participate in community-based science organizations in an effort to increase their engagement in higher education and geosciences careers. The goal is to increase the number of Native American students who are engaged in community-based geosciences education and careers and to provide role models and work experience for Native American college students interested in the geosciences. Funding for the program is provided by the National Science Foundation.

Join Hopa Mountain for a virtual seminar with leadership educator, Arthur T. Matthews on December 14 at 10 a.m. MST. Mathews will lead a Hopa Mountain virtual seminar entitled “Beyond Leadership: Are you Really an Engaging Leader?” As Matthews states, “many leaders have been exposed to transactional, transformational, situational and the authentic leadership concepts but only a small percentage have been exposed to what I call “The Engaging Leader.” Participants will be exposed to the characteristics of “Drivers” and “Builders” which are the two fascinating leadership types that make up “The Engaging Leader.”

Arthur T. Matthews serves as a speaker, presenter and subject matter expert in areas impacting the human condition. His areas of expertise include but are not limited to leadership, diversity & inclusion, conflict resolution, team building, public speaking and labor relations. He serves on the faculty at NYU, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the University of Arkansas. He earned a Juris doctorate degree from Howard University School of Law. Visit him at www.diversityofficers.com

“We are so pleased to be able to offer this free virtual seminar with Arthur T. Matthews, that anyone can participate in by phone, says Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Executive Director of Hopa Mountain. Mr. Matthews is a nationally-known expert on leadership and this is a unique opportunity to learn from him” she noted.

To participate in this free Hopa Mountain virtual seminar on December 14, please dial (213) 342-3000 at 10 a.m. The participant access code is 189808.

Hopa Mountain invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. For more information, please visit www.hopamountain.org.

The Governor’s Office of Community Service and Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization, announced today a training program and opportunity for competitive grants for youth program leaders through Youth Leaders in Service. This National Corporation for Community Service grant program is designed to train and support adult leaders of youth service as they engage rural and tribal youth, ages 11-17, living in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota’s Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations, in leading service activities that create healthier communities. Teams of youth program directors will have the opportunity to participate in a three-day training program January 20-22, 2012 and apply for grant support to implement their youth-led initiative throughout the spring and summer of 2012. The application deadline is December 12, 2011. The application is at http://www.hopamountain.org/YouthLeadershipInService.php.

Participating teams may also choose to apply to receive up to $7,500 in support to launch a service-learning afterschool program. Funds must be matched 1:1 in cash or in-kind support by grantee organizations. Rural and tribal youth program leaders working in communities with populations under 35,000 are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to participating organizations that serve a high percentage of children that are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs.

“We are so pleased that more teens will have an opportunity to implement service projects that contribute to rural and tribal community vitality through Youth Leaders in Service,” said Jan Lombardi, Executive Director of the Governor’s Office for Community Service. The Corporation for National and Community Service and Hopa Mountain are partnering to engage young people in service-learning projects that simultaneously support student development and meet community needs in areas such as health and education. “Hopa Mountain is committed to engaging youth and their program leaders in service learning that supports civic engagement and social entrepreneurship,” said Lombardi.

Hopa Mountain’s mission is to invest in rural and tribal citizen leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health and economic development. “Through Youth Leaders in Service, rural and tribal youth will have the opportunity to design and implement innovative service projects in cooperation with local community partners,” said Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Executive Director of Hopa Mountain. Hopa Mountain will provide ongoing training and technical assistance to selected youth program leaders and teen citizen leaders throughout the Northern Rockies.

For more information about Youth Leaders in Service, please call (406) 586-2455 or email info@hopamountain.org. Two, hour-long conference calls will also be held on Thursday, November 17 at 11 a.m. and Wednesday, December 7 at 12 p.m. to provide more information about Youth Leaders in Service and how to apply. Interested participants can dial 1-866-200-5786 and enter conference ID 7759909# when prompted to participate.

Join Hopa Mountain for a virtual seminar with Charisse Rudolph, author of Words Hit Hard as a Fist, with 18 Tips on How to STOP being Bullied on Wednesday, November 16 at 10 a.m. MST to discuss how to support youth and adults as they take charge of their lives and move past the harmful judgments and actions of others.

