McKenzie County ND

Spend two hours in the McKenzie County Courthouse, from 10 a.m. until noon, watching a video conference about how a rural county reversed outmigration?

The only cost is your time, and you will be fed afterward.

Yes, a pioneer in revitalization is Miner County in eastern South Dakota. Inspirational to McKenzie County and others seeking improvements, the Miner County Story will be told via 2-hour video conference “aired” at the McKenzie County Courthouse. Lunch will be served immediately by the Horizons Community Leadership to Reduce Poverty in McKenzie County group afterward on Friday, March 7.

You are invited to hear and see first-hand how local leaders change their rural community, to see what it takes, how they started (with youth!) and the lessons they learned. Their grassroots efforts reversed population decline and was a feature story on the Wall Street Journal’s front page in 2005.

Heralded as “the most extraordinary rural development project in the nation” by Dr. Forrest Calico of the National Rural Health Association one year ago, the story begins in 1995 with a three-year successful effort to connect rural schools with their communities.

The vision? To sustain a community by meeting basic needs, for a community is only as well off as its most destitute citizen; and to grow within ecological lines, for the people must inhabit the community in ways that sustain it for future generations.

You must pre-register by March 3. Contact Sandy Erickson at 701-328-9718 or email

sandra.k.erickson@ndsu.edu.

Northwest Area Foundation, a sponsor of this local Horizons program, chose Miner County as a partner in January 1999 because the county showed community cohesion and the ability to work together; they showed an understanding that economic , social and environmental issues are interconnected and must be addressed together; the county had already worked with at least one outside organization on community development and showed motivation to build on that work, plus, success seemed difficult without further access to outside resources.

The rest of the story may be seen and heard at 10 a.m. central time in the McKenzie County Courthouse, Watford City, on Friday, March 7, 2008. See the above information to pre-register.

This county has a Thrivent Chapter, which is a local group of members that plan and carry out charitable, social and educational activities. They are petitioned for ‘contributing funds’ by various fund-raising interests. All Thrivent Financial members belong to a chapter, and they elect leaders.

This story is about the leaders.

Asisting the people of McKenzie County with medical/travel costs is at the heart of this organization’s effort. As the national level of Thrivent delivers a share of its billions of dollars, that otherwise would go to the payment of taxes, to the county chapters for dispersement among people who need benefits done to help them, this group of five handles the paperwork and accepts new members into the county-wide organization, among other duties. As usual, the McKenzie County Thrivent Chapter leaders met on the first Tuesday of the month for a luncheon meeting in TJ’s Pizza in Watford City, a middle-of-the-county meeting place for the county-wide group. They considered the fund-raisers they have encouraged with ‘contributing funds’ and accepted new members into the ranks of the organization. (more…)

North Dakota State University has an excellent program to bring out the Leaders in our great state of North Dakota. These leaders are common folk like you and me, come from all corners, and the ages range from grandparents to the twenty something. Most are interested in moving their communities and organizations into the future.

Rural Leadership North Dakota (RLND) is an intensive 2 year program that is the best investment one can make in themselves.

McKenzie County has the following graduates; Vickie Monson, Arnegard, Renae Johnson, Watford City, are from the class of 2005. Janel Lee, Grassy Butte and Peggy Hellandsaas, Watford City are from the class of 2007. Jan Dodge, Watford City is in the current class scheduled to graduate in 2009. 

Each student is required to choose a project that will better the community in which they live.

 For more information on RLND go to the following link www.ag.ndsu.edu/rlnd/

Some say work’s hard to find. Others say it’s there just waiting to be found.

Check out these links for job possibilities.

First International Bank

McKenzie County

A listing of businesses that serve the basin: Oil Patch Services Directory

Job Service North Dakota

Hockey is important to us. My 10-year-old son Eric is a squirt. He will play about 20 games this year and we will drive up to 180 miles away to visit communities.

The Watford City program is run by volunteers and we are independent of school.

Our team will not win alot of games this winter. But, our kids will have fun. You see, it is the love of hockey that is important. We are one big family who help each other make the commitment possible, for the sake of our children.

We have a sort of “thrift shop” that will take our used equipment and sell it at reduced prices to others. We transport children whose parents cannot attend away games because they cannot afford to travel or get off work. We take turns transporting our children to and from practices as our schedules permit.

Hockey kind of “gets in the blood” and makes for a fun winter for us!

Go to http://www.wcoilers.com/ to take a look at our website.