Picture Gallery One Cottonwood's Mayor stays active in the community.
Click picture for close up view
Intergenerational Activities Benefit
Community Diane supports communities for all-ages
activities. Seniors have so much knowledge and life-experiences to share with
the community's children. She led an effort for the city of Cottonwood to
provide support to Cottonwood's Verde Valley Senior Center. Making sure there is
effort and time for the two age groups to interact benefits all. Diane believes
that a compassionate and vital community cherishes its youth and shepherds their
social development, informing and motivating them. She is very supportive of the
newly formed Cottonwood Youth Advisory Commission's many accomplishments.
Diane supports the Recreation and Aquatics Center for all generations, the
city's ball fields, skate park, biking and hiking trails, and other recreational
opportunities. Diane believes our kids deserve our best efforts. Diane cares
about Cottonwood's seniors, families, youth and children. Children deserve
to be surrounded by people who care, and adopted grandparents do inspire.
Teen Maze Teen Maze was an event that was held for several years in Cottonwood,
that taught teens about positive lifestyle choices. The event, a big board game
of life, was a health-focused event that tackled such issues as sexual behavior,
drug and tobacco use, exercise and dietary habits. The aim of the program
was to help teens understand the consequences of risky choices. The event was a
huge undertaking by local community leaders who worked hard to create the event
each year. The event has been disbanded in the Verde Valley for lack of
community volunteers and time resources to organize it. Diane supports the Teen
Maze concept and is interested in collaborating with others to find a way to bring the highly educational event back to the Verde
Valley. Teens LOVED the dances.
Cottonwood Grant Resource Library
Diane was
Vice President of Cocopai Resource
Conservation & Development the past three
years. She is a member of the Cocopai Cottonwood Library Action Team that brought a grants
research database to the Cottonwood Library through a local sponsorship by
the Wayne Latham family. For the first time in the Verde Valley, residents
can search for grants from more than 80,000 grant sources in the Foundation
Center’s Platinum database as well as the 1,800 grant makers who have
already given to Arizona non-profits. Verde Valley residents would have to
travel to Phoenix or Flagstaff to use a database of similar size. Diane is currently working on a water book library as a project of the Cocopai
Cottonwood Library Action Team with a grant from SRP. Diane is currently
working to administer a Forest Project Funds Grant given to the Stewards of Public
Lands by Yavapai County, with Cocopai RC&D as Fiscal Agent.
Fossil Creek's Power Plants
Decommissioned In the 1950s Diane's father, Eugene P. Smith, was the first Fry-area
manager of the Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative in the southern
Arizona area of not-yet-incorporated Sierra Vista. Diane's father spent his career in utility
management, both in Arizona and Iowa. She has always been interested in the Childs and Irving Power
Plants. The plants were decommissioned by APS in 2005 and the full flow was
restored to Fossil Creek. Diane served on a committee that discussed the
historical artifacts that were to be placed in a museum. APS held a celebration
in June of 2005 at Fossil Creek that Diane attended. The Yavapai-Apache Nation
worked closely with APS throughout the decommissioning process.
National Association of RC&D
Councils Conference Diane Joens served as vice-president of the
Cocopai Resource Conservation and Development, Inc. for three years. She and
Douglas Diswood of the Navajo Nation benefited from the many educational
displays offered at the RC&D National Conference in San Antonio, Texas. The
purpose of the Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) program is to
accelerate the conservation, development and utilization of natural resources,
improve the general level of economic activity, and to enhance the environment
and standard of living in designated RC&D areas. There are six RC&Ds in Arizona.
RC&D improves the capability of state, tribal and local units of government and
local nonprofit organizations in rural areas to plan, develop and carry out
programs for resource conservation and development. The program also establishes
or improves coordination systems in rural areas. Current program objectives
focus on improvement of quality of life achieved through natural resources
conservation and community development which leads to sustainable communities,
prudent use (development), and the management and conservation of natural
resources. RC&D areas are locally sponsored areas designated by the Secretary of
Agriculture for RC&D technical and financial assistance program funds.
Project CENTRL - Washington D.C.
Through a University of Arizona sponsored
leadership program, in conjunction with Extension and the Center for Rural
Leadership, Project CENTRL, Diane spent a week each in Louisiana
and Washington D.C. She spent time in New Orleans before Katrina devastated the
city. In Washington D.C. she visited Sen. John McCain and
Congressman Rick Renzi; the Departments of State, Interior and Agriculture;
Federal Reserve Board; Library of Congress; Canadian Embassy and U.S. Supreme
Court. Diane was honored to meet with then
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner, an accomplished woman that she much
admires. Diane networks with 400 other Project CENTRL graduates throughout the state of Arizona. Many hold public office.
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