We are happy to announce the recipients of our 2023 Call for Proposals grants. These projects represent innovative ideas for improving health and well-being in Montana.

This open grant opportunity is extremely competitive. Each year, we receive far more grant applications than we can fund – and this year, we received more applications than ever before. Over the past five years, we have funded, on average, 17% of the grant applications that we received.

Although we do most of our grantmaking through our strategic initiatives, the annual call for proposals plays a vital role in our programming. Every year, the CFP helps us understand new needs, new ideas, and new partners around the state. Proposals in the CFP have sometimes led us to support new statewide initiatives as well.

These decisions are always challenging. Our team reviews each application carefully and relies on our selection criteria when making decisions on which projects to fund.

Projects Funded

Butte SPIRIT Center: Scaling up Staffing for Women’s SUD Recovery Home

Grant Amount: $100,000     Project Term: 24 months

The Butte SPIRIT Center provides recovery housing and services to those recovering from substance use disorders. This grant will allow the organization to expand on the success of the Butte SPIRIT Home for Men by opening its second recovery home, the Butte SPIRIT Women’s Home. This will be the first licensed recovery home for women with substance use disorders in the Butte area. Grant funds will offset the new home’s initial staffing costs (for a residence manager and Licensed Addictions Counselor) until it obtains state certification and can start billing for services. This project builds on a successful planning grant for the women’s home, through which Cascadia Management Group facilitated strategic planning and developed an operating plan and budget for the new home. Local partners include the Montana Chemical Dependency Center, Southwest Montana Community Health Center, Action Inc., Montana’s Peer Network, and representatives from existing women’s facilities.

Gallatin County: Gallatin Regional Day Treatment School 

Grant Amount: $50,000       Project Term: 12 months

Gallatin County will develop a business plan for a regional day treatment school for youth that require access to behavioral health services throughout the school day. The county will work closely with the Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition youth committee to develop a detailed plan for the implementation and sustainability of a day treatment school. The school will provide educational and health services to students with intensive behavioral health needs. Grant funds will be used to contract with a planning consultant, who will provide research, analysis, facilitation, and planning services. Partners include the Bozeman School District, Madison/Gallatin Special Education Co-op, Belgrade School District, Youth Dynamics, Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, AWARE, Community Health Partners, Gallatin County Behavioral Health Coalition, and Intermountain. 

Montana Innocence Project: Exploratory Behavioral Health Collaboration for Reentering Community Members

Grant Amount: $50,000       Project Term: 12 months

The Montana Innocence Project (MTIP) works with clients who are released from prison to support a successful return to society. This planning grant will help MTIP develop a sustainable behavioral health support model for people reentering the community following incarceration. The grantee will use an innovative partnership with the University of Montana, through which social work students will engage with 12 clients held in Montana State Prison, Montana Women’s Prison, and CoreCivic correctional facilities and develop personal case plans for reentry. MTIP aims to develop a model that could be replicated by small-budget nonprofit organizations that serve this population, enabling them to provide social and behavioral health resources through shared clinical staff and partnerships with behavioral health training programs. MHCF funds will be used for student stipends, travel costs for client visits, volunteer training, and a portion of MTIP staff time for student supervision and project management. Partners include the University of Montana School of Social Work and College of Business, Welcome Back, and All Nations Health Center. 

Veterans Navigation Network: Building a Sustainable Future for Montana Veterans

Grant Amount: $20,000       Project Term: 12 months

The Veterans Navigation Network (VNN) serves Montana’s Veterans by facilitating the smooth transition from military service to civilian life through one-on-one resource counseling, case management, peer mentorship, and advocacy. This planning grant will help VNN develop a business and sustainability plan to ensure that its services are sustainable as it expands from its office in Billings to support Veterans and their families statewide. VNN will collaborate with veterans, the 80 different service partners it works with, and the communities it currently serves to find viable ways for VNN to maintain and expand its services sustainably. Grant funds will be used to survey partners, organize a focus group, and map a sustainability plan.

Valley Felon-Aid: Peer Support Program

Grant Amount: $50,000       Project Term: 12 months

Valley Felon-Aid is a nonprofit in Ravalli County that provides services to ensure a successful reentry to the community following incarceration. This project will implement a peer support program, offering returning citizens a new resource to help overcome barriers and stigma post-incarceration. Reintegration services and support systems are lacking for many reentering individuals, leading to high recidivism rates and high community expenses for re-incarceration. Through this grant, peer support specialists will connect clients to Ravalli County community partners for housing, health care, jobs, education, and basic needs. Grant funding will support two peer support specialists, supervision by a Licensed Addiction Counselor as required by the state, and travel expenses for the peer support certification training and visiting pre-releases, prisons, and jails around the state. Project partners include the Western Montana Mental Health Center, Sapphire Community Health Center, Summit Career Center, Accelerate Montana, homelessness service providers, local churches, Ravalli County Courts, Probation and Parole, the Department of Corrections, and the MT Reentry Task Force. 

University of Montana Foundation: Establishment of the University of Montana Eating Disorder Training Clinic

Grant Amount: $50,000       Project Term: 12 months

The Department of Psychology at the University of Montana in Missoula is establishing a multidisciplinary eating disorder training center to increase the number of behavioral health providers in Montana trained to treat eating disorders. This project will improve access to eating disorder care in Montana, including rural regions of the state. The training center will emphasize early intervention with services targeted at pediatric and young adult patients. It will train licensed behavioral health clinicians and student trainees by offering an online training curriculum, weekly session-by-session guidance, multidisciplinary treatment team meetings, group supervision, and ongoing consultation. MHCF funding will support salaries and fringe benefits for faculty who will teach the coursework and Graduate Research Assistants who will assist in recruiting trainee participants, preparing training materials, and delivering training. Primary partners include the UM Clinical Psychology Center, Curry Health Center and Curry Counseling Services, and Providence Women’s Care and Family Wellness.

YWCA Missoula: Behavioral Health, Substance Abuse & Targeted Case Management Capacity Building and Revenue Expansion Initiative 

Grant Amount: $47,663       Project Term: 12 months

YWCA Missoula operates a new facility — “The Meadowlark” — that provides housing and supportive services to families and survivors of domestic violence. This grant will support planning to expand services to include mental health, substance use, and case management. By creating a pathway for the shelter services to receive Medicaid reimbursement, the project will create financial sustainability while contributing to a knowledge base that other shelter providers across the state can draw on to expand services for their clients. The project will examine service delivery models of immediate interventions for families in crisis, with long-term programming provided through the establishment of permanent housing. Grant funds will be used to hire a consultant to lead the process of determining the feasibility of offering additional services and a Medicaid reimbursement structure. They will also support an outcomes evaluation by the University of Montana School of Social Work. 

You can learn more about the projects we fund by visiting our Grant Library.