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Expanding the Mission: upLIFTT comes to Glendive

upLIFTT Thrift is expanding to Glendive! The store at 206 S. Douglas Street is expected to open in May.

Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) is proud to announce the opening of a second upLIFTT Thrift Store, coming soon to Glendive, Montana. Located at LIFTT’s newly acquired building at 206 S. Douglas Street, the store is expected to open in May 2026.

This new location marks an important step forward in LIFTT’s commitment to serving communities across Eastern Montana. More than just a retail space, the upLIFTT Thrift Store in Glendive is designed to be a place of access, opportunity, and community connection.

“At LIFTT, we believe that independence is built in everyday ways,” said Carlos Ramalho, Executive Director. “This new store is not only about providing affordable goods. It is about creating a space where people feel welcomed, supported, and empowered in their daily lives.”

The Glendive upLIFTT Thrift Store will offer a wide range of items for individuals and families, including clothing for all ages, new underwear, toys, furniture, seasonal decorations, kitchenware, and other essential home goods. The goal is simple but meaningful: to ensure that community members have access to items that support daily living, comfort, and self-expression. At the same time, the store will serve as an important source of funding for LIFTT’s programs and services, helping sustain initiatives that promote independence and improve quality of life throughout the region.

“This is a community investment,” Ramalho added. “Every item purchased and every donation received helps us continue our work, removing barriers, expanding opportunities, and supporting individuals in living independently.”

LIFTT looks forward to welcoming the Glendive community into the new space and invites residents to visit, donate, and be part of this growing effort. More details about the grand opening will be announced soon.

For more information about the upLIFTT Thrift Glendive location, please contact our Glendive office at (406) 948-8500 or send us a message through liftt.org/contact.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

From the Executive Director: “A Deeply Personal Journey”

This past year has been, for me, a deeply personal journey. Approximately one year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer for the third time in my life. Like many who receive such news, I found myself discouraged and questioning how this could happen again. It is often said that lightning does not strike the same place twice, but life, as we know, does not always follow what we expect.

The months that followed were difficult. I underwent several surgeries and chemotherapy. I am now awaiting further imaging to determine the next steps in my treatment. It has been a time marked by uncertainty, physical challenges, and reflection.

And yet, I am still here.

I am profoundly grateful to the physicians and nurses who have cared for me, especially the team at the Billings Clinic Cancer Center. I am equally grateful for the unwavering support of my family, friends, colleagues at LIFTT, and our Board of Directors. Their presence has been a constant reminder that none of us walks these paths alone.

While I would never wish such an experience on anyone, I have come to understand something more deeply: there is, indeed, life at the end of the tunnel. And perhaps more importantly, there is life within the tunnel itself, moments of connection, strength, and meaning that we might otherwise overlook.

This experience has strengthened my commitment to LIFTT’s mission. Every day, we work alongside individuals who face barriers, uncertainty, and challenges of their own. What I have learned personally is what we affirm professionally: that dignity, independence, and hope are not abstract ideals. They are lived realities, often forged in the most difficult moments.

As we move forward together, I carry with me a renewed sense of purpose and gratitude for this work, for this community, and for the opportunity to continue serving alongside all of you.

With appreciation,

Carlos Ramalho, LIFTT Executive Director

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Community in Action: LIFTT thanks Mayflower UCC for Coat Drive

Coats donated through community efforts help ensure that no one faces the cold alone. (File Photo/Unsplash.com)

Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT) is proud to recognize and thank Mayflower Congregational Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in Billings, for its generous and impactful Palm Sunday coat drive benefiting the local community.

Through this initiative, members of Mayflower Congregational Church collected and donated coats to help individuals and families in need stay warm and supported. The coats are now being distributed through the upLIFTT Thrift Store, located at 1201 Grand Avenue in Billings, where they are available to community members.

