Mentoring

Hopa Mountain guides community leaders to further develop their skills to deliver strength-based programs, services, and organizational efforts that meet needs expressed in their individual communities.

Hopa Mountain matches resources of all kinds to rural and tribal community leaders to help them achieve their goals.

Training

Hopa Mountain works to expand and enhance community-based opportunities for youth and adults. The majority of these efforts are informal (out-of-school) trainings for community leaders, with an emphasis on rural education, program development, non-profit organization, marketing, communication, facilitation, and planning.

2008 Training Programs

Hopa Mountain StoryMakers

Current, well-respected research strongly suggests that the amount of very early language experience may be the single most important factor in predicting children's chances of success with reading, success in school, and economic well being in adulthood.  For more information on Hopa Mountain’s StoryMakers program, please contact program director Linda Clark at (406) 581-1744.

March 25, 2008 Bozeman, Montana
9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Holiday Inn

March 27, 2008 Havre, Montana
9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Best Western Great Northern Inn

Building Strong Communities: Asset-based Strategies and Tools with John “Jody” Kretzmann

In this one-day workshop, learn more about the six assets to discover and mobilize:

• The skills and interests of individual residents.
• The power of local voluntary associations.
• The resources of local institutions.
• The physical assets of the community (e.g. land, buildings, transportation)
• The local economy.
• The community's culture and stories.

This workshop will be led by John (Jody) Kretzmann, Co-Director of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) and author of Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. He has international recognition as an inspiring, straightforward, and wise advocate of strength-based approaches to building healthy local communities.  This workshop is co-sponsored by Hopa Mountain, Montana State University’s Horizons Program and Leadership Institute, and Opportunity Link.  The cost of the workshop in Bozeman is $15, which includes lunch.  For more information, please call the Hopa Mountain office at (406) 586-2455 or fill out the attached registration form.

Asset Workshop Registration From for Bozeman and Havre

Building Strong Communities Registration Form

March 25, 2008 Bozeman, Montana
7 p.m., Montana State University - Bozeman

March 26, 2008 Havre, Montana
7 p.m., Montana State University - Northern

Building Vital Communities from the Inside Out

An evening lecture with John (Jody) Kretzmann, Co-Director of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) and author of Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. 

The lectures will begin at 7 p.m. at Montana State University – Bozeman’s Ballroom D (March 25) and Montana State University – Northern’s Hensler Auditorium (March 26).  The evening lectures are free of charge, co-sponsored by Hopa Mountain, Montana State University’s Horizons Program and Leadership Institute, ASMSU, and Opportunity Link.

April 3, 2008 Lame Deer, Montana
8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Chief Dull Knife College

Strategic Planning Workshop

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. In order to determine where an organization is going, it needs to know where it stands and then determine where it wants to go and how to get there.

In this one-day workshop at Chief Dull Knife College, participants will learn about the elements of a strategic plan and how to implement a strategic planning process for their organization. Organizations are encouraged to send a team of participants (2-5) to this training. There is no charge; the workshop is sponsored by the Compassion Capital Fund. For more information, please contact Audrey Arpan at Chief Dull Knife College

(406) 477-6215, ext. 113 or audreyarpan@yahoo.com.

April 8, 2008 Choteau, Montana
8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Creating Boards that Lead: A Discourse on Nonprofit Board Development, Board Operations and Responsibilities

If you are a member of a nonprofit board, or would like to become one, this nonprofit board training workshop is for you. Taught by Terry Profota, past president of the Montana Nonprofit Association and seasoned nonprofit director and Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer, executive director of Hopa Mountain, this board development workshop will focus on the roles and responsibilities of nonprofit board members and getting Boards energized. For more information or to register, please call Gina Dalrymple at 466-3203.

April 29 – May 2, 2008 Bozeman, Montana
October 14-17, 2008 Lame Deer, Montana

Strengthening the Circle - Native Nonprofit Leadership Training

Application deadline: February 15, 2008

This eight-month training program is designed to give executive directors and board members the tools, skills, and technical support to successfully develop and strengthen nonprofit organizations working with youth in Indian Country.  Hopa Mountain, Seventh Generation Fund, the Institute for Conservation Leadership, Healing Tree, Tribal Planning Services, and the Foundation for Community Vitality are cooperatively organizing the 2008 Native Nonprofit Leadership Program.  For more information about applying to participate in Strengthening the Circle, please call (406) 586-2455.

Montana Citizen Leaders Workshops with Bliss W. Browne

Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer interviews Bliss Browne. Listen now.

Class dates for 2007-2008 Citizen Leaders participants:

January 16 – Workshop in Havre

January 17 – Workshop in Great Falls

February 27 – Site visits with Bliss W. Browne

February 28 – Site visits with Bliss W. Browne

April 23 – Graduation dinner in Great Falls

April 24 – Graduation dinner in Havre

The 2008-2009 Montana Citizen Leaders program will start in August of 2008, led by Bliss W. Browne, founder of Imagine Chicago.  Watch for session and site information coming soon.

Through the Citizen Leaders workshop series, local community members have the opportunity to propose an imaginative project that make visible core values and assets of the community, and develop local leadership and participation. The innovation can strengthen existing networks such as a scout group or a parent club. The more that the innovation builds on already existing projects and structures and strengthens them, the better. For example, a group of adults and teens might organize new youth summer programs in area neighborhoods to build youth skills and confidence. Through a series of workshops, using a Community Innovation Guide, participants learn how to prepare proposals, organize and implement imaginative community development projects, and evaluate and sustain their project's impact. Upon the successful completion of a proposal, the local project team will receive up to $500 to purchase materials for the proposed innovation.

Bliss Browne has designed and facilitated dozens of collaborative intergenerational projects, which have transformed communities, incorporating appreciative inquiry and other strength-based approaches into intergenerational civic projects that harness hope and imagination as resources for public good. This workshop series is co-sponsored by Hopa Mountain, Inc. and Opportunity Link. For more information about the Citizen Leaders community workshop series and how you can get involved with the 2008-2009 program, please contact Leah Noel at Opportunity Link at (406) 265-3699 or Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer at Hopa Mountain (406) 581-0824.

2008 Youth Leadership Programs

Junior high and high school students are invited to participate in youth leadership programs to be held in Bozeman and Livingston this year with support from the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch Fund. Organized by Hopa Mountain, the Boys and Girls Club, Montana Outdoor Science School, LINKS, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Park County, and Consider Source, these programs start with weeklong outdoor day camps.

The youth leadership programs continue throughout the school year with monthly meetings and community projects organized by youth. The youth leadership programs are designed to provide opportunities for all youth to gain valuable life skills to use in service to others.

Summer Camps 2007 – Watch for 2008 summer camp programs coming soon!
June — Box Elder, MT
Climbing Toward Camp
Read the Great Falls Tribune Article
Triangle Telephone's bi-monthly magazine article (pdf format)
Visit the site www.climbingtoward.org

June 25 – 29 — Livington, MT
L.E.A.P. Camp Download Brochure (pdf format)

July 16 - 20 — Bozeman, MT
Finding Face Creating Place Camp Download Brochure (pdf format)

Networking

Hopa Mountain is developing a regional network of rural community leaders and a forum for them to exchange ideas, collaborate on projects and offer each other general support.