Apsaalooke Nation Housing Authority 2024

Needs Assessment/Capacity Building

The Apsaalooké Nation Housing Authority (ANHA) is the tribally-designated housing agency for the Apsaalooké (Crow) Tribe. This grant will support a comprehensive housing needs assessment for the Apsaalooké Nation, build staff capacity for conducting needs assessments, and help AHNA develop programming for the planned permanent supportive housing hotel in Hardin, Montana. ANHA will hire a consultant to plan and design the survey tool. The consultant will train staff to conduct the survey on the Crow Reservation, collect and analyze survey results, and share the results with stakeholders and the community. The assessment results will be used to apply for funding to meet the housing needs on the Crow Reservation. MTHF funding will be used for consulting costs and staff time and training. To complete these tasks, ANHA will partner with the Crow Tribe and Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation. The Crow Tribal Health Department will also be a pivotal partner in developing a plan to provide health and related services for the permanent supporting housing project in Hardin.

Grant Amount

$104,181

Term

12 month

2024

Arlee Community Development Corporation 2024

Building Organizational Resilience

The Arlee Community Development Corporation (ACDC) seeks to address social needs and increase resiliency and self-suficiency for residents of the Jocko Valley and the Flathead Indian Reservation. This grant will support staff and board capacity building and development of a strategic plan, with a focus on ensuring the organization's long-term sustainability in preparation for the current Executive Director’s planned retirement. ACDC will recruit and train a Leadership Advisory Board, which, in turn, will lead the recruitment, selection, and training of a new Executive Director. MTHF funds will be used to support staff salaries to lead this effort. Partners include the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), CSKT Tribal Health, CSKT Food Sovereignty Program, Salish Kootenai College Extension, and Mission Mountain Food Enterprises.

Grant Amount

$30,000

Term

12 month

2024

Day Eagle Hope Project 2024

Feeding Our People White Clay

The Day Eagle Hope Project is a Native nonprofit organization addressing food security in the Fort Belknap Indian Community. This planning grant will be used to complete a business plan to sustain the Fort Belknap Indian Community’s bison herd as an ongoing food source for the community. Our funds will be used for a consultant and the Day Eagle Hope Project Director's salary. This organization worked with the tribe to develop the proposal and included a letter of support from the Fort Belknap Indian Community. 

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2024

Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana 2023

Little Shell Tribe Food Security & Food Sovereignty

The Little Shell Tribe used this grant to establish a program that provides healthy food to members experiencing food insecurity and limited access to nutritious options, with the ultimate goal of fostering a healthier community. The tribe, which already had a storage facility and distribution center, used grant funds to hire a project coordinator to develop processes, procedures, and policies for the program, as well as to define a sustainability strategy. The coordinator collaborated with partners to arrange the regular acquisition, delivery, and distribution of healthy foods, including produce, dairy, and meat. The program currently serves 45 families and 70 participants, most of whom are over 60 years old and on a fixed income. Many individuals who were previously receiving SNAP benefits can now access more nutritious food through this program. By building relationships with local organizations, the program has facilitated better coordination and collaboration in delivering goods and services. It has expanded access to additional resources, including funding, expertise, and in-kind contributions. By establishing an ongoing dialogue and partnerships with citizens and organizations, the program has gained valuable insights into the specific needs and challenges of the community. The program is now fully funded by the USDA and is awaiting USDA approval for a refrigerated vehicle to distribute food safely.

Grant Amount

$100,000

Term

24 month

2023

Montana Homeownership Network 2023

Montana Native Homeownership Coalition and Montana Housing Conference

The Montana Native Homeownership Coalition will host its third in-person gathering in conjunction with the annual Montana Housing Conference. The coalition has 178 members and includes representation from seven tribes. Attending the conference will allow coalition members to connect with and learn from other housing stakeholders. The coalition gathering will be an opportunity for all members to build relationships with their peers, receive updates on projects in progress, learn about future work, and become more engaged. Grant funds will support travel and registration fees for 25 coalition members representing tribes and Native organizations.

Grant Amount

$29,250

Term

12 month

2023

People’s Partners for Community Development 2023

The People’s Garden – Empowering the Northern Cheyenne Community Through Sustainable Agriculture

People’s Partners for Community Development (PPCD) used this grant to educate residents of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation about the importance of growing and consuming nutritional foods and to supply those residents with foods grown on reservation land in five districts. The goal of the project was to promote sustainable and healthy living among community members through educational programming and agricultural practices. PPCD hired a food resource coordinator to guide the project and created community gardens in each of the five districts on the reservation. PPCD worked with the Northern Cheyenne Boys and Girls Club and Warrior Grocery to implement the project. Outreach and educational sessions were held in collaboration with the Northern Cheyenne Ag Producers, and 62 community members attended these functions. Moving forward, PPCD will work on expanding its promotion of the People’s Garden project in each community and will partner with Warrior Grocery on the development of a farmers' market. Partnering with the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, PPCD secured a larger grant to purchase beef and buffalo from local producers.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2023

