Ridgerunner Consulting

Love a Local Business: Intuit grants!

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:05:06 -0500

Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks and Quicken, is offering small business grants. Small business owners should sign up and then let their customers know to vote for them. Win a small business grant worth $30,000! Votes from business owners and their fans determine which businesses will win. Visit http://lovealocalbusiness.intuit.com/ to sign up!

Infringement

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:04:59 -0500

Visit my Infringement Festival site!

Buffalo Infringement Festival 2010

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:28:33 -0500

I am very excited about a new project I'm working on: a photography exhibit for the Buffalo Infringement Festival.

What is the Infringement Festival?

Art Under the Radar
Every summer, the streets of the Allentown neighborhood of Buffalo, NY come alive with scores of events by local and visiting theatre and dance companies, puppeteers, media artists, poets, comics, musicians, cabaret acts, digital designers, and miscellaneous insurrectionists. The annual Buffalo Infringement Festival provides artists and audiences of all backgrounds the chance to come together, take chances, push boundaries, and explore uncharted territory because exciting art can happen anywhere, anytime, without a blockbuster budget. (Or any budget at all, for that matter.)

What is my project?

A photography exhibit - my first! The exhibit, titled "Between" shows bits of my life living between Buffalo, N.Y., and Blossburg, Pa.

Details?

Opening event: On the Fringe: 464 Multimedia Extravaganza for IF '10, Friday July 23, 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

464 Gallery on Amherst Street announces "On the Fringe" a multimedia celebration of the 2010 Infringement Festival with local art, live music, outdoor djs and vjs and much more.464 will be featuring artwork from young artists; Maria Bonsignore, Andrea Brough, Melissa Campbell, Heidi I. Jones, Shasti Oleary Soudant, David Pierro with his Robot Art as well as retail and works from the Gallery's scores of member artists.

Live Performance schedule:
6:30-9:30: Buffalo Busker
7:45-9:00: Michael Sheffield and Three Degrees of Separation
9:00-11:30: PROJEX: Artist Keith Harrington performing under the alias PROJEX (also known as DJ Flip of the Fractal Project) will be transforming the exterior landscape of 464 into an audio visual urban installation utilizing multiple projections, sound and music. Utilizing a hybrid traditional DJ setup and computer, this audio visual mixologist will be taking you on a journey of site and sound beginning in experimental ambience and ending in a high energy indie-electro dance party.

After the opening, the exhibit will run every day July 23 - Aug. 1. Hours: Tues - Fri: 12-6 : Sat 11-6 : Sun 11-5.

Where: 464 Gallery, 464 Amherst St., Buffalo, NY (map)

New resume, brochure

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:57:49 -0500

Here's my current resume [pdf] - updated to include the successful "Save North Penn High School!" campaign. And here's my spiffy consulting brochure [pdf]. Contact info 570-638-2486 heidi.i.jones @ gmail.com < take out the spaces

Save North Penn High School! and other projects...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:40:12 -0500

I've been writing so much elsewhere that I've been neglecting this blog, mostly because I don't think anyone reads it. What I've been up to recently:

