New Grant Opportunity: Montana Healthcare Foundation Rural Health Small Grants

In 2025, MTHF created a grant opportunity for organizations located in and serving rural Montana. Through a simplified application, rural Montana organizations can apply for grants of up to $10,000 to help address a health issue in their community.

This grant initiative is intended to be a low-barrier opportunity for organizations in rural Montana that may have fewer staff and resources, making it difficult to compete for larger grants. Therefore, we may prefer projects from organizations that are not under the network of a larger entity.

MTHF is hosting a webinar on April 15 at 1:00 p.m. to review the Rural Health Small Grants opportunity in detail - learn more and register via the link below.

Free Registration and Lodging Support Available

This year's CHW Summit will feature educational sessions on a variety of topics and panels that highlight CHW success stories, sustainability options, and policy updates. Summit sessions will be valuable to CHWs, CHW Supervisors, Organizations that Employ CHWs, and CHW Supporters. 

Community Health Corps Montana

Launching September 2025!

The Montana Office of Rural Health & Area Health Education Center is excited to announce Community Health Corps Montana (CHCM), a new AmeriCorps program! This program will engage individuals in meaningful service to Montana through community partnerships to advance sustainable solutions to the state’s most pressing health challenges.

Interested in learning more? Conversations with organizations that may want to host an AmeriCorps member are getting started. If you’d like to stay informed as this new initiative gets underway, fill out the Host Site Interest Form.

Questions? Contact Angela Davis at angela.davis9@montana.edu.

During the first full week of April each year, the American Public Health Association (APHA) brings together communities across the US to observe National Public Health Week as a time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight key issues for advancing health. APHA creates new NPHW materials each year - this year's priority areas and fact sheets are below:

• It Starts Here: Your Health is Our Mission 
• Climate Action Starts Here: Championing Resilience for Health 
• Health Equity Starts Here: Optimizing Health for All 
• Advocacy Starts Here: Amplifying Voices for Public Health 
• The Future of Public Health Starts Here: Strengthening the Public Health Workforce 

Learn more about NPHW and how to get involved here.

Resource Spotlight:

Reframing Health Disparities in Rural America

• Lead with dignity – start conversations by affirming that every person has inherent dignity and worth. Our goal is to honor that dignity in the way we talk about health.

• Broaden the definition of health – health isn’t just the absence of illness. It’s a state of full physical, mental, and social well-being.

• Acknowledge the influences on health – where we live, work, learn, and play shapes our health outcomes. Policies and collective decisions about housing, transportation, food access, and education impact community well-being. Think about some local policy examples that might influence health in your community.



• Depict the diversity of rural communities – rural America includes a wide range of ages, occupations, abilities, cultures, and religious backgrounds. Representing this diversity in our messaging makes it more inclusive and relevant.

This toolkit can be useful in many ways - whether preparing for tough conversations, planning community events, or reviewing how we communicate on social media. We’re not experts, but we’re learning together. If you're interested in this resource, it's worth exploring how these strategies might apply to your work!