Chippewa Cree Tribe 2022

Chippewa Cree Tribe Sustainable Food Systems Project

The Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation used this grant to contribute to building a sustainable food system on the reservation, aiming to enhance access to high-quality, nutritious food and develop a more self-sufficient and culturally rooted system. Grant funds were used to hire a consultant, who prepared a food security map that displays data on food access and rates of hunger in the area, helping to guide efforts to improve food security. The consultant also drafted food codes, which are needed to ensure food is safe to eat, meets all required standards, and can be bought and sold through vendors in the community. The project established partnerships with various programs, including Stone Child College Extension Services, Rocky Boy Health Center, Dry Fork Farms, and the Chippewa Cree Tribe's Planning & Development department. Working with local producers helped the project gain knowledge about which vegetables to grow and how to do so effectively. Building on the successes of last year’s garden efforts, the project raised an estimated 3,000 pounds of vegetables, which were sold and distributed to the community. The proceeds were used to purchase seeds for the next season.

Grant Amount

$24,500

Term

12 month

2022

Four Bands Community Fund 2022

Regional Revolving Loan Fund

This Program-related Investment (PRI) will support the Mountain|Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition to establish a Regional Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). Access to capital, a core tenant of the Indigenous finance industry, is the seed for growth strategies designed to lift struggling Native economies and close the racial wealth gap. This MHCF investment is part of the Foundation’s support for the Coalition’s successful application for $45 million in funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). The project will strategically deploy financial investments into Native CDFIs in Montana, including Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation and NACDC Financial Services, Inc. The RLF will act as a vehicle of economic growth that drives business development and quality job creation. The project will amplify the capacity of coalition members not only by expanding their balance sheets and lending portfolios but also by unifying action and creating opportunities for peer-to-peer learning as they engage in more complex financial deployment strategies. Coalition members will collectively leverage partnerships and networks to attract additional investments, sustaining their work long-term. Replicable models and case studies will be developed and shared in collaboration with the Regional Indigenous Finance Industry Growth Plan and Non-Physical Infrastructure projects. The Regional Revolving Loan Fund will contribute to the other Montana CDFI's sustainability through earned interest revenue and access to additional loan capital.

Grant Amount

$800,000

Term

60 month

2022

Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana 2022

Little Shell Tribe Housing Needs Assessment

The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana will collect an accurate assessment of the housing needs and homeless situation of tribal members and develop a housing improvement plan. Because the Little Shell only recently gained federal recognition, there is relatively little specific data on the housing and health needs of enrolled members of the Tribe. To date the Tribe has relied mainly on anecdotal or derivative data to assess health status and assess the need for health and social services. This project will allow the tribe to gather quantitative and qualitative data through household surveys, focus groups, community meetings, and interviews with knowledgeable sources. Grant funds will contribute to the costs of the assessment and housing improvement plan. Expenses include consultant fees, travel expenses, household survey labor and mileage, survey equipment, outreach, and participation incentives. Project partners include Indian Health Service, Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council Tribal Epidemiology Center, and all municipalities in the four-county service area.

Grant Amount

$60,000

Term

12 month

2022

NACDC Financial Services Inc. 2022

Four Bands Workforce & Professional Development

NACDC Financial Services, a community development financial institution (CDFI) located in Browning, will create the infrastructure to incubate businesses and train community members as part of the Mountain|Plains Native CDFI Coalition’s Native finance industry project. This project will address the health consequences of poverty, unemployment, and lack of economic opportunity by placing candidates in quality jobs in the region's Native economies. NACDC will design and implement a skills development program for Native CDFI staff, including a regional recruitment strategy and workforce training program, and will leverage partnerships to explore workforce wrap-around services. Funding will be used as sub-award grants to the other Montana-based Native CDFIs to pilot workforce and professional development innovation.

Grant Amount

$200,000

Term

36 month

2022

Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing Authority 2022

Northern Cheyenne Healthy Housing Needs Assessment

The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing Authority (NCTHA) used this grant to conduct a Healthy Housing Needs Assessment for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, which focused on housing needs and incorporated health, education, employment, economic development, and social services related to housing. With the help of a consultant, NCTHA convened community meetings to educate people about the survey that would be distributed and the importance of community participation. NCTHA worked with partners to develop the survey; queried multiple tribal, county, and private databases to gather addresses; and hired and trained 10 survey workers. Compiling valid addresses and getting people to respond to the survey were challenges. NCTHA recognized that the work it did to identify addresses would benefit residents and other service agencies including the fire department, police department, transportation department, and elderly meals program, and was able to share this information to help facilitate their work. The community housing needs assessment, available later in 2025, will identify the tribe’s most pressing housing challenges. It will also enable NCTHA and other tribal entities to use factual evidence to support grant applications as they gather the funds to meet the tribe’s housing needs.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2022

Plenty Doors Community Development Corporation 2022

Crow Nation Innovation Center

The Crow Nation Innovation Center will develop a facility to support community development for the Crow Reservation and surrounding area. Through this project, a signature space in the Crow community will be created to spur innovation and entrepreneurial development as well as local income and jobs. This grant will serve as a match for federal funding secured from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). Partners include The Steele Reese Foundation, First Interstate Bank Foundation, and the Northwest Area Foundation.

Grant Amount

$50,000

Term

12 month

2022