“This is what community looks like,” said Carlos Ramalho, Executive Director of LIFTT. “When organizations like Mayflower Congregational Church step forward with generosity and intention, they do more than provide coats; they affirm dignity, restore comfort, and strengthen the fabric of our community. We are deeply grateful for their partnership.”

The collaboration reflects shared values between LIFTT and Mayflower Congregational Church, both of which are committed to service, inclusion, and meeting people where they are.

“We believe that caring for our neighbors is at the heart of who we are,” said Rev. Amy M. Carter, pastor of Mayflower Congregational Church. “This coat drive was a simple way for our congregation to respond to real needs in our community. We are thankful for LIFTT and the upLIFTT Thrift Store for helping ensure these donations reach the people who need them most.”

Located at 2940 Poly Drive in Billings, Mayflower Congregational Church has long been an active presence in the community, supporting initiatives that promote compassion, justice, and mutual care.

LIFTT encourages community members to visit the upLIFTT Thrift Store to access available items and to support ongoing efforts that promote independence and well-being across the region.

Together, through partnerships like this, LIFTT and Mayflower Congregational Church continue to demonstrate that meaningful change begins with simple acts of generosity.

upLIFTT Thrift is located at 1201 Grand Avenue in Billings and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, contact upLIFTT Thrift store manager Theresa Sand at (406) 534-1147 or theresas@liftt.org

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

A Moment That Matters: Civil Rights, Community, and the Future We Choose

For the disability community, Civil Rights aren’t abstractions; they are essential (File Photo/Unsplash)

There are moments when a community is called not simply to observe, but to respond.

This is one of those moments.

Across Montana, more than 1,000 individuals and 64 organizations have come together to raise their voices in defense of something fundamental: the civil rights of people with disabilities. At the center of this effort is Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a law that, for more than fifty years, has affirmed a simple but transformative principle: that every person, regardless of ability, has the right to participate fully in society.

To understand what is at stake, we must first understand what civil rights are: Civil rights are not abstract legal concepts. They are the conditions that make life in a community possible. They are the guarantees that individuals will not be excluded from education, denied access to healthcare, prevented from working, or isolated from public life simply because of who they are.

They are, in essence, the foundation of belonging.

In the United States, the story of civil rights has never been static. It is a history marked by struggle, by advocacy, and by the persistent effort to bring the reality of our society closer to its ideals. From the earliest constitutional principles to the movements that expanded rights across lines of race, gender, and disability, civil rights have been the means through which the nation has sought to define itself, not as perfect, but as continually striving toward greater inclusion and justice.

Section 504 is part of that legacy.

For generations, it has ensured that individuals with disabilities are not left outside the structures that shape daily life: healthcare, education, housing, employment, and public services. It has made it possible for people to live in their communities rather than be separated from them. It has been affirmed that disability does not diminish a person’s place in society.

Today, those protections are being challenged.

Montana’s participation in a multi-state lawsuit seeking to overturn updated federal regulations under Section 504 has raised deep concern across the disability community. Advocates, organizations, and individuals from every corner of the state are warning that the consequences of this challenge could reach far beyond policy, into the lived realities of thousands of Montanans.

For many, this is not theoretical.

It is the ability to remain in one’s home rather than be forced into an institution.

It is the right to access education, to raise a family, to participate fully in community life.

It is the assurance that disability does not mean exclusion.

Voices across Montana are speaking with clarity and conviction.

Leaders of Centers for Independent Living have emphasized that the infrastructure supporting independent living, transportation, access to services, and community integration depends on the protections that laws like Section 504 provide. To weaken those protections is not simply to change policy; it is to risk undoing decades of progress.

At LIFTT, we see every day what civil rights make possible.

Independence is not a single event. It is built through access to transportation, information, services, and opportunity. It is sustained by the knowledge that individuals have the right to make decisions about their own lives and to participate fully in their communities. And it is something that touches all of us.

Disability is not a distant category. It is part of human experience. It is something that may enter any life through injury, illness, or aging. Civil rights protections exist not for a select few but for all of us across the course of our lives.

