| Homeword Newsletter
July 10, 2024 |
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Jason's Resident Success Story
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Jason Davies doesn’t let anything slow him down, thriving while living with disabilities caused by a childhood stroke. Wearing a bright red cape and S insignia, he is known around Homeword’s Orchard Gardens property where he lives and the wider 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.” |
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Here Comes the Sun: Solar at Homeword Properties
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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. |
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Join Us for a Celebration of Trinity
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Celebrate Trinity with us! Together with our partner and co-owner, Missoula Housing Authority, we are commemorating 202 healthy and affordable workforce homes and permanent supportive housing we opened in 2023. Join us for a short program, tours and refreshments.
Tuesday, August 13 10-11:30 a.m.
2200 Mullan Rd. |
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Save the Date for Our 30th!
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You're invited to our celebration of 30 years of strengthening communities through creating safe, healthy homes Montanans can afford and providing homebuyer and financial education! Over the past three decades, we have created or preserved 1,609 homes in 14 communities around the state and empowered over 20,500 people through our programs. Save the date for our 30th anniversary celebration.There will be live music, food, beverages, games and prizes! Watch for more details soon.
Tuesday, Sept. 10 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Highlander TapHouse (200 International Dr.) |
Our goal is to put together 10 baskets for this event as door prizes. If you can support us with an in-kind donation, please fill out our online in-kind donation form. We are also looking for event sponsors. If you are interested, please email jacqueline@homeword.org to learn more.
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Farewell to Reginald Mitchell
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It's so hard to say goodbye! Reginald "Reggie" Mitchell is moving to Asheville, North Carolina, so he will be leaving his position at Homeword. Reggie grew the asset coordinator position, helping us define the scope of work the team needed with this brand-new role. He managed over $1 million of grant funds for capital improvements, including new roofs, porches, and updated HVAC at six of our properties statewide. He completed the Consortium for Housing and Asset Management (CHAM) training for asset managers, supported resident councils, established new relationships with vendors in communities throughout the state and so much more. Reggie's last day at Homeword is Aug. 1, but he assured us he would be at our 30th anniversary celebration on September 10.
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Julie Pavlish Steps Into Operations and Program Director Role
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After a thorough search to fill our open operations and program director position, we selected Julie Pavlish to take on the role. Our homebuyer educator for nearly six years, Julie provided homeownership counseling and administered our homebuyer class. Moving forward, Julie will be part of our leadership team and will oversee all of our office operations and HomeOwnership Center programs, including first-time homebuyer, financial and post-purchase education and counseling. We're so excited for Julie as she takes this big step with our organization!
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It's our pleasure to welcome interns Keira Skovlin and Aidan Wagers to our organization!
As our fundraising and communications intern, Keira is helping with social media, researching grant opportunities, data entry and cleaning up our database. She will also be tabling at community events.She loves to hear stories about how Homeword has helped people find homes in Missoula and around the state and is excited to be part of that mission. She is also interested in learning more about how Homeword raises funds and collaborates with other organizations.
Our HomeOwnership Center intern, Aidan, will focus on telling the story of our Housing Stability Counseling Program using data. This involves creating performance indicators, cleaning data and creating visualizations and reports to measure program success and outcomes. He's very excited to drive positive change in the community. With degrees from the University of Montana in management information systems and business analytics, he enjoys using tools like Python and SQL to turn unused, complex or messy data into understandable and actionable insights. In his free time, Aidan enjoys playing basketball and Montana's beautiful outdoors.
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Join our team! We're looking for a homebuyer educator and asset project manager!
Could one of these positions be a fit for you or someone you know? The priority deadline has passed, but we still strongly encourage interested candidates to apply!
We're an equal opportunity employer and a 2024 Missoula Job Service Employers' Council Employer of Choice.
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We offer a full range of services to help you get ready to buy a home, learn how to avoid foreclosure or manage your money better so you can reach your financial goals. |
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Do you have a great experience as a Homeword resident or class participant that you'd like to share? We want to hear from you!
Share your story and be entered to win a $100 gift certificate for Home ReSource.
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Special Thanks to Our Generous Partners |
Upcoming Events and Classes
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Homeword uses sustainable methods to strengthen Montana communities by teaching homebuyer education and financial skill building and creating safe, healthy homes people can afford. |
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20,500+
Montanans empowered through our Regional HomeOwnership Center |
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1,609 Safe, healthy homes Montanans can afford |
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1,000+ Program participants empowered last year |
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Our Contact Information
Homeword
1535 Liberty Lane, Suite 116A
Missoula, MT 59808
(406) 532-4663
http://www.homeword.org
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