www.lauriemcdonalddesign.com lauriemcdonalddesign@gmail.com 410.991.4770 laurie mcdonald
Mountain Shadow Campaign
8-PAGE CASE FOR SUPPORT
Kaala’s Village Family Healing Center
“The power to accomplish our vision lies in empowering EVERY person.”
PHASED COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN CASE FOR SUPPORT
www.mountainshadowassociation.org mountainshadowassociation@gmail.com
PHASED COMPREHNSIVE CAMPAIGN CASE FOR SUPPORT
These statistics are the legacy of generations of depraved policies that have impacted the Original Peoples of North and South America, and as a result, the average life expectancy of Native People in Montana is 20 years less than their non-native counterparts. A lack of infrastructure and treatment options presents significant barriers to Crow families seeking healing and renewal. Since the Crow Reservation lacks adequate treatment facilities, parents in recovery must travel off-site (and often out of state) to pursue treatment. As a result, we are seeing Crow children be removed from their homes, community, and culture at alarmingly high rates. Currently, 36% of children in foster care in Montana are Native American, even though they make up only 9% of the state’s population, and Native American children are 70% more likely to be placed in foster care than non-Native children in similar situations. Trauma is deepened when Apsáalooke children are sent outside of their community, depriving them of the opportunity to learn from and bond with family members, retain their cultural traditions, and remain anchored in a healthy Native identity.
FIRST PHASE: $ 3.3 Million in 2024 - 2025 Phase I, taking us into 2025, seeks to expand essential programs and create new service lines to benefit children and families, bolster our organization’s leadership and finance capacity, and initiate formal design and planning for our required physical spaces.
www.mountainshadowassociation.org mountainshadowassociation@gmail.com Thanks to the generosity of our early supporters, MSA has already purchased 13 beautiful acres of land located within walking distance of Lodge Grass’ high school, one block from the town clinic, and 20 miles from the closest hospital in Crow Agency. The site is ideally suited for the proposed Family Healing Center. During Phase 1 of our comprehensive campaign, we will design and build the initial and most urgent of our envisioned spaces: the main hall called Kaala’s House (“Grandmother’s House”). This 5,141 sq ft facility at the heart of The Village will be uniquely focused on meeting the immediate needs of children: it will house daytime childcare, will offer education and supportive services to older children, and building the first half of it will provide safe residential foster family support through one foster family for up to 6 children. A central courtyard, called the Welcome Arbor , will also serve as a ceremonial space for welcoming new program participants, contemplative daily rituals, and youth graduation ceremonies.
PHASED COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN CASE FOR SUPPORT
PHASED COMPREHNSIVE CAMPAIGN CASE FOR SUPPORT
MSA seeks to repair and restore relationships between children
We seek to interrupt and reverse these
Each step along our journey will help in
PHASED COMPREHNSIVE CAMPAIGN CASE FOR SUPPORT However, the urgency of our community’s need demands that we cannot wait for completion of Kaala’s House before expanding our existing programs. During this early phase, we must ensure that children remain safe while their parents receive treatment or complete incarceration terms. In 2022 alone, Mountain Shadow Association helped 40 Crow mothers or fathers travel to addiction or indigenous-adapted treatment facilities outside of their home communities. Too often, however, the long-term benefit of off-site treatment programs is marred when parents return to a community environment that is not supportive of their ongoing accountability and wellness. Children are violently pulled back and forth in cycles of displacement during treatment, relative peace during entry to the recovery period, and chaos upon re-entering a period of relapse resulting from lack of support for recovery. While there is clear community demand and goodwill for MSA’s services, we currently lack adequate facilities to fully serve families struggling with the impacts of substance abuse. To fully realize its vision, MSA seeks to establish the Crow Reservation’s first dedicated Family Healing Center. Called Kaala’s Village (“Grandmother’s Village”), the Family Healing Center will provide a nurturing, healing, and safe community ecosystem for substance abuse recovery and family restoration. By combining contemporary therapeutic approaches with traditional ways and the wisdom of our elders, Kaala’s Village will provide a model of family healing that is organically rooted in the Apsáalooke way of life. and the ability to function as a healthy family unit. Our clients will continue to have off-campus supports, which have been incorporated into our financial sustainability model. Peer To bring MSA’s vision to life, our majority indigenous Board of Directors has taken the united step of launching an ambitious, two-phased comprehensive campaign , with the goal of raising an initial $3 million during Phase 1 and an eventual $5.5 million over the next three years. These vital philanthropic resources