Montana Legal Services Association
Montana Health Justice Partnership
The Montana Health Justice Partnership (MHJP) was launched in 2015 as a collaboration between Montana Legal Services, Montana Primary Care Association, and six Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHC), through a pilot grant from MHCF. MHJP provides legal assistance to low-income patients in rural community health centers across the state. Patients receiving treatment at an FQHC can get help with legal issues that have an impact on their health, such as housing in disrepair, medical debt, family violence, denial of senior benefits, employment problems, and health care access. This second grant allowed MHJP to hire a paralegal to assist the staff attorney and enable the program to expand services to FQHCs in Cascade, Hill, Lincoln, Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Silver Bow counties, which contain some of Montana’s most rural and isolated communities. Over the course of this grant, the project provided direct legal assistance to 723 patients, which far exceeded initial estimates. MHJP has been recognized by several national and regional organizations for the breadth and quality of its services and for developing a unique model for serving rural populations. MHJP was able to secure additional funding from several foundations, including the Montana Justice Foundation, and in 2020 its partners agreed to increase their contributions, allowing the project to become fully self-sustaining.
Grant Amount
$100,000
Term
24 month
2017