The Catalyst Women Have Been Waiting For Most of us know the feeling of leaving a great conference fired up, notebook full, and with no idea what to do on Monday morning. That gap between inspiration and action is exactly what two North Idaho women set out to close with Catalyst: Women Entrepreneurs Driving Change, a brand new one day conference for women in business, leadership, and everything in between, hosted in partnership with the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce. On a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with the women behind it, Alisha Kowalski and Jennifer Steinbachs, ND. Alisha is a business owner, the founder of the Sandpoint Women's Group , and an assistant branch manager at WaFd Bank. Jennifer is a naturopathic doctor with Syringa Wellness , which recently moved to Rathdrum. Between them, they have a front row view of what women in business are up against and what actually helps. The idea started about three years ago, when Alisha was attending networking events from Coeur d'Alene to Bonners Ferry. They were energizing, but there was never a next step, no follow up, and no plan. She and Jennifer met at a Women's Day event at the Bonners Ferry Chamber, reconnected through Leadership Sandpoint, and discovered they had been dreaming the same dream in parallel. Alisha said "someday." Jennifer said, "nope, this is the year." The name Catalyst is a nod to Jennifer, who Alisha says has been the catalyst in her life. Both women bring a different lens. Jennifer, whose background is in biology, sees it often in holistic practitioners, who start their businesses because they love a modality and then chase one more certification instead of building a business plan. She will talk about the biology behind why we avoid decisions like raising our rates. The brain is a pattern recognition machine built for survival, so one lost client after a price increase can feel like a threat worth avoiding forever. Alisha will speak about finance, and why women so often undervalue what they bring to the table. One of her reminders is simple: a photographer and a storefront have very different costs and clients, so comparing their pricing doesn't tell you much. Think apples and oranges, if you will. The day itself is designed so no one leaves empty handed. It begins with a continental breakfast from Bakehouse in Sagle, time to network, and a chance to shop with vendors. After the two talks comes a panel with experts in banking, operations, legal, and accounting. Lunch is catered, and then attendees rotate through two breakout sessions, one on operations and one on branding, so no one has to choose and miss something. In between, there is time to sit down and start working on your plan. The day wraps up with a cocktail hour sponsored by 113 Main. Every attendee leaves with a 90 day workbook, a swag bag, and a binder to keep moving forward, plus a follow up Zoom call during those 90 days to check in on progress. The hope is that women walk into a financial institution at the end of that window with a real business plan in hand. As the event announcement puts it, empowerment without action is simply inspiration. Who is it for? Business owners, certainly, but also dreamers, women stepping into team lead roles with no training, and nonprofit leaders and board members who want to understand the numbers and the brand behind their mission. As the event announcement puts it, you do not have to own a business to belong in this room. As Alisha put it, even a successful business owner can ask herself a good question: what is my plan to step away for two weeks? What I loved most was the heart behind it. Both women spoke about wanting local women to cheer each other on instead of competing, and Alisha made the same point about our many nonprofits, coaches, and practitioners. Instead of a competitive edge, she said, there is the chance to partner and help far more people together. Her advice for attendees is just as simple. Show up with an idea, be curious, be ready to work, and be open to meeting someone new. If you come with a group, they may split you up. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we believe that connection is how a community grows stronger, and that when people share ideas, skills, and resources instead of working in isolation, everyone benefits. Catalyst is a good example of what that looks like for women in our area. Registration is $105 for general admission and $125 for VIP, which includes a few extra goodies and lunch with the business attorney. Vendor tables are $150. All registrations include lunch and the cocktail hour. Catalyst takes place on Monday, November 9, 2026, in Sandpoint, and you can register here.  This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Alisha Kowalski and Jennifer Steinbachs, ND.

