To fight suicide by firearm, an injury prevention center and a gun shop owner teamed up to form a group called the Gun Shop Project. The group empowers gun shop owners and employees with training in how to notice the ...

Although Haiti and Montana appear to be vastly different places, they have a few important things in common; they are geographically rural, they both face high rates of mental illness and a shortage of mental health c...

Kaleidoscope Connect is a curriculum program that helps middle school students build strong relationships with adults. The program helps students define what is important to them in relationships and helps them develo...

Pintler Suicide Awareness and Prevention in Montana trains community members in a mental health first aid method called QPR: Question, Persuade, Refer. The state of Montana is encouraging citizens who regularly intera...

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents in Montana. The Arlee Warriors, a high school basketball team, and a group of students at St. Ignatius High School, are initiating conversations to de-stigm...

In rural Montana, peer support groups for addiction recovery are gaining ground as a State Senate Bill formalizes peer support specialists as a profession. Despite higher rates of mental health issues and addiction, f...

Thanks in part to the advancement of technology and federal reforms that now streamline a previously lengthy process, rural Colorado is proving to be a prime candidate for small hydropower projects.

Across the United States, tribal lands have the lowest access to internet, an issue that restricts opportunity and education in those areas. In New Mexico, several small tribes have partnered to lay fiber-optic cables...

In New Mexico, the Kit Carson Co-op is providing broadband services in areas that traditional private contractors haven't reached. Co-ops around the country are diversifying their services to stay relevant, but funds ...

The Brownfields Program, funded through the EPA, helps towns across Montana redevelop contaminated buildings into new areas for economic development. Since 2016, when Anaconda and several nearby towns became eligible ...

Challis, Idaho is a small town, where mining and ranching are the main economies - but with employment and revenue down, the town is turning to recreation to bolster the economy. A collaboration between the Great Basi...

While many rural towns have struggled to retain residents and jobs, Philipsburg, Montana has enjoyed a newly bustling downtown because of tourism brought to the town by businesses with long-term advertising and renewa...

Affordable housing often needs several solutions to make sufficient impact in a community. In Boulder, Montana, several groups and funding sources are working together to keep a diverse stock of affordable housing ava...

Indian Health Service, the Native American Health federal agency, has not always been an ideal health program due to lack of funding and lack of flexibility to each tribe. More tribes are opening their own clinics in ...

Historically there has been stigma and pushback to bilingual and immigrant programs, but some counties are starting to embrace diversity as key to economic development. Greater diversity spurs innovation, entrepreneur...

Truth or Consequences is a town facing many growth barriers such as an aging population and low average income. Entrepreneurs are seeing an opportunity to develop businesses in this town which is helping to revolution...

Historically, farming has been very difficult in Alaska, making certain food products very expensive, and leading to a lack of locally grown food. However, due to climate change and new technology, farming is increasi...

In Wyoming, the economic development is closely linked to the coal industry. 40% of the coal is being mined in this state, however, the industry is declining and many people are losing their jobs. To adjust to this ch...

The oceans are acidifying at an alarming rate due to human-influenced climate change, and the effects are proving detrimental to our food chain and the marine ecosystem - especially shellfish, which are literally crum...

The indigenous tribe of Seri living in the Sonoran Desert and the Gulf of California. The group has been able to adapt to this unfriendly conditions. As the climate changes the tribe is adapting by using their knowled...

A number of problems continue to challenge rural agriculture in the western United States. These include connecting people who grow the food with the people that need to eat the food, food waste worsening greenhouse g...

A local energy cooperative in Colorado, Delta Montrose Electric Association, is spurring economic development through renewable energy. The program has allowed Delta County to diversify energy sources, and has become ...

In 2011, the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), an education advocacy and research organization, launched the Colorado Legacy Schools project. The program funded innovative ways to increase the number and diversity ...

The Migrant Education Program, which offers educational and social services to migrant worker families in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, is growing in popularity among the valley’s migrant worker population, and has rece...

To develop the next generation of producers, the Young Farmers Coalition non-profit is now pushing Congress and individual state legislatures to take a big step: forgiving farmers’ student loans.