What is unfolding now is not simply a legal debate.

It is a question about the kind of society we choose to build.

Do we continue the work of expanding access and inclusion?

Do we affirm that every individual belongs in the community?

Do we protect the principles that have allowed so many to live with dignity and independence?

Across Montana, the answer is being written not only in policy but also in the voices of those who believe that civil rights are essential, enduring, and worth protecting.

This moment will pass.

But the choices made within it will shape the future.

And that future, as always, will depend on whether we continue the work of building a society where independence, dignity, and belonging are not privileges but rights.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

March 2026 LIFTT Connection Now Available!

The January Edition of the LIFTT Connection Newsletter is now available!

View the March 2026 LIFTT Connection Newsletter Email on the Web

Download the March 2026 LIFTT Connection Newsletter Email (Adobe PDF)

In this issue of the LIFTT Connection:

You can request to join our email list and receive the March 2026 LIFTT Connection Newsletter and future newsletters by sending your name and address to jedb@liftt.org. Also, look for articles from the newsletter to be posted on liftt.org and our Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn feeds.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

A New Home for LIFTT in Glendive

The former KXGN Building at 206 Douglas Street will house LIFTT's Independent Living Services, an upLIFTT Thrift store, and RideWell, LIFTT's ADA Accessible Rural Transportation Program, and be a "new space for independence, opportunity, and community in Eastern Montana" (Mark McGrath/Facebook)

The former KXGN Building at 206 Douglas Street in Glendive will house LIFTT’s Independent Living Services, an upLIFTT Thrift store, and RideWell, LIFTT’s ADA Accessible Rural Transportation Program, and be a “new space for independence, opportunity, and community in Eastern Montana.” (Mark McGrath/Facebook)

A new space for independence, opportunity, and community in Eastern Montana.

For many people in rural communities, finding support, guidance, and opportunities for independence can be challenging. This new building will help ensure that individuals and families across Eastern Montana have a welcoming place to turn when they need information, encouragement, and practical support. The building will become a permanent home for several important LIFTT programs that serve our community.

LIFTT’s Independent Living Services

These services help individuals with disabilities and aging adults develop the skills, confidence, and support they need to live independently. Through peer support, independent living skills training, information and referral, advocacy, and help navigating benefits and community resources, LIFTT works alongside individuals to help them build the lives they want.

The RideWell ADA Accessible Rural Transportation Program

RideWell is LIFTT’s new transportation initiative designed to address one of the biggest barriers facing rural communities: access to transportation. The program will provide safe, reliable, ADA-accessible transportation so people can reach medical appointments, pharmacies, jobs, education, and essential services.

The upLIFTT Thrift Store

The upLIFTT Thrift Store will offer affordable clothing, furniture, and household goods to the community. It will also create a space where neighbors can support one another while helping sustain LIFTT’s programs and services in Eastern Montana.

Much More Than a Change of Address

This move represents much more than a change of address. It reflects LIFTT’s commitment to the people who come to us looking for support, guidance, and opportunities to live more independently. For many individuals in Eastern Montana, services like peer support, independent living skills training, advocacy, and information and referral can make a life-changing difference. Having a permanent and welcoming space allows LIFTT to provide these services with greater stability and room to grow.

The former KXGN broadcasting building has long been a familiar landmark in the Glendive community. Soon, it will begin a new chapter as a place where independence is strengthened, barriers are reduced, and opportunities are expanded for people across Eastern Montana.

We look forward to welcoming the community into this new space and sharing the next chapter of LIFTT’s work in Glendive.