A Career Is Waiting Behind the Wheel Scroll through any job board in North Idaho and you will see the same listing over and over: CDL driver. Nurse. CDL driver. CDL driver. That is how Ken Rolle describes his own job search after retiring from the Army, and it turns out to be a pretty good summary of the opportunity sitting in front of a lot of our neighbors. On a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with Ken, the workforce development manager at North Idaho College's Workforce Training Center , to talk about the commercial driver's license program he oversees and the doors it opens. Ken spent 21 years in the Army, including a stretch as a military science instructor at Gonzaga, and he took this role in April. By his own description, he hit the ground sprinting. The program is built to be focused and fast. Over five weeks, students complete online coursework and hands on training, then spend eight days in the truck with an instructor, learning everything from the pre-trip inspection to driving on North Idaho roads. Classes are offered seven days a week, so training can fit around work and family. Last year the program trained more than 125 students, and the pass rate on the CDL test is over 93 percent. Ken gives the credit to his instructors, who have decades of driving experience between them. Class sizes stay small, with just two or three students in a truck at a time, which means real one on one coaching. I climbed up into one of those trucks myself and honked the horn. Driving one is another story. The view from up here is pretty great, and so is the horn. Thank you to Keith and the NIC Workforce Training Center team! Who enrolls? About half of the students are between 18 and 21, many of them high schoolers using Idaho's advanced opportunities funding to cover the cost. The rest are career changers, some in their 50s, and employees whose companies need them licensed quickly. Ken has also made a change that starts in January: every student will leave with a forklift certification in addition to their CDL. Because younger drivers cannot cross state lines under federal law, that second credential makes them more employable at regional employers like Orgill and Amazon. He is building partnerships with companies such as CDA Paving, Idaho Fish and Game, and Core-Mark, and his goal is simple. If he trains five students, he wants five employers ready to hire them. Cost can be a real barrier, and Ken knows it. The program is the lowest cost CDL training in the area, and Idaho Launch can help eligible students cover it. He has even joined national trucking organizations to track down scholarships, and the words "find money for students" are written on the whiteboard in his office. The job market behind all of this is strong. Regional positions mean many drivers are home every night, flexible schedules are common, and some of these jobs can reach six figures. Ken also pointed out that it is one of the more important industries in the country. Everything on our grocery shelves, along with our fuel, our lumber, and our building supplies, arrives by truck. There is more happening at the Workforce Training Center, too. In January, Ken is launching drone training, with a 12 week professional flight option and a 12 week maintenance program. The health professions programs are growing, and the HVAC and electrical apprenticeships get bigger every year. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we talk often about pathways, the idea that a young person or a neighbor in transition should be able to see a clear next step. A short program, a real credential, and an employer on the other side is exactly that kind of pathway. Programs like this one, working alongside our high schools and local employers, are part of what keeps our region working. To learn more or sign up, visit the North Idaho College Workforce Training Center website, stop by the Sandpoint Center, or pick up one of their course catalogs, which seem to be everywhere.  This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Ken Rolle.

Quilted Together, Piece by Piece Some of the best community partnerships are sewn together one stitch at a time. That is exactly how I would describe the relationship between the Panhandle Piecemakers Quilt Guild (PPQG) and the Community Resource EnVision Center, and on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I had the joy of sitting down with two of the women behind it. Maureen Breen and Kathy Robertson joined me to talk about PPQG, its upcoming 2027 quilt show, and a partnership that has brought warmth, literally and figuratively, to families across Bonner County. Maureen is an active member and past president of the guild, currently serves as Quilt Show Chairman, and is one of the guild's most enthusiastic ambassadors. Kathy is the publicity chair for the 2027 quilt show and brings a contagious energy to everything she touches. PPQG has been a fixture in Sandpoint for decades, bringing together women who share a love of quilting, community, and showing up for one another. The guild meets regularly, welcomes crafters of all skill levels, and provides a space where friendships are built alongside beautiful, handcrafted work. As Maureen put it, it is more than quilting. It is connection. Their partnership with the Community Resource EnVision Center is already a beautiful one. Last year, PPQG created handmade tree skirts for our Festival of Trees that were absolutely stunning. They brought in meaningful funds that support CREC's work all year long, and so many of our staff and board members wore them throughout the event that they became part of the magic people experienced when they walked through the door. We loved being able to tell every person who asked that these pieces were made and donated by talented members of our own community. This year, PPQG is showing up again, this time with handmade Christmas stockings that will be woven throughout the Festival. There is something especially meaningful about having handmade pieces at the heart of this event. It makes Festival of Trees feel less like something CREC puts on and more like something our whole community creates together. Their contribution is not simply a donation of materials. It is a donation of time, creativity, skill, and love. Festival of Trees is one of CREC's signature community traditions and fundraisers, bringing thousands of people together during the holiday season. In 2024, it generated $226,591. Those funds support our year-round work connecting people to resources, strengthening local nonprofits, and creating opportunities for community connection. The impact lasts long after the trees come down. And PPQG is now part of that story. Kathy and Maureen also shared exciting news about PPQG's 2027 Quilt Show, which is being planned for September of next year. It will be a significant community event showcasing the incredible work of guild members. Details are still coming together, but if you have attended a quilt show before you know they are something to behold: color, texture, and artistry that takes your breath away. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details as they are announced. For anyone who has ever been curious about quilting or is looking for a welcoming community of creative, generous women, PPQG is worth knowing about. You do not need to be an expert. You just need a willingness to learn and a love of making something beautiful with your hands. Email the guild with questions at panhandlepiecemakers@gmail.com. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we are grateful for partners like PPQG who show up year after year, bringing their time, their talent, and their hearts to the work of making Bonner County a warmer, more connected place. Stitched together, we really are stronger. To learn more about PPQG or the 2027 Quilt Show, keep an eye on their announcements or reach out to us at the EnVision Center and we will help connect you. This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Maureen Breen and Kathy Robertson.