Save North Penn High School campaign. Southern Tioga School District administration is proposing to shut down North Penn, ship the kids in grades 9-12 to Liberty High School and Mansfield High School, and turn the elementary school into a kindergarten-through-eighth grade facility. Obviously, I'm opposed to this.
- I did some research on effects of school consolidation/closing on students and communities and on the state regulations about school facilities construction. (The district administration is not providing the school board with sufficient information to make a huge, permanent decision like this.)
- I created an ad for the Penny Saver (weekly classified ad rag based in Mansfield, Pa.). PDF here.
- I created and update the FaceBook fan page "Save North Penn High School!." I update the NPHS alumni myspace but I think the FB page is more valuable.
- I created the specs for a letter-writing machine that my brother Josh implemented.
- I helped Jill Nickerson write a speech and handout for the November school board meeting.
- I helped Jill draft a letter for Blossburg Borough Council to send to the school board.
- I wrote a letter to the editor of the Williamsport Sun Gazette in response to an article about the November school board meeting.
- I wrote a letter for Blossburg Improvement Association to send to the school board. PDF here.
- I'm learning more about hands-on community organizing. I need this book: Tools for Radical Democracy, if anyone would like to buy it for me. (To get supersaver shipping at Amazon, you could add in Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals).
- I have two real clients through the University at Buffalo Law School Community Economic Development Clinic. I'm doing some nice stuff with them.
- I'm treasurer of the Alternative Dispute Resolution group at UB Law. We host a mediation (negotiation, really) competition each year - it's this Saturday. We also coordinate and subsidize a 30-hour basic mediation training in January, which I took last year.
- I'm a facilitator with the Alternatives to Violence Project.
- I'm still working with Westminster Economic Development Initiative, currently focusing on the West Side Bazaar, a retail incubator project. Bonnie Smith and I are also working on developing a relationship with a local credit union to create a microbusiness lending program using the Small Business Administration's Micro-Loan Program. There's a real need for microbusiness lending in Buffalo. The two current SBA lenders in Erie County are not currently lending anything.
- I'm still working with Blossburg V.I.B.E. We should be publishing our annual newsletter/business directory/place mat soon.
- I updated my resume to apply for an externship with the IRS. I have no expectation of getting the externship because they favor third-year students and only take three. Maybe next year after I've taken Taxation of Individual Income I and II, Exempt Organizations, State & Local Taxation...
- I have a new logo/business cards and a gorgeous brochure. (Yes, I now desperately need to update this website. Maybe January.) Thanks, Krysta!
- AND I'm still working with clients. I have a few in Buffalo and many in Blossburg. I'm scheduling stuff for January. If you need QuickBooks installation, setup or tutoring, let's schedule it now! To comment or contact me, email me at heidi (at) ridgerunnerconsulting.com.
  Save North Penn High School! on Facebook
  One more link - Liz Berkowitz of Wild Asaph Outfitters keeps a blog about natural gas drilling issues. This is important stuff that's going to affect Tioga County for a long time - probably as significantly as the coal mining era of the 1850s to 1980s.

RESULTS: Frac water recycling plant rezoning survey

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:34:40 -0500

Blossburg residents are opposed to the proposed rezoning of the land between the Kwik Fill and the Tabor Townhouses, primarily over worries of the potential environmental impact. Those who are in favor of the proposed rezoning feel that the potential jobs and potential tax revenue for Blossburg are important. Here's the PDF of all the results with my commentary: Download file Thank you to all who responded!! Tonight, 6 p.m. Blossburg Fire Hall: Borough Council will hold a public hearing on the rezoning proposal. Sept. 30, 7:00 p.m. DEP hearing for a frac water recycling plant near Williamsport.

Frac water recycling plant rezoning survey

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:48:46 -0500

Please take this quick survey about the request to rezone the land between the Kwik Fill and the Tabor townhouses from commercial use to industrial use.

Working with WEDI

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:02:42 -0500

This summer I'm volunteering with Westminster Economic Development Initiative (http://www.wedibuffalo.org/ - they have a site but no content), a nonprofit organization that works to improve the West Side neighborhood of Buffalo, an area with very high rates of poverty and joblessness. I'm working in the economic development department helping Bonnie Smith, director, with small business startups. I'm focusing on helping the startup clients with QuickBooks but I'm also checking out WEDI's various projects, including the International Marketplace Bazaar. They're hoping the bazaar becomes a small retail business incubator by offering low-rent spaces in a commonly managed building. At an open house held 7/11, they signed up five potential small businesses. Carmen's Kitchen, a Puerto Rican/Mexican takeout/delivery joint, opened in late May. Website Review Opening 7/24 (if all goes well): Tango's Pet Store 246 Massachusetts Ave. (at Normal Street), Buffalo, NY 14213. Michelle, the owner, raises fancy birds, although the store for now is just pet supplies, not live pets. (Sorry about the bad cell phone shots!) This is Tango the parrot Tango's children, 10 weeks old at the time of the picture The boy baby parrot enjoyed having his belly feathers stroked! Pretty white bird My finger petting the pretty white bird

Blossburg State Coal Festival

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:56:10 -0500

Photos from the 17th Annual Blossburg State Coal Festival I found something very cool on Picasa - you can search for Blossburg in all Picasa's public photos and look through them - here.

Bookstore request

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:26:57 -0500

In this post about the origin of the name "Ridgerunner Consulting," I posted a link to the book's amazon.com page. I got an email yesterday from Kevin Coolidge, owner of From My Shelf bookstore in Wellsboro

Heidi I found your website through WNBT and I see you got your idea for Ridgerunner Consulting from Jim's book. We sell Flatlanders & Ridgerunners here at From My Shelf Books. Actually, we helped get it back into print. Instead of a link to Amazon, how about a link to a local ridgerunner's store? Kevin Coolidge From My Shelf Books www.wellsborobookstore.com

So, here ya go, Kevin. Kevin & Kasey's store can also be found on Facebook (or Kasey Cox's profile) and their blog is at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com/. As long as I am linking to Wellsboro business friends... here's Wild Asaph Outfitters. Liz & Jennie are real outdoor pros. You should go talk to them.

