Having partner communities is essential to building a broad-based initiative that aims to develop leaders statewide. Our partners are the hubs through which we work, meet community members, and aim to build bridges and unite people to foster local change. Our current Partner Communities are:
BOZEMAN
Anchor Organization: Gallatin Valley Food Bank
“GVFB’s mission is to increase food security by providing hunger relief to area families. Our vision is to create a healthier, more resilient, food-secure community in which all of the members are empowered and have the means to nourish themselves.
Our Emergency Food Box Program provides the bulk of our hunger relief. GVFB is also home to several supplemental programs aimed to fill in the gaps for vulnerable community members. Our Childhood Nutrition Programs include our KidsPack Program, Summer Lunch, and 5 School Pantries. GVFB provides monthly Senior Groceries to area seniors through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).
As part of our mission to increase food security and disseminate information related to growing food, improving health, and increasing resilience within our community we launched a new program – the Learning Garden at Story Mill Community Park. In the same vein of improving health, GVFB embarked on a partnership with several community organizations called The Un-Processed Pantry Project (UP3). UP3 is a formal study that aims to improve the health of food pantry customers by increasing access to and intake of unprocessed foods.
We also believe that we have a responsibility to address the root causes of hunger. By sharing the stories of our customers we hope to educate our community and better support our customers as they navigate challenging times. Amplify MT was a perfect fit for GVFB. We enjoyed learning alongside our group and watching them grow into leaders during the Speakers Bureau and continue to be amazed at their resilience.”
We conducted focus groups in the Gallatin Valley between January and March of 2019, while facilitating our Speakers Bureau training from May through July 2019.
FLATHEAD VALLEY
Anchor Organization: Farm Hands – Nourish
“Farm Hands – Nourish is a grassroots organization that believes everyone in our community, regardless of income, should have access to local, healthy food. Our efforts to support this goal have our organization involved in the community in many different ways. We work with food banks, run a Weekend Backpack Program, provide SNAP access at farmers markets, and work with Montana No Kid Hungry for the Amplify Montana project.
We loved hosting focus groups and being able to learn from the clients that we, and our partner organizations, serve. Lived experience is so valuable and many nonprofits do not have that input when deciding how best to administer their programs. During the Amplify Montana Speakers Bureau we were able to really connect with members of our community that use our programs and understand the barriers they have to overcome just to access the services they need. Working with the participants and seeing their confidence grow during the 9 week course was so rewarding and their speeches at the end really made an impact on the community members and leaders who were invited to the graduation ceremony.”
We also work closely with Shepherd’s Hand Clinic, the Flathead Food Bank, and the North Valley Food Bank. We did an initial round of the Speakers Bureau from September through November of 2019, followed by focus groups in early 2020.