Giving North Idaho Kids a Safe Start Brian Rauscher will be the first to tell you he did not plan any of this. A petroleum engineer by training, he went on a date in 2011 and ended up co-founding one of the most impactful child safety organizations in the Pacific Northwest. On a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with Brian, director of operations for Safe Start , to talk about the work his organization is doing to keep infants and children safe across North Idaho and eastern Washington. What brought him to this work is a love story, a sense of purpose, and a wife named Liz who found her calling in the most heartbreaking of circumstances. Liz lost her son Mason to an unsafe sleep accident in 2003. That loss became the foundation of everything Safe Start does. The organization she helped found, originally called Inland Northwest SIDS Foundation, eventually absorbed the organization she had first worked for, and Safe Start was born. Today it operates out of Coeur d'Alene with two and a half paid staff members and roughly 150 volunteers who make it all possible. Safe Start does three things really well. First, they provide safe sleep education, following American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for babies from birth to one year. Second, they run a child passenger safety program, educating families on car seat safety and distributing brand new car seats at no cost — 724 of them in 2025 alone, every single one accompanied by face to face education so families actually know how to use them. Third, through their Healing Together program, they support families who have experienced the loss of a pregnancy, infant, or child. It is hard, sacred work, and Liz leads it with the kind of grace that only comes from having lived through it herself. What sets Safe Start apart is their mobile safety lab, called the REO (Rural Education Outreach) program — one of only two Buckle Up for Life mobile safety labs in the entire country, a collaboration between Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Toyota. Safe Start takes theirs to 16 rural communities across North Idaho and eastern Washington, from Bonners Ferry all the way down to Grangeville, setting up pop-up events with trusted local partners so families can pull up, get educated, and leave with a new car seat if they need one — no strings attached. The night before we recorded this conversation, Brian and his team had been in St. Maries, where they completed 37 car seat checks and distributed 26 brand new car seats in a single afternoon. He gave me those numbers first, fresh from the field. The partnership piece is central to how the REO program works. Brian is clear that Safe Start does not parachute into communities and tell people what to do. They find trusted local partners first — a Head Start program, a tribal health specialist, a community health organization — and let those relationships lead the way. The ultimate goal is for each community to build its own capacity so that Safe Start eventually works itself out of a job in that area. That is the kind of program design worth paying attention to. The story Brian shared about his wife Liz says everything about why this work matters. They were on vacation in Palm Springs, walking out the door to a comedy show, when a text came through on their 24/7 support line. A mother, ten days after losing her one-year-old daughter, wrote: I don't know how to keep breathing. Liz spent 45 minutes on the phone with her from the balcony of their condo. That is what Healing Together looks like in practice. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we believe that every family deserves access to the resources and support they need, and that the strongest communities are the ones where no one has to face the hardest moments alone. Safe Start is living proof of that every single day. If you would like to get involved as a volunteer, or if your family could benefit from their services, visit nwsids.org . And if you are in the Coeur d'Alene area, keep an eye out for their annual Run for the Angels 5K, a beautiful community event that honors children who were lost too soon. This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Brian Rauscher.

Head Full of Sky: Meet the Sandpoint Rocket Kid They say shoot for the stars. Carter Thompson is taking that advice, shooting for 60,000 feet first and working his way up from there. On a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with Carter, a remarkable young man from our area who is designing, building, and planning to fly a high-altitude student rocket to 60,000 feet at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry site in the Mojave Desert in May 2027. He is doing this as part of the Selkirk Launch Group, alongside two teammates: Ryland, who handles engine design and electronics, and Caden, the ideas guy. Together, with the support of a growing network of mentors and collaborators, they are moving forward with the kind of quiet confidence that makes you think they just might pull it off. Carter's passion for rocketry was ignited early, at the local library, where his dad took him to a rocketry event that changed everything. From that spark came YouTube rabbit holes, a local rocketry club, and a passion that has only grown since. He started flying smaller rockets, earned his Level 1 and Level 2 certifications through the National Association of Rocketry, and kept pushing. Now 17, he has his sights set on something that very few people, let alone teenagers, have ever attempted. What makes Carter's project remarkable is not just the altitude goal. It is the scope of what he is teaching himself along the way. He is designing the rocket's airframe, working with carbon fiber composites, building his own avionics bay, writing and troubleshooting flight computer code, and learning how to design and safely work with a liquid rocket engine. He described the process of going from a failed simulation to a working one with the matter-of-fact calm of someone who has gotten comfortable being uncomfortable. Getting comfortable being uncomfortable is a skill most adults spend years trying to develop. Carter is already there at 17. The technical challenges are real. At 60,000 feet, the air is thin enough that standard recovery systems do not work the same way. Carter has had to think carefully about drogue chutes, main chutes, and the timing of deployment at altitudes where most people have never been. He is working through propulsion questions, weight and balance calculations, and the kind of systems engineering that most adults would find overwhelming. He is doing it at 17, in his spare time, largely because he finds it genuinely fun. He is also building something bigger than a rocket. Carter talked about the mentors who have shaped his journey, experienced rocketeers, engineers, and community members who have taken the time to answer his questions, review his designs, and encourage him to keep going. He spoke about the importance of finding people who know more than you do and being willing to ask for help. For a teenager, that is a remarkably mature perspective. Carter's message to other young people is simple. You do not have to wait until you are an adult to do something real. You do not need a lab or a university or a big budget. You need curiosity, persistence, and the willingness to figure things out one problem at a time. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we love seeing young people in our community who are doing exactly that. Carter is proof that the next generation of innovators, engineers, and problem solvers is already here, already building, already dreaming, already reaching. And when that rocket lands in the Mojave Desert in May 2027, we have a feeling it will leave a little stardust behind. If you want to follow Carter's journey, you can subscribe to his YouTube channel . And if you would like to help make this dream a reality, you can support the Selkirk Launch Group directly through their G oFundMe . Every contribution counts. This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Carter Thompson.