For more information about LIFTT’s move to 206 S. Douglas Street, contact:

Jennifer Hawkinson
LIFTT Glendive Regional Manager
(406) 948-8500, jenh@liftt.org

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

From the Executive Director: “A Form of Healing”

Participants in the “Creative Aging Art Class” work on their paintings during a recent session at the Billings LIFTT Office. One participant recently sent LIFTT a letter thanking the agency for the class, calling it “a form of healing.” (LIFTT Photo)

As we approach the midpoint of LIFTT’s fiscal year, we find ourselves looking both backward and forward. The past six months have brought their share of challenges and uncertainties, yet they have also reminded us why the work we do matters so deeply.

Every day, LIFTT continues to provide independent living services to individuals and families across South and Central Eastern Montana who rely on us for information, advocacy, support, and opportunity. The work is not always easy. Like many organizations serving rural communities, we navigate changing systems, limited resources, and the everyday complexities that come with serving a large geographic area.

And yet, the mission remains clear.

We are here to help people live independently, to remove barriers, and to walk alongside individuals as they build the lives they want for themselves. Sometimes that work takes the form of helping someone find housing, navigate healthcare systems, or access transportation. Other times it takes the form of something simpler, but just as meaningful: creating spaces where people can learn, connect, and rediscover hope. One example of this is LIFTT’s Acrylic Painting Class in Billings, offered this past winter. What began as a small art class quickly became something much more for the participants.

Recently, we received a letter from one of the students who attended the class. In it, he described the experience as one of the most enjoyable and therapeutic activities he had participated in since retiring. He wrote about the peace and stillness of the classroom, the quiet conversations among participants, and the encouragement provided by the instructor and staff. Even though he described himself as someone with “little art aptitude,” he found himself thriving in the environment.

Most strikingly, he described the class as “a form of healing” that helped renew his outlook on life and his sense of hope.

That simple reflection captures something essential about LIFTT’s work. Independent living is not only about services and programs. It is also about creating opportunities for people to reconnect with themselves, with their communities, and with the possibility of new beginnings.

As we move into the second half of the fiscal year, our commitment remains the same: to continue finding new and innovative ways to fulfill LIFTT’s vision and mission. Some of those ideas will involve new programs and partnerships. Others may begin as small opportunities, like an art class on a Tuesday morning, that grow into something much more meaningful.

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of this work is that we do not dream alone. We dream alongside the people we serve, imagining together what greater independence, dignity, and opportunity might look like.

Sometimes the most powerful steps forward begin with something very simple: a conversation, a shared space, or the courage to try something new.

As we look ahead to the next six months, we remain grateful for the community that surrounds LIFTT and for the many individuals whose lives intersect with our work each day.

Their stories continue to remind us why this mission matters.

Carlos A. Ramalho
Executive Director
Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT)

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Protecting Disability Rights: Section 504 Update

LIFTT Graphic

Last year, LIFTT joined Disability Rights Montana and more than forty organizations led by and serving people with disabilities in asking the Montana Attorney General to withdraw from a lawsuit challenging Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Section 504 is one of the nation’s most important disability civil rights laws. It protects people with disabilities from discrimination in programs and services that receive federal funding. This includes schools, healthcare systems, transportation programs, and many community services.

For many Americans with disabilities, Section 504 helps ensure equal access to education, healthcare, employment opportunities, and participation in community life. Thanks to the efforts of disability organizations and advocates across the country, the original lawsuit changed course. The attorneys general who filed the lawsuit withdrew their request to have all of Section 504 declared unconstitutional, and several states chose to leave the lawsuit entirely.

However, Montana has remained involved in the case. Montana’s Attorney General has now filed an amended complaint that challenges certain Section 504 regulations, including rules designed to ensure that people with disabilities can live, learn, and participate fully in their communities. The complaint also challenges protections related to the rights of parents with disabilities.

Disability Rights Montana and other disability-led organizations, such as LIFTT, are once again asking organizations and individuals across the state to speak up in support of disability rights. If you would like to learn more or add your name to the letter supporting Section 504, please visit: https://disabilityrightsmt.org/save-504-again/ Both organizations and individual Montanans can sign the letter.

