Friends and neighbors, the 5th Annual Community Wide Conference will be held March 18th 5:00 to 7:30 pm & 19th 8:30 am to 4:00 pm as a “Richland County Open House” platform. Dan Clark and Karen Ray will be this year’s guest speakers and were chosen to work with all of us in Richland County to help celebrate our accomplishments and help guide the community in the direction they want to go to ensure quality of life. Dan Clark, M.E.D., serving in Montana since 1997, is the Director of Montana State University’s Local Government Center. As Director, Dan travels the State delivering training, technical assistance and research to Montana’s local governments. Prior to his work at the Center, Dan served as the Statewide Director for the Montana Horizons program addressing issues of poverty by developing community and leadership capacity in 53 rural Montana communities. Dan served as an MSU Extension faculty member in Teton County for nine years. While working for Extension, Dan was elected Mayor of the City of Choteau, Montana where he facilitated a unique blend of education, leadership and public policy. Karen Ray, President of Karen Ray Associates, has a national reputation for championing inter-agency collaboration. She holds a Master’s degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences from Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington with a specialty in organization development. She has 30 years experience working in the public sector. As a training and organization development consultant, she specializes in innovation and problem-solving in non-profit, community and government agencies. She’s known for active, highly participative sessions that focus on real-time problems and potential solutions. She authored two award-winning books “The Collaboration Handbook” and “The Nimble Collaboration.” Learn more about Karen at: karenraycollaboration.com. The Community-wide Conference started with a belief that the community could prepare effectively by addressing community issues and planning a bright future for Richland County if a platform was created through which individuals could interact and work together to create a healthy, safe & happy community. Your input at this conference will help the County & City Planning Boards, County Departments and other Community Service Groups, Businesses, Industry and those vested in the community evaluate the work they are doing to improve the quality of life in Richland County. The feedback and ideas you provide will reflect the needs and opportunities throughout Richland County and be used to update the Richland County Growth Policy and County Strategic Plan. Please make plans to attend this event as you are an Important Piece of the Puzzle. For more information, contact Mary Friesz or Suzzanne Wright at the Richland County Health Department at 406-433-2207 or visit Richland County on their new webpage Richland.org. Submitted by Mary Friesz, Injury Prevention Specialist, Richland County Health Department.
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