High School Aerospace: Where Students Build the Real Thing In 2012, a high school junior walked up a driveway and asked a favor. Fourteen years later, that conversation has launched over 60 students into aviation careers. On a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with Ken Larson, founder of the North Idaho High School Aerospace Program , to talk about what has grown from that simple conversation into one of the most extraordinary youth programs in our region. Ken is quick to point out that the program was actually founded by Anna Filch, the student who showed up at his door in 2012 and asked if he would talk to a school counselor about starting an aviation program. Ken was the first person who got involved and stuck with it. Now in its 14th year, the program has sent over 60 students into aviation careers and counting. Ken's path to this work is shaped by decades of experience in the air. After joining the Air Force to avoid the draft and training as a pilot, he went on to fly business jets for NetJets for ten years, run his own flight school at the Sandpoint Airport for another ten, and somewhere along the way went to law school, ran a fishing business in Micronesia, and worked on a World Bank project in Somalia and Djibouti. Flying, he says, is the one thing he always came back to. That love of aircraft and deep desire to share what he knows is really the fuel behind everything this program has become. The program actually does three distinct things. First, there is an academic class at Sandpoint High School called Career Pathways Aerospace, which this year has so much demand that it is being offered in two sections. The class covers aerodynamics, weather, navigation, and weight and balance, but what makes it special is its focus on career pathways. Ken likes to tell his students that he does not think they can name something in normal society that is not somehow related to aviation. Over 24 guest speakers come through the class each year, from engineers to pilots to industry professionals, bringing the world of aerospace to life for students who may never have considered it before. Second, there is the ACES program — Aviation Center of Excellence Sandpoint — a hands-on airplane building workshop that meets every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sandpoint Airport. It costs nothing to participate, pizza is provided, and any student aged 12 and up is welcome to show up. Right now, a group of students is working on a Jabiru, a four-seat Australian-built kit airplane made of composite materials. A $29,000 engine for that plane arrived just last week, funded by a grant from the Whittier Trust's Confidence Foundation, the same organization whose $30,000 gift years ago was the seed money that got the whole program growing. Students on the ACES program learn to read blueprints, work with tools, wire instrument panels, shape composite materials, and work in teams on multiple projects simultaneously. As Ken put it, those are skills that apply to any career, no matter what. Third, the program works to help students access flight training through scholarships and connections to local resources. The student success stories Ken shared are remarkable. The very first class of 12 students that started building airplanes together — six of them are still in aviation today, mostly as commercial pilots. Anna Filch, who started it all, went on to study airport management and then got into aviation firefighting. Maggie Kirchherr trained with Ken's flight school, became an airline pilot with Republic Airlines and then NetJets, and eventually came back as a flight instructor at the school where she first learned to fly. One student who insisted he had no interest in flying became an aircraft mechanic, got his dream job in New York living near his sister, and recently emailed Ken to say he is almost finished with his commercial pilot's license. And Eric Gray, who started building one of the kit planes as a student, went on to become the program's test pilot — completing the circle by flying the very first test flights of the airplane he helped build. This October marks a milestone. Two airplanes the students built received their FAA airworthiness certificates, with the examining official noting they were among the best he had ever seen for construction quality and attention to detail. Both flew their first flights in October of 2025. What makes all of this possible is volunteers. Retired engineers, experienced mechanics, pilots, and businesspeople who give up every Saturday to work alongside these students. Some of them have been doing it for six or seven years. Ken is genuinely humble about his own role, pointing to the volunteers as the real reason the program works. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we love seeing programs like this one that connect young people to real skills, real mentors, and real futures. The aerospace program is proof that when a community shows up for its youth, extraordinary things happen. If you have a student between the ages of 12 and 18 who is curious, the ACES workshop is open every Saturday at the Sandpoint Airport. Just show up. The academic class at Sandpoint High School is also open to students from other schools and homeschool families — talk to the counselor to find out how. And if you want to support the program through volunteering, expertise, or donations, reach out at highschoolaerospace@gmail.com or visit their website at highschoolaerospace.org . They are also always looking for people in the aviation or engineering community to come and visit, share their career, and make the work feel real for the next generation. As Ken said, there is one rule: follow instructions. If you are not sure what to do, do not do anything. Everything else is an adventure. This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Ken Larson.