“Hopa Mountain is pleased to be able to offer this free virtual seminar with Charisse Rudolph, that anyone can participate in by phone, says Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, Executive Director of Hopa Mountain. Rudolph’s new book, Words Hit Hard as a Fist, is designed to give teenagers, parents, teachers and counselors strategies for dealing with bullies and for helping others to do so, she noted.

Dyslexia made Rudolph a compassionate activist. Growing up in the 1950s made Rudolph want to learn how she could have a powerful life as a female, and being dyslexic made that more of a challenge. She experienced what it’s like to struggle through school not feeling able, or good enough, to achieve. At college, she had to tape the lectures and sit next to someone who would share his or her notes.

The author and public speaker still struggles with words and yet, Rudolph has not let her disability or anything else stop her; she truly is at peace with being “different.” She has been coaching people since 1992 and won the Leadership Award for Contribution to Women in 2002. She has established a ranch for equine-assisted psychotherapy, ran an online forum about bullying intervention for the Ellen DeGeneres show, and co-created an experiential team-building company working with many Fortune 500 organizations.

To participate in this free Hopa Mountain virtual seminar with Rudolph on November 16, please dial (213) 342-3000 followed by access code 189808# at 10 a.m. MST.

Hopa Mountain invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. For more information, please visit www.hopamountain.org.

What better way to learn about the food system than by experiencing it first hand? Students from Bridger Alternative School will have the opportunity to see local farms, talk to the farmers, and taste the bounty of Montana agriculture on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This field trip is part of Tour de Food, an educational pilot program organized by Gallatin Valley Farm to School and Bridger Alternative School.

Bridger Alternative School students have been critically analyzing and discussing food systems in class under the direction of their teachers and Nic Acker, a volunteer for Gallatin Valley Farm to School. With this base of knowledge, they will then see, feel, and taste a local food system by visiting two local farms—Amaltheia Dairy and Gallatin Valley Botanical.

Amaltheia Dairy raises goats for their certified-organic cheese processing plant and also raises certified-organic pigs. Gallatin Valley Botanical grows produce for local markets using crop rotation, cover crops, compost, diverse crop plantings. These practices build soil fertility while managing pests.

The students are visiting the farms at the end of the growing season, and there will still be plenty to see and discuss. The goats at Amaltheia will be happy to have visitors and the greenhouses at Gallatin Valley Botanical are still lush with baby and micro greens. This trip will connect the students with where their food comes from while learning about agricultural practices and local farms.

Gallatin Valley Farm to School, a program of Hopa Mountain, strives to connect children with their food. Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-based nonprofit invests in citizen leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. For more information, visit www.gvfarmtoschool.org.

Asset-based community development centers around a set of processes that seek to uncover and utilize many strengths within a community. In this interactive workshop, led by executive director of Hopa Mountain, Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, explore these processes for citizen engagement along with strength-based tools for community development on Monday, October 17 from 1-3 p.m. at the Bozeman Public Library.

This workshop is open to everyone interested in learning about practical resources and tools to identify, nurture, and mobilize community assets. Asset-based Community Development challenges the traditional approach to solving community problems, which focuses service providers and funding agencies on the needs and deficiencies of communities. These tools utilize community assets as key building blocks in sustainable community revitalization efforts.

This community leadership workshop is sponsored by Hopa Mountain and is free-of-charge. Participants can register by emailing info@hopamountain.org or calling 586-2455.

Hopa Mountain is a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization that invests in rural and tribal citizen leaders who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. For more information, contact Hopa Mountain at 406-586-2455, or visit www.hopamountain.org

Helen Windy Boy, Librarian at Stone Child College Library has a simple, yet vital message for the families of her community: Read. “I just can’t stress enough the importance of reading to children of all ages, especially the young that can’t read for themselves,” says Windy Boy. “My oldest daughter has always read to her two children, even before they were born. Now her seven-year-old reads to the four-year-old. They have learned to bond with each other by the example set for them by their mother. They have both developed a love for books, reading and storytelling. The four-year-old will open a book and pretend he is reading by telling the story he sees in the pictures. I believe their acquisition of the language, both Cree and English, has improved by listening to stories. They are able to use words in the proper context that you wouldn’t think a four and seven-year-old would even know how to pronounce.”

