Activism - Helping Neighbors Help Neighbors

Rev. Billy Park, Bethel Korean Presbyterian Church

Ask Fran Donaldson what it takes to build a resilient community, and she'll tell you it takes the community itself. The more neighbors help each other, she believes, the stronger and more resilient the community becomes.

To facilitate neighbors helping neighbors, the Foundation has established and provides grants to support Horizon Councils in Elkridge, Western Howard County, the Ellicott City area and the Route 1 Corridor between Savage and the Prince George's County line.

Made up of people who live or work in their communities, the Councils advise the Foundation about issues that are important in their communities, recommend ways to address those issues and, with the Foundation's support, implement their own projects. "Horizon does things quite differently from other foundations," says Donaldson, who is the principal of Deep Run Elementary School and serves on the Elkridge Horizon Council. "They give people in the community a chance to speak out. They might give us suggestions, but we make the decisions about what we're going to do." Council projects vary from area to area and are predicated on need. Each Council has taken a systematic look at health and wellness needs in the geographic area it represents, linking with other local groups in the process. This typically has included examining data and available reports, conferring with appropriate organizations and agencies, reviewing potential community strategies and selecting priorities.

For instance, the Elkridge Council's first priority was providing services for its large senior population. Its first project was establishing the HorizonLiner, a specialized vehicle that provides reduced-cost transportation for older people to medical appointments throughout the Baltimore-Washington region. Next on the group's agenda was hiring a coordinator, who works under the auspices of the county's Office on Aging. The coordinator provides a variety of services for older people, including helping them fill out paperwork and forms, but she spends most of her time serving as a one-person information and referral agency.

The Elkridge Council is currently focusing on intergenerational relationships and is facilitating activities for Elkridge Landing Middle School students and Elkridge Senior Center attendees.

Other Horizon Councils have sponsored community events to bring neighbors together and improve communication. "Our area feels isolated from the rest of the county," says River Hill High School assistant principal and Western Horizon Council member
Barbara Dandridge. "Part of the problem is just communication."

Elkridge Council members include Ann Bromery, Herman Charity, Rita Chelton, Fran Donaldson, Raymond Faith, Barb Kendrick, Phil Lord, Tom Saunders and Jeanne Slater. Partnership representatives include Judi Bard and Ann Havill. Southeast Council members include Tudy Adler, Lori Fuchs, Lisa Kawata and Carolyn Jameson. Partnership representatives include Diane Li, Rachel Qualls, Officer Rocco Sovero and Donna Thewes. Western Council members include Rev. Lisa Bandel- Sparks, Puzz Brightwell, Barbara Dandridge, Betty Frey, Susan Stonesifer, Mary Frances Gosnell, Don Hardesty and Margaret E. Schultz. Ellicott City Council members include Ronnie Bohn, Carla Buehler, Catherine Chapman, Phyllis Greenbaum, Sandy Harrington, Terri Hilton, Ruth Newton, Pastor Billy Park, Jackie Ring, Jared Spahn and Jeff Williams.

To help get their community together, the Western Council sponsored a Family Communication Night in March. The topic was "Teen Friendships, Dating and Sexuality," and the attendees were middle schoolers and their parents. Also in March, the Southeast Horizon Council hosted a Fun, Food and Fitness Family Health Expo. More than 50 health and human services organizations had booths at the event to introduce themselves to the community.

"People in our part of the county are not aware of local services because the local nonprofits don't have offices here," says Southeast Council member Lisa Kawata. "We wanted to do a community services fair where people could see what's available in the county. It was a way to introduce the services in a fun setting."

"We're a particularly needy part of the county," Kawata adds. "There are so many needs, it's hard to prioritize." But in North Laurel and elsewhere in Howard County, the Horizon Councils are building a responsive and resilient community one step - and one project - at a time.

Since 1999, The Horizon Foundation has benefited from the good counsel and productivity of the Horizon Councils - Elkridge, Southeast, Western and Ellicott City - advisory groups providing recommendations about meeting needs in their respective communities.

During the summer of 2003, the four Horizon Councils met together. This working luncheon afforded Council members an opportunity to hear what was going on in the other Councils ... and it gave everyone a chance to celebrate the past year's accomplishments.

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