The surprising role of nonprofits, neighbors, and rural communities in rebuilding trust. Election season has a way of reminding us of everything that divides us. Different candidates. Different priorities. Different ideas about what our country—and our community—needs most. But something interesting happens when we bring those differences home to Bonner County. The person whose political views differ from yours might also be the volunteer helping your neighbor through a crisis. The business owner who sees the world differently might be sponsoring the same youth program you believe in. And the people sitting around a nonprofit boardroom table may have very different opinions about Washington, but share a deep commitment to making life better right here. Perhaps we have more common ground than our national conversations would lead us to believe. And new research suggests our nonprofit community may be one of the most important places to find it. An Unexpected Source of Common Ground Independent Sector's July 2026 Trust in Nonprofits and Philanthropy report surveyed 3,000 Americans and revealed something worth celebrating. 56% of Americans report high trust in nonprofit organizations , significantly higher than trust in many other institutions. But here's the finding that really caught our attention: 50% of Americans believe nonprofits are helping make divisions in our country better, up from 44% in 2025. And when asked which institutions are best positioned to reduce those divisions, respondents most frequently pointed to nonprofit organizations and people in their own local communities. Think about that. At a time when it can feel increasingly difficult to find common ground, Americans are looking to their neighbors and the organizations serving them to help bring people together. Not because we all think alike. But perhaps because we recognize that some things matter more than our differences. In Rural Communities, Our Lives Are Already Connected There's something uniquely powerful about living in a place like Bonner County. Our communities are small enough that our lives naturally overlap. The person serving your coffee might also coach your child's soccer team. The contractor working on your home might volunteer at the food bank. The person sitting beside you at a community fundraiser might hold entirely different beliefs about the world, but care just as deeply about the family down the road that's fallen on hard times. We see one another at the grocery store, the farmers' market, community events, and school activities. And when something happens to one of our neighbors, the ripple effects rarely stop at their front door. A family facing housing insecurity may also be struggling with transportation, employment, or healthcare. A senior living alone may need more than a meal or a ride. A young person searching for direction may need someone willing to recognize their potential and help open a door. These aren't isolated problems. They're interconnected challenges that affect the health and strength of the community we all share. And they remind us that caring for our community isn't a political position. It's something we do together. Trust Isn't Built Through Agreement One of the most compelling findings in the Independent Sector report is that 60% of people who interacted with a nonprofit in the previous year said that experience increased their trust . That tells us something important. Trust grows through experience. It grows when someone answers the phone. When a volunteer shows up. When a neighbor receives help without judgment. When an organization follows through on a promise. It also grows when we invite people to participate, listen to perspectives different from our own, and remain transparent about the work we're doing. In fact, 74% of respondents indicated that transparency about how nonprofits use their funds would positively influence their trust. Good intentions matter. But so do accountability, effectiveness, and results. Trust isn't something nonprofits are automatically entitled to because we have good missions. It's something we must continually earn. And perhaps one of the greatest opportunities we have in rural communities is the ability to build that trust face-to-face. What If Connection Is Our Greatest Community Resource? At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we have the privilege of seeing what happens when people and organizations come together around a shared need. Every day, we work to connect individuals and families with resources while helping the organizations serving our region connect with one another. And one thing becomes clearer the longer we do this work: No single organization has everything our community needs. But together, we have far more than we sometimes realize. Our nonprofits, businesses, churches, civic groups, volunteers, local governments, and neighbors each bring different resources, experiences, and perspectives to the table. What if we became even more intentional about connecting them? What if we created more opportunities for organizations to collaborate instead of working in isolation? What if we spent less time focusing on what separates us and more time discovering what we can accomplish together? This belief in the power of connection is also what inspires our vision for the HUB—a place where organizations and community partners could share space, resources, and opportunities to work alongside one another. But the bigger idea extends far beyond any one building or project. It's about creating a community where people know one another, trust one another, and recognize that they have something meaningful to contribute. What Happens After the Election? The Independent Sector findings are national, not a measurement of trust here in Bonner County. But they offer a hopeful invitation to consider what makes our own community strong—and what we want to strengthen for the future. We don't have to share the same opinions to share the same concerns. We can disagree about how to address a problem while still recognizing that the problem matters. We can hold different beliefs and still show up for the same neighbor. And we can choose to build relationships that are bigger than the differences between us. Elections will come and go. Candidates will win and lose. And we'll continue to disagree about plenty of things. But when the election signs come down, we'll still be neighbors. We'll still share the same schools, roads, businesses, mountains, and hopes for the place we call home. And perhaps the most important thing we can do for the future of Bonner County isn't to agree on everything. It's to remember how to work together anyway. What brings you together with people who see the world differently? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Read the research: Independent Sector — Trust in Nonprofits and Philanthropy, July 2026 