Protecting disability rights laws like Section 504 helps ensure that people with disabilities can continue to live, work, and participate fully in their communities.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

Helping People Return Home

(Getty Images)

Helping People Return Home: An Interview with Pam Ramirez About LIFTT’s MFP Program

At LIFTT, one of our goals is to help individuals live as independently as possible in their own communities. One program helping make that possible is the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program. We spoke with Pam Ramirez, LIFTT’s Independent Living Program Manager, to learn more about how this program helps individuals transition from nursing facilities back into community living.

What is the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program?

The Money Follows the Person program helps people who are living in nursing homes move back into community settings such as their own homes or assisted living facilities. The program provides support during the transition and helps individuals access the services they need to live safely and independently outside of an institution. For many people, it creates the opportunity to return to a more independent life.

Who qualifies for the MFP program?

The program is designed for individuals currently living in nursing facilities who want to transition back into the community. Participants must meet certain eligibility requirements related to Medicaid services and the length of time they have lived in a nursing facility. LIFTT staff work closely with individuals and their families to determine eligibility and guide them through the process.

What are the advantages of moving from a nursing home to a community setting?

For many people, moving back into the community can greatly improve their quality of life. Living in a community setting often allows individuals to have more privacy, greater independence, and more opportunities to participate in everyday activities. People are able to reconnect with family, friends, and their communities in ways that are often difficult in institutional settings.

A Real-Life Example: Mary’s Journey Back to the Community

One recent example highlights the impact of the program.

Mary, a 78-year-old woman living in Billings, was referred to LIFTT through the MFP program to receive assistance transitioning from an institutional setting into an assisted living facility. Mary lives with several complex health conditions, including chronic kidney disease and other medical challenges. With support from LIFTT staff, Mary began exploring what kind of living environment would best support her independence and quality of life. Through person-centered planning, she was able to identify what was most important to her in a home and community setting.

LIFTT staff worked alongside Mary throughout the housing search, helping her connect with community resources and ensuring that her preferences and needs were clearly communicated to potential providers. During this process, Mary also learned about additional services offered by LIFTT, including the Peer Mentor Program, Health and Wellness resources, and diabetes education programs.

Through collaboration between Mary, LIFTT staff, and community partners, Mary successfully transitioned into an assisted living facility of her choice, a place where she can continue to live with greater stability, dignity, and support.

What are the most common challenges people face?

Transitioning from a nursing facility back into the community can take planning and coordination. Some individuals face challenges such as finding accessible housing, arranging transportation, or coordinating medical and support services. Programs like MFP help ensure that individuals have the resources and assistance needed to make a successful transition.

Why do you believe in this program?

“I believe in this program because it gives people choices,” Pam says. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to live in the community if that is what they want. MFP helps make that possible.” Seeing individuals regain independence and reconnect with their communities is one of the most rewarding parts of the work. Programs like MFP remind us that independence is not just about where people live. It is about giving individuals the opportunity to make choices about their own lives.

How to Apply or Make a Referral

Individuals currently living in a nursing facility who would like to explore returning to community living may be eligible for the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Program. Family members, social workers, case managers, and healthcare providers can also help start the process by submitting a referral. To begin, complete the Montana MFP Referral Form at the following link: https://webapp.hhs.mt.gov/fps/form/392

After the referral is submitted, program staff will review the information and follow up to discuss eligibility and next steps. If you have questions or would like assistance completing the referral form, LIFTT staff are available to help. For more information, contact Dineva Bower, MFP regional transition coordinator, at (406) 831-0037 or dinevab@liftt.org.

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.

LIFTT Board of Directors meets March 12

The LIFTT Board of Directors will hold an ordinary meeting on Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 4 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. The public is invited to attend the meeting and offer comments during the public comment period.

Click here to view or download the meeting agenda and Zoom invitation for the March 12, 2026, LIFTT board of directors meeting. (Adobe PDF)

About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple or Android Device.

Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.

Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.

You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.