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Community
Improvement Through Natural Resources: Creating Healthy Ecosystems-
Healthy Communities
The Healthy Ecosystems/Healthy
Communities (HEHC) Project is now accepting applications to begin working
with five new communities! Funding is currently available for PRIDE
Communities located in the following watersheds: Milford, Melvern,
Neosho, Toronto, and the Upper Wakarusa. Please see the map on the HEHC
Website:
PRIDE WRAPS
Communities
Participating communities receive a $5,000 "mini-grant" to complete water
quality projects or activities and $1,500 to support public meetings and
events for community resource planning. If your community is not located
in one of the watersheds above, but you are interested in the HEHC
program, please contact
Sherry Davis, HEHC Project Coordinator, at (785) 532-3039 or by
mobile at (785) 313-5283.
The HEHC program
helps civic groups, such as PRIDE, and local government groups engage
more citizens in resource planning, explore sustainable resource uses,
promotes community health and new leadership opportunities, and improves
citizen appreciation and investment in the natural resources that support
your community.
The HEHC Program
helps citizens understand and value local natural resources that shaped
your community's past and will determine its future. The program helps
community groups:
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Establish new
partners within their community and the local watershed.
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Explore hew
agency resources and "link-up" to their expertise and assistance.
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Identify water
quality projects appropriate for their community and expand project
benefits through educator and youth involvement programs, new cultural
events, and access to new recreational resources.
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Engage citizens
in a community planning process (using an impartial third-party
facilitator) for your community's future and to protect local assets and
natural resources.
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Identify new
funding sources to support sustainable community development projects.
Sherry will meet
with your PRIDE group to discuss program details and help your team
identify important local stakeholders. She will work with each community
to apply for funding to support the HEHC Program in your community.
However, funding applications are due January 2009 - so if your PRIDE
Group is interested - please call today!
The HEHC Vision. . .
Our vision for the Healthy Ecosystems-Healthy Communities Project is citizen-lead planning and actions to sustain environmental quality and community health. |
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| What is
the relationship between your community and its ecosystem?
The health of
a community and its local ecosystem is dependent on the intricate
relationship between the people that live there and how they
interact with their surroundings–the land, water, plants, animals,
and natural resources. By definition, the word “resource” means
reserve, supply, or store; so the health of a community is
dependent on the health of these natural “supplies.”
Water,
incredibly rich soils, lush grasslands and a wealth of wildlife
enticed settlers to Kansas over 150 years ago and supported our
state’s agricultural economy and heritage. However, as with any
limited store of supplies, using them in a way that sustains the
quantity and the quality is necessary to ensure that these
resources will be there for us and for our children in the future.
But how do we know what’s left of the “reserves, supplies, or
stores” that our community was built upon? How do we measure the
health of our community’s natural resources?
The Healthy
Communities / Healthy Ecosystems Project is here to help!
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