What Are We Building for the Next Generation? Every community is under construction. Not necessarily with cranes and concrete, but through the decisions we make, the opportunities we create, the organizations we strengthen and the relationships we build. The question is: What are we building—and who will inherit it? This month, that question kept showing up in some pretty remarkable places around Bonner County. It's there in classrooms and hangars, where young people are getting opportunities to learn by doing. Students aren't simply being asked what they want to become someday. They're being introduced to mentors, tools, trades and experiences that allow them to discover possibilities for themselves. Sometimes those opportunities lead somewhere no one expected. Like two local high school students deciding they want to build a rocket capable of reaching 60,000 feet. It's there in our nonprofit community, too. We often measure community work by how much we do: meals served, people housed, rides provided, dollars raised. Those numbers matter. But building for the future requires us to ask a harder question: What actually changed? Strong communities need strong organizations—organizations with the people, tools, information, partnerships and capacity to learn from what's working and improve what isn't. Sometimes progress isn't about starting something new. Sometimes it's about making what already exists stronger. And increasingly, we're seeing another kind of building happening throughout our community: organizations building together. This month's newsletter shares a wonderful example involving Numerica Credit Union, Schweitzer, our local schools and Sandpoint Cinemas. Each brought something different to the table, and together they created an opportunity for local kids that none could have created quite the same way alone. That idea feels especially important right now. Perhaps the greatest resources in our community aren't always the things we're missing.  Perhaps they're the people, organizations, spaces, expertise and generosity that already exist here and the connections we haven't made between them yet. The Future Is Already Under Construction At the EnVision Center, we're thinking about that question too. We're building new partnerships around transportation. We're preparing for another Festival of Trees that brings hundreds of people together around a hometown tradition. And we're continuing the conversation about the HUB and what could happen if Bonner County thought differently about the spaces, resources and infrastructure our community already has. But this isn't only a CREC question. It's one for all of us. The investments we make in a student today may shape a career twenty years from now. The organization we strengthen may be there when a family needs it years from now. The partnership we begin over coffee might solve a problem none of us could solve alone. We may never meet all of the people who benefit from what we build today. That's the beautiful thing about building for the future. We don't have to. We just have to leave something worth inheriting. The future of Bonner County is already under construction. What will you help build?

A new Idaho study reveals a challenge facing nonprofits across our state—and an opportunity for CREC to think differently about impact. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we count a lot of things. We count how many neighbors walk through our doors. We track the needs they bring with them. We know how many people need help with housing, utilities, transportation, food, medical care and other challenges. We track referrals, resources and connections. Those numbers matter. They help us understand what is happening in our community. They help us identify emerging needs. They help us tell funders and donors how their investments are being used. But lately, we've been asking ourselves a harder question: Are we counting what we do—or measuring what actually changes because we did it? That question came into sharper focus after reading a new report from the Nonprofit Center, a program of the Idaho Community Foundation, developed in partnership with the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and Dialogues In Action. The Practices of Evaluating Impact in Idaho Nonprofits The study interviewed 20 nonprofit leaders from different regions, organizational sizes and mission areas across Idaho. Its findings felt remarkably familiar. Idaho nonprofit leaders overwhelmingly believe in evaluating their impact. The problem isn't a lack of desire or commitment. It's capacity: too few people, too little time, insufficient specialized skills and systems, and funding that often supports programs without supporting the infrastructure necessary to determine whether those programs are actually working. We saw ourselves all over those pages. We Know What We Did. What Happened Next? Suppose a neighbor comes to CREC facing eviction. Our Client Resource Specialist sits with them, listens to what's happening, helps navigate available resources, connects them to another organization, and perhaps helps identify funding that keeps them housed. We can record that interaction. Housing need: addressed. But what we really want to know is: Were they still housed six months later? If we provide or connect someone with transportation assistance, did that help them keep their job? If we connect someone to workforce training, did they eventually become employed? If we help keep someone's electricity on during a crisis, was that enough breathing room for the household to stabilize, or were they back in crisis three months later? If three organizations collaborate to help one family, did that produce a better outcome than each organization working independently? Those are much harder questions. And according to the Idaho study, we're hardly alone in asking them. Leaders specifically reported wanting to understand lasting outcomes a year or even three years later, while often lacking the methods, permissions and resources to follow those outcomes. That distinction matters. Because people served is not the same thing as lives changed. Sometimes We're Measuring What Someone Else Asked Us to Measure Another finding really struck us. Nonprofits collect enormous amounts of information because funders, government programs, national organizations and other partners require it. But those required metrics aren't always the things nonprofit leaders themselves believe best demonstrate impact. The report gives the example of a housing organization that tracks what its grants require while wanting to understand something much more consequential: whether people achieve sustainable housing and what the long-term cost savings might be. That resonates. A grant may ask us: How many people did you serve? That's reasonable. But we might be more interested in: How many people needed us less six months later? Those aren't necessarily the same measure. And sometimes, in our effort to prove how much we're doing, we risk creating an incentive to count activity rather than understand change . The Answer Isn't Just More Data Here's where the report gets even more interesting. Many nonprofits aren't actually suffering from a lack of information. They already have databases, CRMs, surveys, reporting requirements, client stories and other sources of data. The problem is knowing what to do with all of it. The study describes a “data-to-narrative gap”: organizations may have strong data but struggle to translate it into something useful for improving programs, or into a compelling explanation that donors, businesses, policymakers and community members can understand. Again: hello, mirror. CREC has a CRM. We have client information. We have spreadsheets. We have stories. We have grant reports. We have statistics. We have staff members who know things about our community because they hear them every single day. But having information and having an evaluation system aren't the same thing. And building that system takes something nonprofits are perpetually short on: capacity. What If We Didn't Each Have to Figure This Out Alone? This is where the report collided with another conversation we've been having at CREC. For some time, we've been exploring a much bigger idea for the campus we occupy—something we're calling The HUB . At its simplest, The HUB asks: What if Bonner County shared more? More space. More resources. More ideas. More connection. But perhaps we should add another word to that list: More infrastructure. The Idaho report identifies fragmented data systems, limited evaluation expertise, insufficient staff capacity and lack of protected time as barriers across the nonprofit sector. It also specifically recommends peer-learning communities, practical evaluation training and stronger systems