Polson receives $100,000 planning grant

POLSON - The city of Polson has been named one of five winners for the Orton Family Foundation's Heart and Soul Community Planning grant.

The program gives small communities around the country $100,000 to help engage citizens and plan for the future.

"We're one out of five communities in the country to win, so we are honored and terribly excited," said Penny Jarecki, president of the Greater Polson Community Foundation. "We may not be able to change the world, but with this grant, we can change our community."

According to Jarecki, several factors were a part of the formula that helped Polson get the grant.

"For one thing, they said the written application was extremely strong, they were very impressed," Jarecki said. "We had a video that went with it.

"There was a cross-section of people that were supportive and committed to community," Jarecki added. "The fact we're on an Indian reservation and being multicultural was to our advantage as well."

In January, foundation representatives will come to Polson to help develop the contract for Polson to receive the money. The representatives will help develop guidelines for the city to achieve its goals over the next couple of years.

"Orton feels if you don't have input from all facets, you can't have lasting change," Jarecki said. "You can't have top-down structure. It has to be bottom-up. Polson showed them how committed it is via Envision Polson!, which doesn't involve all facets of community, mostly business. That's where what we're doing is lacking. We need to have guidance to reach out to other representatives of the community."

Polson was named a finalist in late September. In October, representatives visited Polson, touring the community and seeing what the area has to offer.

"The excitement they sensed in the community, welcoming signs in stores and windows, they noted that," Jarecki said. "Speaking with people they met, it convinced them we were sincere about making our community better. The point of this exercise is to change Polson from a one-season town to a four-season town. People don't have to leave here to find a job and make a living."

In a press release, Bill Roper, president and chief executive officer of the Orton Family Foundation, said that Polson, as well as the other winning communities, showed why it deserved the honor.

"We were so impressed by the energy in these towns for broad and deep civic engagement and a strong commitment to steering change based on each town's heart and soul values," Roper said. "Through the challenges each will overcome and the local wisdom each will contribute, these towns will help us build a model for communities all across America."

It's the second grant Polson has been awarded in 2011. In April, the city received a $6,000 leadership grant from the Montana Community Foundation. Half of that went into applying for the Orton grant.

"I think the fact we were awarded the grant answers the feeling that's in the community that we need to change things," Jarecki said. "We have to do something different and this gives us that opportunity, not just with funding, but also professional advice. The money is nice, but having the support of a group who's been through this is equally as important."