After months of careful planning, in December 2022, LIFTT launched its 2023 Outreach Program. It is an aggressive project designed to bring Independent Living (IL) services to those areas and populations which have in the past been unserved or underserved by LIFTT.
Among our unserved and underserved populations include are our most rural communities as well as Native Americans both on and off reservations and other racial and ethnic minorities.
This project will strengthen our service area’s un-served/underserved communities by addressing their needs, disseminating information, and promoting their engagement with the independent living philosophy and inclusion in society. Our goal is to create an enduring partnership between these communities and LIFTT.
Leading our outreach efforts are the extraordinary team of Senior IL Specialist and Manager of our office in Glendive, MT, Jen Hawkinson, and Billings-based, Outreach Coordinator, John Robison.
We plan to visit schools, libraries, nursing homes, public health departments, chambers of commerce, commercial establishments, clinics, human service providers, community organizations, faith communities as well as county, municipal and tribal governments.
We will distribute literature, make presentations, hold workshops, talk to individuals, families, and public officers, and engage in any other activity that can communicate the message of independent living to the community.
LIFTT’s 2023 Outreach Project will support people with disabilities across the 18 counties in southeastern and south central Montana that comprise our service area and help them live with dignity, make their own choices, and participate fully in society.
This project will bring tools, resources, and supports for integrating people with disabilities fully into their communities to promote equal opportunities, self-determination, and respect.
For purposes of this new out-reach initiative, we have divided our service area into two parts:
The Glendive Office will work on the Eastern part of our service area and bring services as well information & referral to the following counties: Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, McCone, Power River, Prairie, Richland, and Wibaux Counties.
The Billings Office will work on the Western part of our service to reach out to the following counties: Big Horn, Carbon, Garfield, Golden Valley, Musselshell, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, and Yellowstone Counties.
For our outreach project to reach its full potential we need to hear from you! If you have any ideas or want our team to visit you, your school, faith community, community organization, or workplace, please get in touch with us at 406-259-5181 (Billings) or 406-948-8500 (Glendive). We would love to talk with you about LIFTT and its services.
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, Glendive, and Red Lodge, LIFTT provides people with disabilities 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 southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play. You can donate to LIFTT by clicking here.