for turning data into narratives people can understand. That got us thinking. Why should every small nonprofit in Bonner County have to independently become an expert in impact evaluation? Or CRM management? Or data visualization? Or grant reporting? Or storytelling? What if some of that capacity could be shared? Imagine several organizations being able to access common expertise that helps them determine what they should measure, build better systems for collecting it, understand what the information is telling them and translate it into stories and evidence that make all of us better at serving our community. That is what we mean when we talk about The HUB being more than shared office space. The opportunity isn't simply to put organizations under one roof. It's to build infrastructure that makes those organizations stronger. Numbers AND Stories There was another finding in the report that gives us hope. Idaho nonprofits are getting better at combining quantitative data with human stories. They're listening to more voices, using feedback to change programs, learning from peers and creating regular opportunities for teams to reflect on what's working and what isn't. We believe strongly in that combination. Because behind every number at CREC is a person. A spreadsheet can tell us that someone needed transportation assistance. The story tells us that the car repair allowed a single mom to continue getting to work while getting her child to school. The number matters. The story tells us why. And good evaluation should help us understand whether the intervention actually created lasting change. So Where Do We Go From Here? We don't have a beautiful new impact-measurement system to unveil at the end of this article. That's actually why we're writing it. We're learning. We're asking whether some of the things we've traditionally celebrated are the right things to measure. We're looking more closely at the information we already collect. We're thinking about how we follow outcomes instead of simply recording interactions. And we're asking what CREC's role might be in helping build some of this capacity not only for ourselves, but alongside other organizations in our community. The Idaho study concludes with an important idea: nonprofit leaders don't need to be convinced that measuring impact matters. They already believe it. What needs to change are the conditions that prevent them from doing it well, the funding, time, talent, infrastructure and systems surrounding the work. We think that's worth paying attention to. Because Bonner County has no shortage of people doing good. Perhaps our next opportunity isn't simply to do more . Perhaps it's to become better at understanding what works , sharing what we learn, and building the infrastructure that allows all of us to create deeper, longer-lasting change. At CREC, we'll keep counting. But we're also going to keep asking the harder question: What changed? And maybe that's a question worth asking together. Want to dig deeper? Read the Idaho Community Foundation Nonprofit Center's full report, The Practices of Evaluating Impact in Idaho Nonprofits , explore the Idaho Community Foundation's broader nonprofit-sector research , or discover  The HUB .

There's Room at the Table: A Conversation with Innovia Foundation Generosity is most powerful when it stays close to home. That is the philosophy driving the work of Innovia Foundation , and on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with two of the people living it out every day right here in North Idaho. Tonya Sherman is the Regional Engagement Manager for Bonner and Boundary counties, and Britt Towery is the Director of Regional Engagement for North Idaho, covering Kootenai, Shoshone, Benewah, and Latah counties. Between the two of them, they are out in our communities every day, building relationships, listening to local needs, and connecting donors with the organizations and causes that matter most to the people who live here. So what is a community foundation, exactly? Innovia covers a 20-county region across eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Unlike a private foundation, which typically has a single source of funding and a narrow initiative, Innovia draws from a broad base of generous donors and reinvests those dollars directly back into the communities where they were given. As Tonya put it, they are a forever organization. The principal of their funds is invested for the long term, which means Innovia is not just responding to today's needs — they are building capacity for whatever the community needs five, ten, and fifty years from now. That long view is part of what makes this conversation worth having. Innovia started in 1974 when a group of forward-thinking women from the Junior League looked at the upcoming World's Fair in the Inland Northwest and asked a simple but powerful question: what happens after this is over? They started the organization with $10,000. Today the assets are over $300 million. Since 1974, over $6.6 million has been invested right here in Bonner County, often quietly, without fanfare, simply because donors trusted that it would be put to good use. One of the initiatives Tonya and Britt are most excited about right now is the Longest Table . The concept is exactly what it sounds like: long tables set up in public spaces where everyone is welcome to come, share a meal, and have a conversation. Innovia provides small grants to help communities host these gatherings, covering basics like tables, chairs, food, and permits. There is no agenda, no program, no pressure. Just neighbors sitting down together. As Britt put it, in a time when so many of us pull into our driveways, close the garage door, and stay behind our fences, the Longest Table is a simple but meaningful act of community building. Several are already being planned across the region, including one at Sandpoint High School and one downtown in partnership with Leadership Sandpoint alumni and NAMI. Another initiative worth knowing about is the Bonner Boundary Forever Fund , an endowment fund specifically designed to invest in Bonner and Boundary counties in perpetuity. The goal is to reach $500,000, with a generous matching contribution already in place. Grants from this fund have already distributed over $42,000 back into our community, including helping a nonprofit purchase a vehicle. If you are doing any estate planning and want your generosity to continue long after you are gone, even something as simple as a 5% bequest could make an extraordinary difference. Britt shared that if every person in our region left just 5% of their estate, that would translate to roughly $2 billion for local needs over time. Innovia also responded to the recent Spokane wildfires in a way that says a lot about who we are as a region. Donors from across the region and beyond sent contributions, from large gifts to children's penny drives, trusting Innovia to steward those dollars with care and get them to the nonprofits on the front lines as quickly as possible. It is a beautiful picture of what our region is really about — neighbors showing up for neighbors, with Innovia making sure every dollar finds its way to where it is needed most. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we believe that stronger communities are built through connection, and that the organizations doing the most meaningful work deserve to be seen and supported. Innovia is doing exactly that, investing in the infrastructure of generosity that makes everything else possible. If you would like to get involved, whether as a donor, a leadership council member, a Longest Table host, or simply someone who wants to learn more, visit the Innovia website or give Tonya or Britt a call. They will pick up. This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Tonya Sherman and Britt Towery.