When families like Helen Windy Boy’s read and share books with children over the summer months and throughout the school year, they provide an important opportunity to connect, have fun, and to help hold on to and attain critical knowledge for success in school and life. Which books are best? Parents should ask their kids! When a child is able to choose his or her own books, he or she is more likely to become engaged and learn to associate reading with pleasure—a connection that will lead to a lifetime love of learning. Plus, research indicates that when it comes to reading scores, it doesn’t matter what a child reads or is read to; whether it’s classics like Mark Twain or books about pop stars and princesses, what matters is that the child is interested in the material, and ideally, allowed to pick out his or her own books to enjoy.

Bozeman-based nonprofit Hopa Mountain is teaming up with citizens from across the state to spread the word about the importance of reading and telling stories with children of all ages. At the heart of the organization’s Together campaign is the message that all parents can do fun and simple activities—like talking, singing, and reading—together every day that make a big difference when it comes to healthy child development.

“There are many places to find children’s books—parents and kids can borrow and lend favorite books with family and friends, or oftentimes, find books at the local food bank,” explains Maddy Kotowicz, program coordinator of Hopa Mountain’s StoryMakers initiative. “One of the best places to access books is the library, where reading and story-time activities are hosted for kids of all ages.”

“Reading,” adds Helen Windy Boy, “Is the foundation of our education, and if we want a strong foundation to build on then we need to give our children the maximum amount of opportunities for a successful future; and reading can do that.”

Through Hopa Mountain’s friendly, easy-to-navigate Together campaign website, parents and grandparents can find ideas for simple and meaningful ways to spend more time interacting with their children. Visit hopamountain.org and click on the Together campaign to access resources, tips, and videos to help guide you as you create a early home learning environment where your child can play, explore and grow this summer and throughout the year!

For more information about the Together campaign, please contact Maddy Kotowicz, Hopa Mountain’s StoryMakers Program Coordinator at 406-586-2455 or madelinek@hopamountain.org.

Hopa Mountain’s Together campaign is made possible through generous support from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization, is offering an Advanced Appreciative Inquiry (AI) workshop in Bozeman August 15-17 at the C’Mon Inn. Appreciative Inquiry is a method of acknowledging the best in groups and individuals and using constructive envisioning and planning to implement positive growth. This advanced workshop is designed for those want to better understand and teach Appreciative Inquiry as a process for transformative change in all organizations and systems, as well as a perspective in which to live life. It will be taught by two international leaders in organizational development, Jane Magruder Watkins and Ralph Kelly. The workshop will run from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day and the cost for the three-day workshop is $40, made possible with generous support from Mountain Sky Guest Ranch Fund.

The workshop instructors, Jane Magruder Watkins and Ralph Kelly, have worked in the field of Organizational Development for more than 40 years. They have worked in and consulted to organizations in the business, government and nonprofit sectors. Jane’s work in over 5 countries has grounded her work in a global consciousness that values diversity and possibility. Since the mid 1980’s, she has worked with David Cooperrider to develop and spread Appreciative Inquiry around the globe. Jane and Ralph both see Appreciative Inquiry as a bridge that enables organizations, communities, individuals and couples to embrace the emerging paradigm, recreating themselves and their realities by imagining and living into their own unique visions of the future.

This Advanced Appreciative Inquiry workshop is offered as part of Hopa Mountain’s community leadership series. Hopa Mountain is a Bozeman-based non-profit organization that uses Appreciative Inquiry to invest in rural and tribal community leaders, adults and youth, who are working to improve education, ecological health, and economic development (www.hopamountain.org). Hopa Mountain provides these leaders with training, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

For more information or to register: Call Hopa Mountain at 586-2455 or email bsawyer@hopamountain.org