With hard work and collaboration, a recent Sherwood Trust Community Leadership program cohort created a spark of community pride at their Spark in the Park event. 

The event was held in Prescott, Washington, a town with a population of 300. Cohort members had a goal for their project to bring together members of the Touchet Valley and wanted to make a fun, family-friendly event. Prescott was specifically chosen as the location for an event in order to also spark economic opportunity,  as the community exists within a food desert with no grocery store, food bank, or public transportation.

The successful event offered music, games, and food, and brought back traditional street dance as dancers from Chiquillas Ballet performed for onlookers, hopefully sparking a new tradition for the Touchet Valley.

Since 2004, RDI has been working with the Sherwood Trust to gather and lead a diverse cohort of people from across the Walla Walla Valley to learn together to build individual and community leadership skills. Cohorts of established and emerging leaders come together to practice skills and work together to improve life in the valley. Hundreds of community members from Dayton, Washington to Milton-Freewater, Oregon have participated in the Sherwood Trust Community Leadership Program.

Click here to learn more about RDI’s flagship Rural Community Leadership program, which provides a foundation to grow vital rural communities by training a critical mass of connected leaders.