will allow MSA to expand its existing programs, introduce child care services, strengthen its leadership staffing and fiscal oversight capabilities, design and build two phases of Kaala’s Village, and cover an essential portion of start-up costs over the center’s first three years. PROTECT VULNERABLE CHILDREN WHILE KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER Breaking the cycle of trauma requires us to create a new paradigm in which patterns of wellness, self- empowerment, and community engagement become an inheritance for all Apsáalooke children. This new and improved paradigm requires the facilities, programs, and staff necessary to impart critical skills and meaningful experiences that lead to an established lifeway that is healthy and strong. MSA and its Family Healing Center will offer intensive services built into the daily routines of those who live in Lodge Grass today and those who will live in the Village in the future. By providing clients and their families with the services of high-quality child care, Certified Behavioral Health Peer Support Specialists and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Mountain Shadow Association will earn stable revenue Building on the inspired work that Mountain Shadow Association is already doing, children will be served at Kaala’s House by being invited into the recovery process through child-centered techniques designed to restore and strengthen family bonds, heal familial harms, and reinforce a positive Native identity. We’ll also introduce intergenerational approaches to healing trauma that are not currently offered on the Crow Reservation. These intergenerational approaches have proven effective in breaking the cycle of trauma that often results in patterns of addiction, abuse, and poverty being transferred from parent to child. and their parents, citizens and their community, families and their culture, and individuals and their environment through community-based restorative programs focused on repairing and restoring relationships.
Immediate employment opportunities in the areas of child care, peer support and program oversight, construction, contracting, electrical work, etc., will be available during Phase I of the project. Working with carefully selected architects, contracting partners and veteran builders, teaching building
startling trends through a suite of
small ways to advance the economic vitality
family-focused recovery and
of our community. By supporting holistic
and contracting skills to young people and employing as many local members of the community as possible is a major priority. The experience can also help local residents learn the skills needed to maintain and improve their own existing homes.
PHASED COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN CASE FOR SUPPORT
www.mountainshadowassociation.org mountainshadowassociation@gmail.com
empowerment programs. As a new
family wellness, the Family Healing Center
generation of young Apsáalooke
will infuse new resources into Lodge Grass,
leaders rise to the challenge of restoring
Following construction of
With an eye toward long-term durability, growth and ongoing innovation for those we serve, Kaala’s Village seeks eventually to realize important annual revenue through on-site artists’ gift shop sales, Indigenous restaurant and conferencing services, summer Indigenous Airbnb hosting on our 13-acre property and building project income driven by resident construction crews. Revenues realized through these entrepreneurial endeavors will ultimately be attributed to each working individual, with 60% supporting the individual’s daily living expenses, 30% being retained in individual savings accounts to be used for each Fresh Start transition at graduation, and 10% going to each working client for clothing, gifts, and other minor living expenses. MT, and surrounding communities, both as we grow our programs and their positive impact over time and during multiple We believe this will ensure that we can swiftly achieve two of our most urgent priorities: 1. Preserve the innocence of our children and
Based on our research and experience, during the first six months children and parents have sensorimotor pathways and physiology that will still be settling in. The initial phase of healing will be focused largely on creating a culture of safety, adapting to new routines and embracing how an intentional community works. Our parents will begin doing more transformational work when brains impacted by trauma and addiction begin to detoxify and restructure. After 12 to 18 months in the program, we expect to send families back into the community in restored relationships, full of strong purpose and identity, and establishing trust and security with their community. When families move out of Kaala’s Village, we expect that they will do so with financial savings, the first portion of a new home built, skills and education to allow for employment,
hope, health, and engagement to our
residential and treatment
Over time, MSA and the Family Healing Center will employ one director, one behavioral health specialist, two care-taker families, at least two peer support specialists, one financial manager, early childhood educators and classroom teachers, and one grounds/maintenance engineer. This durable model will bring vital employment opportunities and expertise to Lodge Grass and surrounding communities.
