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WHAT I LEARNED AS A HOMEWORD INTERN My name is Keira Skovlin, and this summer I had the honor of working as the fundraising and communications (FunCom) intern at Homeword. In just two short months, I learned about Homeword’s many functions as a nonprofit: rental homes for Montanans living on lower incomes, financial skill building courses, financial counseling, and homebuyer education. During the first few weeks of working at Homeword, I met with each staff member to learn about what they do in their positions and to gain an understanding of Homeword’s different moving parts. Prior to this internship, I knew about Homeword and its mission, but I did not know about the inner workings of Homeword or its challenges. Over the course of my internship, I learned important details about the organization and how it operates. Homeword is devoted to making homes not only Montanans can afford but also sustainable and energy-efficient. As the FunCom intern, I focused on working in Homeword’s database. I imported data and constituents from conferences, community events and past financial skill building and homebuyer education courses. I also spent a great deal of time working through duplicates in the database, clearing out faulty or unnecessary data. I appreciated gaining experience working with data at Homeword that I can apply to my future studies as an economics major and in my career after college. I also helped with communications projects, learning about Homeword’s branding guidelines and assisting with PowerPoint presentations. To promote Homeword’s event [...]

TRINITY APARTMENTS RESIDENT SUCCESS "Trinity Apartments has been home to my family for the last year and a half. My children and I needed a safe place to call home in Missoula. The housing crisis in Missoula put our family at risk of homelessness, leaving me feeling scared, alone and navigating a rental system on my own that is at odds with lower-income families. "When I found out about Trinity and put myself and my two children on the waitlist, I did so knowing that my chances of getting a home were probably low due to the sheer number of families in need of housing. After many late-night prayers, phone calls, paperwork and faith that something would work out for us, when our name came up and I signed the paperwork and got the keys to our new home, it felt too good to be true. I will never forget walking into our brand-new apartment for the first time and knowing that so many new happy memories were about to unfold in this new home that was now ours to call home. "For the last year and a half, Trinity Apartments has been the safe home we needed for so long. The security of the front door being a key fob system and the cameras around the property allow me to breathe a little easier, as safety was priority for my kids and me. We go to sleep at night knowing we are safe and secure. This has allowed [...]

HERE COMES THE SUN: SOLAR AT HOMEWORD'S PROPERTIES Summer is in full swing, and naturally our thoughts turn to all the ways we benefit from the season’s sunny days. Barbecues, playing on the river, camping and otherwise spending time outdoors come to mind—but, most importantly for our organization, so does solar energy. From Missoula to Malta, Billings to Butte, Homeword makes the most of Montana’s long summer days by harnessing clean, renewable energy with solar technology. Seventeen of Homeword’s 29 multi-family residential properties in Montana generate some of their own power with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. These systems contain solar panels, inverters and other mechanical hardware to absorb sunlight, converting it directly into electricity. It does not produce harmful emissions or pollutants, so its use can significantly reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Altogether, Homeword’s solar arrays can produce up to 734 kilowatts in an hour at peak operating conditions, supporting 1,088 homes in 10 different Montana communities. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average U.S. household uses about 30kWh per day. That means our solar generating power could potentially provide all the electricity needed for more than 24 homes. The first solar array we included in a development project was at Gold Dust in Missoula in 2003.  At that time, the architects hadn’t yet embraced the good looks of a roof-mounted solar system, so the panels were installed flat on the roof so that they couldn’t be seen from the street.  Everyone quickly realized [...]

JASON'S RESIDENT SUCCESS STORY Jason Davies doesn’t let anything slow him down, thriving while living with disabilities from a childhood stroke. Wearing a bright red cape and S insignia, he is known around Homeword’s Orchard Gardens property where he lives and broader Missoula community by his nickname, “Superman.” Jason was born in Montana and later moved to Spokane, Washington, where he was married for 10 years. He and his wife moved around a lot, and for a while they lived in a dark basement apartment. The lack of light took a toll on his mental health, and he was rarely able to ride his bike where they lived. After getting a divorce, Jason finally decided to leave Spokane. His mom and stepdad rented a U-Haul and helped him move back to Montana and closer to their home in Tarkio. With help from his family filling out the application, a few months later he moved into a rental home at Orchard Gardens in Missoula. “I was very excited,” said Jason. “I was nervous, but I decided I was going to live on my own.” It was at Orchard Gardens that Jason began to embrace his superhero alter ego. Jason has now lived at Orchard Gardens for nine years. His first apartment home was on the upper level, but he has since moved to the main level where he has access to a patio. The apartment home provides plenty of space for Jason and his cat and dog, and light pours [...]

BLUE HERON PLACE PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING SERVES AS STATEWIDE MODEL In September, Homeword and partner Missoula Housing Authority (MHA) opened Blue Heron Place to Missoula’s long-term unhoused neighbors. These apartments are Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), a proven solution for ending chronic homelessness that combines intensive case management and supportive services. The first of its kind in Missoula to offer on-site wrap-around services, Blue Heron Place is making ripples statewide as organizations across Montana take notice. When Homeword began exploring the possibility of creating PSH with on-site services, their staff toured two different examples of PSH in Colorado. They visited Redtail Ponds in Fort Collins and Arroyo Village in Denver and talked with developers, staff and service providers. Homeword incorporated best practices and lessons learned into its work creating Blue Heron Place. Now Homeword is paying it forward by sharing best practices and lessons learned from Blue Heron Place. It serves as the model in Homeword’s development of Baatz Block Apartments with NeighborWorks Great Falls and for other organizations in Montana interested in developing PSH. Recently, Kellie McBride of the Lewis and Clark County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) in Helena reached out to Homeword to learn more about Blue Heron Place and the adjacent Navigation Center. “We want to see what other communities have done,” said McBride. McBride served as the executive director of the YWCA in Helena for seven years, overseeing a major renovation to the organization’s building. In 2017, McBride took on a new position as director [...]

URBAN FARM GROWS THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF PRODUCE AT HOMEWORD PROPERTY Homeword’s Orchard Gardens property is situated on 4.6 acres near the urban-rural fringe of the west side of Missoula, an area still deeply rooted in agricultural traditions. Residents began moving into the 35 rental homes at Orchard Gardens in 2005. At the same time, Homeword partnered with fellow local nonprofit Garden City Harvest. Leasing land on the property to Garden City Harvest for a Neighborhood Farm and Community Garden, the two organizations have collaborated to help revive the tradition of producing food for the community through agriculture. Half of Orchard Gardens is dedicated to urban farming and community gardens. The Orchard Gardens Neighborhood Farm is 1.53 acres. It has served over 1,800 people, including 26 community-supported agriculture (CSA) members, and has grown well over 12,500 pounds of food. Garden City Harvest provides local, sustainably grown produce for the community, focusing on Missoulians whose incomes are below living wages. Their Neighborhood Farm at Orchard Gardens supplies the Missoula Food Bank with produce every year in addition to filling weekly CSA boxes. The farm features an orchard with native bee boxes, a seed saving garden, medicinal herb and flower gardens, educational tours for kids including produce samples and a farm stand for residents at which electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards are accepted. The farm is also home to the greenhouse that grows starts for many of Garden City Harvest’s farms. There are also 12 garden plots available for rent to [...]