New resume

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:45:22 -0500

I updated my resume to incorporate my educational aspiration and my new mediation certification. I also cut well over two pages, increased the margins and the font size. It was strange to cut the details of the work I've been doing as Ridgerunner Consulting. I hope the resume still conveys the important stuff. Resume 2/20/09 (PDF)

Voters by hour in Blossburg

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:52:36 -0500

Here's the voters-by-hour chart comparing the 2007 general election (Nov.), 2008 primary election (April), and 2008 general election (Nov.). There were 566 in-person voters plus 43 absentee ballots. The largest number of voters, 71, came between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Click to see larger version. I don't have any nifty party breakdown data this time because I didn't get a new copy of the registration list to crunch. Thanks to Rose Wesneski for keeping track!!

Voting in Blossburg

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:22:32 -0500

I don't have the voters-by-hour data yet, but here's a little bit to reflect upon. In Tioga County, John McCain beat Barack Obama 62 percent to 35 percent, but in Blossburg, Obama lost by just six votes. Six! 275 to 269 with five Nader votes, three Bob Barr votes and five write-ins. See this PDF for details here.

Buffalo Law Journal

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:02:17 -0500

http://buffalolawjournal.com/article_view.asp?IDNO=1014200815 Law school seeks prospects, proponents from outside NY BY JODI SOKOLOWSKI BuffaloLaw Journal

First-year student Heidi Jones feels comfortable at UB Law, in part because of an atmosphere she describes as noncompetitive.

When Heidi Jones was researching law schools, she set criteria to limit her list of prospects. The law school had to be within five hours of her hometown, in north-central Pennsylvania, have fewer than 300 students in the incoming class and offer courses on community and economic development and mediation. Jones narrowed her options down to two choices — the University of Pittsburgh and University at Buffalo. She visited both and immediately felt comfortable with the Buffalo region, UB and its law school. But the final decision came down to the covers of the schools’ respective alumni magazines. Pitt Law featured a photograph of an alumnus working for NASCAR. UB Law’s highlighted a student interning in Tanzania for human rights. “That was the final piece of evidence. It was progressive,” said the first-year UB Law student. What’s in the mix UB Law’s recruiting efforts rely on a variety of factors that may influence a prospective law student’s decision. They include a relatively low tuition, non-competitive and collegial atmosphere, a variety of educational clinics, a New York City program and a wide alumni network. “I think it’s a combination of those things. Students are looking for a complete law-school experience,” said UB Law’s vice dean for admissions and financial aid, Lillie Wiley-Upshaw. Jones said UB Law’s Community Economic Development Clinic and meeting with its director, Lauren Breen, on her one-day visit here, coupled with finding Pitt Law’s clinics to be “marginalized” and “not integrated,” helped in her decision-making. Although she hadn’t heard about UB Law before her search, once she was on its radar, “they did a good job of outreach,” she said. Through direct-mail campaigns and e-mails, as well as appearances at law-school recruiting fairs and legal conferences, UB Law staff stress the school’s culture and the quality and affordability of its legal education to prospective students. Its fall recruiting tour goes statewide and coast to coast.

Why "Ridgerunner"?

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:54:59 -0500

How did I choose "Ridgerunner Consulting"? Well, I consult for ridgerunners. What's a ridgerunner? The smart, crafty folks who live on the ridges of mountains in northcentral Pennsylvania. I got the idea from Jim Glimm's Flatlanders and Ridgerunners, a wonderful little book of folk tales that Glimm collected. He died a while ago of cancer and Mansfield University has a scholarship fund in his name. Each spring there's a bluegrass concert at the university to provide funds for the scholarship program. I also consult for flatlanders and folks who live on meadows and such. "Flatlander" is a somewhat derogatory term for folks who don't live in the mountains, particularly those from the Philadelphia area. Flatlanders are known for their lack of skill in navigating life in the mountains. This afternoon I was interviewed by a reporter for Buffalo Law Journal for an article about my decision to attend UB Law. (BLJ isn't affiliated with the university, it's where Erie County legal notices are published. Tioga County doesn't have a law journal; we just publish in the Wellsboro Gazette. I'll let y'all know if my interview is included in an article this week.