News

Something New Is Growing at LIFTT

Every year at LIFTT, we search for ways to deepen connection, expand independence, and strengthen the fabric of our community. We listen to our consumers. We learn from their experiences. And we imagine, together, what independent living could look like if we pushed the walls a little farther outward.

In 2026, that imagination becomes reality

LIFTT is proud to announce the launch of a completely re-envisioned Peer Program: a dynamic, community-centered, barrier-breaking initiative created not only for you, but with you in mind. This is a peer program unlike anything we’ve done before. It is bold. It is innovative. And it is built on the belief that independence grows stronger when people come together.

So what is a Peer Program?

At its heart, a peer program is a space where people with disabilities support one another through shared experience. It is where lived knowledge becomes guidance, where challenges become creative problem-solving, and where independence is strengthened by community rather than attempted alone. In Centers for Independent Living, peer support is one of our core services because it does something nothing else can do: it brings people together not as clients or staff, but as equals: people who understand what it means to navigate life with disability, resilience, humor, struggle, triumph, and hope.

Who is the new peer program for?

It is for everyone in the disability community: long-time consumers, new participants, caregivers, allies, and anyone who wants to learn, grow, and build connections. Whether someone lives with a physical disability, chronic illness, mental health condition, sensory impairment, developmental disability, or simply wants to be part of a supportive collective, this program is for them. It is for the person who wants to meet others. It is for the person who wants to try something new. It is for the person who thinks, “Maybe I don’t belong anywhere.” Here, they will.

What makes this program revolutionary is not only its purpose, but its design. In 2026, LIFTT will invite participants into a wide range of new events, new workshops, new projects, and new collaborative experiences unlike anything we have offered before. Some will take place in our offices, others in outdoor spaces, gardens, community centers, and digital spaces. Some will be practical: focused on skills, confidence, and problem-solving. Others will be imaginative, creative, even a little experimental. Together, we will try things we have never tried before. We will think outside the box, step outside routine, and build something collectively shaped by the people who show up.

A peer program can do remarkable things for a community. It can reduce isolation. It can strengthen mental health. It can build friendships that last for years. It can offer new skills, new ways of thinking, new lenses through which to see possibilities. It can turn fear into confidence, questions into solutions, and strangers into collaborators. And perhaps most importantly, it can remind each of us that independence is not a solitary journey; it is relational. It grows in conversation, in shared stories, in moments of laughter and vulnerability, and in the gentle realization that someone else has walked a similar path and understands.

This new program was created with all of that in mind, but most importantly, it was created with you in mind. The 2026 Peer Program exists because you deserve opportunities to connect, to express yourself, to learn, to lead, to imagine, and to be valued for the experience you bring to the table. Everything about it, from its structure to its rhythm, was designed with input from the community we serve, and we are counting on your participation to help it flourish.

As we move into 2026, we invite you to step into this new chapter with us. Come to an event. Join a project. Share your story. Try something unfamiliar. Or simply show up and see what happens when a room full of people decide to create something new together.

This is not just a peer program. It is a gathering of possibility. It is a space where independence meets imagination, where lived experience becomes a shared resource, and where the community shapes itself through the people who participate in it.

Something new is growing here. And we hope you’ll grow with us.

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.