Treatment center receives federal grant
By PIPER HAUGAN Independent Record helenair.com Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thanks to a federal grant, Montana nonprofit child welfare agency Intermountain is $450,000 closer to building two new residential facilities at its treatment center in Helena, where trained staff work with troubled children and families to foster healthy relationships.
The Helena City Commission announced the award at its meeting Monday night. “That’s good news for our community,” City Manager Ron Alles said of the grant.
The Community Development Block Grant, which Intermountain applied for in partnership with the City of Helena, pushed Intermountain’s funding for the project nearly to the halfway mark. Development Director Terry Chaney said the residential treatment center started with a goal of $2.5 million to create new housing facilities for patients and now has a little more than $1.25 million to go before it can begin construction on two new 12-bedroom residential cottages in Helena. Intermountain has several other grants pending on the project.
The new cottages will add space to the existing inpatient treatment center, which currently has four cottages housing eight children each. The project will also allow for more flexibility for the program because it will allow renovations on two existing cottages, transforming them into short-term stabilization and assessment centers.
Chaney said Intermountain’s residential treatment center helps children severely emotionally disfigured from early childhood trauma from all over the country, though 94 percent of residents were from Montana in 2010. Kids ages 4 to 13 are eligible for the residential program, which includes a firm daily routine incorporating school, group activities, and one-on-one time between children and trained staff. Once accepted to the program, kids stay on-site for an average of 20 months. Intermountain also fosters community services for struggling families.
Chaney said Intermountain hopes to break ground on the new cottages next spring.