From Bookmarks to Chairlifts: Numerica and Schweitzer Team Up for Kids Some of the best ideas come from two organizations asking the same question at the same time: how do we show up for our kids? On a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me , I sat down with Jody Azevedo, VP of Market Development at Numerica Credit Union, and Taylor Prather, Marketing and Communications Manager at Schweitzer, to talk about a partnership that is as creative as it is community minded. Together they launched Numerica’s Ski to Read program , an initiative that gives middle school students a simple and genuinely fun incentive to keep reading — a free single day lift ticket or movie package complete with popcorn and soda, earned by logging ten hours of reading time. The idea grew out of a conversation Numerica had with Dr. Meyer at the school district when they first came to Sandpoint. They wanted to do something meaningful for local students and learned that middle schoolers are a group that often needs the most encouragement to keep reading. Schweitzer was the natural partner. As Taylor put it, any opportunity to introduce or reintroduce skiing to kids and families is something Schweitzer is always going to say yes to. The program launched after Labor Day last year, kicking off with a middle school assembly that — by all accounts — was wonderfully, gloriously loud. Students who logged their ten hours of reading turned a form into their teacher and chose their reward. Fifty-six chose lift tickets to Schweitzer. Forty-nine chose movie tickets and a night at Sandpoint Cinemas . When charter schools and homeschool families heard about it, they asked to participate too, and the answer was absolutely yes. What makes this program work is that it meets kids where they are. Not every student skis, and not every family has easy access to the mountain. By offering both options, every child who puts in the reading time has something worth working toward. We can all admit that skiing is expensive — and that is exactly why programs like this one matter.Numerica’s Read to Ski program ensures that local kids get to experience Schweitzer's magic regardless of their family's budget. Taylor also shared something worth sitting with. It is surprising how many families in Sandpoint have never been up to Schweitzer, even those who have lived here for years. Programs like this one quietly close that gap, one lift ticket at a time. The partnership itself is a great example of what becomes possible when two strong community anchors decide to work together rather than separately. Numerica, Schweitzer, and the school district all had a hand in shaping the program, and the result is something none of them could have built alone. Sandpoint Cinemas rounds out the partnership, making the program accessible to every student. All organizations involved bring a deep commitment to youth programming beyond Read to Ski. Numerica's CARES for Kids program directs the majority of their philanthropic giving toward children's programming across all of their markets, contributing over $1 million last year. Schweitzer's donations committee, which Taylor sits on, gives back roughly $300,000 to the greater Sandpoint community. They also partner with Ski Idaho on a fifth and sixth grade passport program that lets kids ski at resorts across the state for around $40, and they bring school groups up throughout the week for rentals, lessons, and lift tickets. Jody also mentioned Numerica's support of Panhandle Alliance for Education, including a first grade reading program called Ready to Read (fka Learning with Lucky), where every first grader receives a stuffed puppy to read to and earns charms and prizes as they hit reading milestones. As Jody put it, you have to learn to read before you read to learn. It is a simple idea with a big heart behind it. At the Community Resource EnVision Center, we love seeing partnerships like this one take root in our community. We are also proud to share that Numerica is the presenting sponsor of this year's Festival of Trees — a relationship that speaks to their deep commitment to showing up for Bonner County in meaningful ways. When local businesses and organizations pool their resources and their reach, the impact goes so much further than any one of them could achieve alone. Numerica’s Read to Ski program is a beautiful example of that, and we cannot wait to see how it grows this year. If you have a middle schooler, keep an eye out for the program launching again after Labor Day. And if you have not been up to Schweitzer lately, maybe this is your sign. This post is based on a recent episode of A Little Birdie Told Me. Listen to the full conversation to hear more from Jody Azevedo and Taylor Prather.