community and the Crow Reservation,
facilities in Phase II , which we
MSA supports these citizen leaders in
envision will take place through
2. Rebuild strong values-driven families.
www.mountainshadowassociation.org mountainshadowassociation@gmail.com 406.209.0109 SECOND PHASE: Completing Kaala’s Village (2025-2026) Learning from our program successes and experience we gain over the next 12 months will better position us to build a more comprehensive Family Healing Center in Lodge Grass with residential spaces for parents and children and spaces for on-site treatment – a model that allows families to stay together during the entire recovery process. Further, when resources are available “at home,” parents are more likely to take advantage of those resources, and long-term follow-up and accountability becomes easier to maintain. Mountain Shadow Association stands ready to address Lodge Grass’ most pressing needs by providing a transformative model of family healing anchored in Native identity and the conviction that recovery is most effective when families work through it together. Bolstered by the support we’ve received in the past from remarkable donors, we are confident in the positive impact our two-phased approach can and will have on our community. We believe we have what it takes to get this done, but only with the support of many. phases of construction. Supporting families in this way will also help us to bring our children back into care in their homeland because when we are able to support parents in rebuilding their lives and relationships, we will also be able to help them heal harms they have caused and gain reunification their children. FAMILY HEALING CENTER EMERGING DESIGN CONCEPTS 3
our shared vision to renew Lodge Grass
SUPPORT PARENTS MAKING THE COMMITTED DECISION TO HEAL Successfully restoring families must begin with the parents and their recovery. Our aspiration is that every Apsáalooke mother and father will have the skills, resources, and mental and physical wellness needed to bring up strong children who will shape Lodge Grass’ future. During Phase I, Mountain Shadow Association will continue to support admission and travel to out-of-state healing centers that have a proven track record of making a difference. Even in this early phase, returning parents will receive training in trust-based parenting, motherhood and fatherhood skills, strengthening intergenerational relationships, and addressing family violence and abuse, among other skills and also be connected to resource supports to help improve their standard of living. Importantly, parents will return from treatment and be better equipped and empowered to serve as leaders and guides in their family unit and in their community, providing the necessary mentorship and role modeling to ensure the next generation thrives. BEGIN REVITALIZING THE LODGE GRASS COMMUNITY Strong, healthy families are the bedrock of a thriving community, and our children are Lodge Grass’ future. Hence, we seek to restore families to roles of leadership, accountability, and productivity within our community.
2026, we ultimately expect
and its history as The Valley of the
clients to remain at Kaala’s
Chiefs – a place where leaders are not
Village for 12 to 18 months.
just born, but raised.
support, family counseling, and group services will continue to help families retain their focus on health and growth in their relational and life skills.
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Late in Phase II, the Family Healing Center envisions a restaurant and gift shop, which will employ clients of the Center’s programs. The gift shop will ideally feature handmade crafts and goods created by residents of the Center, and the restaurant supporting students pursuing an Indigenous Culinary degree.
Building on what we learn during Phase 1, capital investments in phase 2 of our comprehensive campaign will enable MSA to complete construction of Kaala’s Village and offer: • Housing for parenting couples in recovery , allowing Crow moms and dads to develop shared values and skills in a supported environment before practicing them in daily life . • Therapeutic recreational and cultural activity spaces, including equestrian stables, community gardens, nature trails, a teepee circle, and prayer loop for contemplation. • A clinical healing center providing therapeutic counseling, treatment, and healthcare to clients.
through billing Medicaid for already reimbursable services. We will also utilize Best Beginnings state reimbursement revenues to generate revenue for the early childhood learning services we provide.
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For Phase I, we’ve estimated that staffing, program costs and costs for early architectural design and renderings will total $750,000. Once Phase 2 is complete, costs will total $807,470 in year one, growing slowly and thoughtfully over the next three years. Program revenue garnered through Medicaid reimbursable individual peer support work, family and one- on-one counseling, in- home child support, and childcare has been conservatively estimated to total $514,011 during our first, start-up year, growing to $715,216 per year for the two following years. This leaves a program funding gap of approximately $250,000 per year over the first four years of operation, leading to a hope that generous donors and grant-makers will help us build on our past fundraising success, providing up to $1 million in program-focused generosity. Heading into our fifth year of service, we anticipate that Kaala’s Village will be largely self-sustaining.
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