Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Chamber plans ambitious for 2006

With the advent of a new year comes more and ambitious plans for the Partnership.

The Partnership, comprised of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce and the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, will be working together on several projects, including a new one called Active for Life.

The Active for Life program is a diet and exercise project to get local and area residents personally involved in taking better care of themselves. According to Janet McAdams, with the Nevada County Health Unit, this is an eight-week program promoting nutrition and exercise.

The program will kick off at groundbreaking ceremonies for the walking-jogging trail on Jan. 26. Those interested in being on a team or being a team captain need to contact the Chamber at 887-2101 by Jan. 12. The captains will meet on Jan. 19, where they will be given information on the program.

Participants, McAdams said, will be given sports pedometers to keep up with how far they walk, and earn points for each minute they exercise. A minute of exercise earns a point for the team. Participants will also be given T-shirts.

This is a two-fold program as it has a diabetes education segment as well. Mary Alice Blevins will handle the diabetes education portion, which is not directly involved with the Active for Life program. The diabetes portion is to help educate teachers and health professionals about the problems related to diabetes.

McAdams said there will be training for teachers and health care workers. Teachers will be instructed on how to work with children who have diabetes, as this is a growing problem nationally.

The Prescott-Nevada Health Care Alliance wrote the grant, for more than $8,000, with the grant money being administered through the Chamber.

As to the Active for Life program, McAdams said the captains will be checking on the team members to see what theyve been doing and to encourage them to keep working to get healthier through diet and exercise. We want people to incorporate this into their daily lives, she said, and make it a permanent change.

Mary Godwin, Chamber director, said the Chamber will focus on the big projects it does all year, such as the Christmas events, the Chicken and Egg Festival and the Chamber Banquet.

The coffees, a big part of the Chambers work, will also continue. These are wonderful opportunities for businesses and people to network and find out whats going on, she said, and be resources for one another. In addition, the coffees help promote downtown Prescott.

Beautification will continue to be a big part of what the Chamber does locally. Godwin said the Beautification Committee will continue focusing on keeping the downtown area mowed, weedeated, trimmed and the trash picked up, along with maintaining the flower beds.

Some of this years plans, she said, are to touch up the bottom of the mural at Sterling Park and install new trash cans around town.

The annual trash pickup will be held again. Godwin said she hopes it will grow and more people will get involved.

Another of her plans is to begin work on a memorial or monument for the 39th Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard. Soldiers from this brigade returned home from Iraq last year and there was some discussion about some kind of memorial for them, but nothing was actually done.

Additionally, Godwin will be working with the retail merchants to try and stimulate traffic in downtown Prescott. Events are being planned to help bring people to the downtown area, she said.

As to the Chicken and Egg Festival, she said, work is being done on the 2006 version, but there will be some changes made, to help make it more interesting.

The Chamber, she said, will be working with the EDO on the Leadership Nevada County program.

Donnie Crain, EDO director, said there are 13 in this years leadership program, with the retreat scheduled this weekend.

The class will learn about Nevada County, state government, local government and business, among other things, over the course of the year. The class will also break into groups, with each group being required to do a service project before the year ends.

One of the major things the EDO will be doing this year is starting work on recertifying for the Arkansas Community of Excellence (ACE) program. We want as many from the city and county involved as possible, he said. Whats good for Prescott is good for Nevada County and whats good for Nevada County is good for Prescott.

He will also be working to do something with the old hospital property to make it an asset for the area instead of a liability. In addition, Crain plans to work on filling the empty buildings downtown.

Crain is looking for grants to help build a multi-purpose complex for Prescott. The idea, he said, is for the facility to be used for several things, including recreation and meetings. Were addressing the recreational needs and grants for recreational opportunities in Prescott and Nevada County, he said.

He is working with Congressman Mike Ross to try and obtain federal funds to help purchase patrol cars for the Nevada County Sheriffs Office.

Bids for the walking trail were opened Tuesday, Jan. 10, and work should begin on it soon. Similar projects, he said, could be done throughout the county, once this one is complete.

Were also looking to add one or two more industries to the industrial park. We want the industry to be a good fit with Prescott and Nevada County. Theres a lot out there, its just a matter of finding them and selling them on Prescott.