TEACH A MAN TO FISH: How We Get To Work

I’ve told the story (April 12: I Fought The Law and Jobs Won) about the jewelry making business in Huerfano County that was almost shut down by the government because it employed “home workers.” This small business used what was right there: talented, dedicated women who wanted to work at home. What a great solution to joblessness – use what is right in front of you.

• How have you helped get people to work in your community?
• What’s the single biggest roadblock to employment where you live?
• How do neighbors help neighbors create good work?
  
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THE LAND OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES: Abundance, Beauty, Energy

Look at what we have in Colorado: mountains, rivers, forests, oil, gas, coal, abundant pastures, and land right for raising cattle, sheep, other livestock, and food. Like the American Indians who were the stewards of this same land, folks in the Third District respect our natural resources. But we need to get out there and cultivate those resources, and we can do this responsibly and productively.

• How have you or your neighbors used the abundance of Colorado’s natural resources to make your lives better?
• How has your community decided to use what is available on the land or in the mountains to make life better?
• What is the single biggest roadblock you or your neighbors have to solving this country’s energy issues?
  
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THE GRAND JUNCTION COMMUNITY HEALTH CARE MODEL: Low Cost, High Quality, Near-Universal Care

Grand Junction has shown the country how a community can solve its own health care problems without billions of dollars in wasted pork. By working together, providers in Grand Junction and the surrounding area emphasize primary care and prevention. They cover nearly everyone. They conduct peer reviews to see if doctors generally choose proven treatments. The solution is considered “home grown” and is based on physician leadership.

Other communities have created local clinics that service everyone – the under and uninsured as well as those with health insurance – providing everything from free immunizations to screening and semi-urgent care. Check out Steamboat’s Visiting Nurse’s Association or Custer County’s Medical Clinic. These are creative solutions, state and community based, to the problem of low cost effective health care.

Finally, let’s talk about how churches and communities help the sick, just naturally. We are good folks at heart, and we always lend a hand.

• How does your community address its health care needs?
• Tell us a story about how neighbors help neighbors when there is illness;
• How does your church community address health care?
  
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WHATSOEVER YOU DO: Giving a Hand to Those in Need

Not sure where liberals or “progressives” got the idea that conservatives don’t care about the needy but conservative Republicans believe in family, neighborhood, church, and community. What we DON’T believe in, however, is creating a culture of dependency. In Colorado, if you hit hard times you can bet your neighbors or church will help out. But eventually, you will take care of yourself. That is the goal, not abject reliance on the government.

There’s not a rancher out there who hasn’t hit hard times and had meals or wood or hay or help show up on his doorstep. When Pastor Troy of Steamboat Christian Center set a goal to raise a ton of food by Thanksgiving, our community raised four. We do not forget those who need help; in fact, we take responsibility for our less fortunate. And then we expect them to help themselves, and others.

• Tell us a story about how you helped out a less fortunate friend or neighbor;
• How has your neighborhood or community responded to the needs of the less fortunate?
  
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INVENTING VELCRO: Supporting Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

For six years I ran a small guiding business in Custer County. My partner, Kevin Madler, and I used ingenuity in marketing and growing that business, until it inadvertently became a non-profit in 2006. So many folks in Colorado work in or own small businesses from the clerk in the 7-11 to bank tellers, to our favorite "Mom and Pop" restaurants (like Deb's Diner in Dove Creek) and stores all over the state.

• As a small business owner, how have you been creative in growing your business?
• If you work in a small business, tell a story about how you used your own initiative to make something happen.
• What's the single biggest obstacle to small businesses in your area?

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