More than 80 percent of the funding for the Missoula Forum for Children and Youth is expected to disappear.
For two years, county employees have been scrambling to find new money for the county-based group and its associated nonprofits, to no avail. They thought they had found an ideal solution.
By some accounts, Missoula has one of the worst binge drinking problems in the nation, let alone the state. Yet Missoula received no money. Now, both the mayor and the Missoula Board of County Commissioners want to know why their award-winning program got the cold shoulder.
Local leaders sent a letter to the state Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that administers the grant, asking for an explanation of how the money was distributed.
The criteria, as it appears to local officials, calculated the number of alcohol-related incidents on a per-capita basis, but didn't take population into account.
Turns out, that basically excluded all urban areas.
“We need to be sure we understand the methodology that was used, which seems so odd,” said Ann Mary Dussault, the county's chief administrative officer. “If in fact that is what they are going to do, then places like Missoula cannot compete (in the future).”
Joan Cassidy, the state's chemical dependency bureau chief, described this particular grant as “unique.”
“This has been a very difficult grant to deal with,” she said. “It was based on need. The need came out in a lot of rural areas.”
The state awarded 20 counties and reservations money - areas that comprise about 23 percent of Montana's population, said Peggy Seel, Missoula County's grant administrator.
In the 14 years Seel has worked as the county's grant writer, never has she seen a grant that looked at per-capita incidents without considering population. Had the state taken population into account, Missoula County would have been a top finalist, she said.
In fact, it wasn't until state Rep. Dave McAlpin picked up the phone to call the governor's office that Missoula County and other urban areas could even apply.
A 10-person governor-appointed group, including officials from Indian Health Service to Military Affairs, reviewed the data collected on alcohol and substance abuse problems in Montana, then spent a week reviewing the grant applications. The state health department acted only as staff in the process, Cassidy said.
The criteria for distributing the grant was strictly outlined by the federal government, she said.
Rosie Buzzas, director of Missoula's Flagship Program - which is also a member of the forum's coalition - has a hard time believing the state's hands were tied.
“They have a lot of say. ... It's not completely dictated,” said Buzzas, chairwoman of the state General Appropriations Committee in the 2005 Legislature. “Missoula is really tired of the state's attitude about Missoula. That we have things in place, so we need not worry about them.”
In terms of combating underage alcohol abuse, Missoula certainly has made strides.
In November, a national drug prevention coalition awarded Missoula Forum for Children and Youth the Got Outcomes! award, which is one of only three given by the organization annually.
The Missoula forum helps nonprofits focused on children and the prevention of risky behavior coordinate their efforts - so programs aren't duplicated and resources are strengthened. Buzzas sees the forum as critical to local efforts to reduce underage substance abuse.
“Coalitions are loosely held-together groups,” she said. “If you don't have a coordinator, you don't get things done.”
Jori Frakie, the forum's coordinator, would like to continue working with the nonprofit community to help Missoula's youth, but the forum is in a critical state of need. Three of its five federal grant sources are scheduled to dry up this fall. That's 83 percent of the forum's budget.
“It's frightening,” Frakie said. “We've made strides and you don't want to see the lives of kids hurt and their families.”
With Missoula losing out on this most recent federal grant, the county is back to looking at other funding options.
Once the state awards the contracts for the binge-drinking grant, there's a 14-day appeal process. Missoula County is not looking at that option at this time, Dussault said. Rather, county and city leaders want to learn how to be more competitive in the future.
On Monday, Cassidy said she had not yet received the letter from Missoula leaders, but said she would be more than happy to explain how the grant was distributed.
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at Chelsi.Moy@missoulian.com.
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