2/24/2025
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].
State opioid trust continues to fund local projects, still has money to spend
A local government committee has helped award about $405,000 in state grants for opioid care and prevention in the Helena area, with more money yet to be allocated.
The Lewis and Clark Metro Region Opioid Abatement Governance Committee, created last year, reviews and recommends applications to the Montana Opioid Abatement Trust from local organizations to address opioid remediation.
The Montana Opioid Abatement Trust, or MOAT, was established in 2023 as a result of a $50 billion multi-state settlement with pharmaceutical companies related to the country’s opioid drug epidemic. According to the trust’s website, Montana is expected to receive $75 million over the next 17 years.
Out of the total trust, the Lewis and Clark metro region that covers the Helena area was allotted about $600,000 to give as grants.
St. Peter’s Health received $215,000 to expand its emergency department to ensure patients can better access treatment for opioid and substance abuse.
Simulation in Motion Montana, a state nonprofit, was awarded $75,000 to create an opioid response plan for the region that identifies areas for care improvement.
In January, the committee announced that the trust approved its first grant of $115,500 to the Lewis and Clark Detention Center to hire a medical provider to help inmates with opioid-use disorder.
With all three projects funded for one year, the metro region has about $195,000 left for this grant cycle. During last week’s meeting, the committee also reviewed its most recent application from Good Samaritan Ministries.
Good Samaritan Ministries has proposed hiring staff to assist with street outreach and peer support services for its day resource center, Our Place, which would include helping Helena’s homeless population struggling with addiction.
The committee will decide whether to recommend the GMS application to the trust at its next meeting in March.
Public Notice:
Community needs assessment meeting: Lewis and Clark County and the cities of Helena and East Helena will co-host the annual community needs assessment meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m. in room 326 of the City-County Building, 316 N. Park Ave. The meeting will allow the three government agencies to review and discuss topics related to housing, economic development and neighborhood revitalization.
City board vacancies: Helena is seeking applications to fill several city board openings. The positions are:
- One resident to serve on the ADA Compliance Committee
- Two residents to serve on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board
- One resident to serve on the Board of Adjustment
- Two residents to serve on the Citizens Conservation Board
- Two residents to serve on the Helena Public Art Committee
- One resident to serve on the City-County Consolidated Parks Board
- One resident to serve on the City-County Consolidated Planning Board
- Two residents to serve on the Tourism Business Improvement District Board of Trustees
- Seven residents to serve on the Urban Renewal Tax Increment Financing Advisory Board
The volunteer positions have varying terms and requirements. The deadline to submit applications is Tuesday, March 4, at 4 p.m. Those interested can apply on the city’s online application portal. For more information about each position, contact city commission deputy clerk Alyx Montiel at [email protected].
5 Things to Know in Helena
Fire at the fairgrounds: Last Thursday night, a fire damaged a maintenance facility at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds, according to a Helena Fire Department press release. The release stated that no one was in the building, and no injuries were reported. As of last Friday, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
City parking update: According to city transportation workers, parking enforcement is back to normal after two weeks of lenient ticketing. Staff said the lapse was because the department was waiting for new software to be installed in service vehicles, which reads the license plates and tracks users’ permits and parking fees. Staff added that if someone has an outstanding ticket they won’t be able to purchase a permit.
Limited spots for tax clinic: There are limited spots available in Helena for free tax help due to the lack of volunteers, according to the United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area press release. The AARP of Rocky Mountain Development Council’s Senior Center will have appointments available on Thursdays and Saturdays and callers will need to book them at 406-616-3080. United Way is now accepting volunteers for the 2026 tax season and can be contacted at [email protected] for inquiries.
New HPD captain: The Helena Police Department announced the promotion of Jayson Zander to captain last week. Zander has been with the department for nearly 23 years.
“We have no doubt that he will lead with the same passion, diligence, and commitment he has consistently demonstrated,” the department’s Facebook profile said. “He has shown that he is dedicated in serving our community and making a difference in his hometown.”
Helena honors Diane Carlson Evans: Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins will honor resident Diane Carlson Evans during a city commission meeting On Monday, Feb. 24, at the City-County Building, 316 N. Park Ave., at 6 p.m. Carlson Evans was awarded the Presidental Citizen Medal for her service to the community and country, according to a city press release. Evans served in the Army Nurse Corps, and she has long been a voice for women veterans. She helped establish the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., and was the CEO of the Woman’s Memorial Foundation for 30 years.
3 Questions For
Earlier this month, Helena Education Foundation executive director Lisa Cordingley announced her retirement. Over the past 16 years, Cordingley oversaw the foundation’s efforts to provide grants to Helena Public School District’s teachers and students. Cordingley spoke with MTFP about the accomplishments and most rewarding parts of the job. Her comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MTFP: Why was the Helena Education Foundation created and how does it help the Helena Public School District?
Cordingley: In the late 90s the then superintendent pulled together a task force to explore the idea of an education foundation for Helena, and I was a member. We drafted a proposal to make a foundation that is based not on funding that should be publicly funded but on finding ways to enrich and enhance the school system. We believe that even if we could raise all the money in the world, it is still the obligation of government to fund our public schools. We didn’t ever want to step across that as a bright line for us.
So we incorporated the foundation in 2001. I was a founding board member, and we spent not quite a year getting organized and hiring a part-time executive director. We knew that we wanted to give grants to teachers when we started, and we started literally from nothing. So we set a goal that first year of raising $80,000, which was premised on raising $100 for every student in the school district.
Our Great Ideas grants were our next project and those have grown. A single teacher now can ask for up to $1,250, and more than one teacher can ask for a project for up to $5,000. Several years ago, we added Spark grants, which are smaller projects, a simpler application and we give those four times a year. Teachers can ask for up to $500 a month. So with those two combined and some special projects we funded last year, we did top $1 million that we’ve given in grants to our teachers. I’m enormously proud of that.
MTFP: Besides grants, what other avenues of support does the foundation facilitate for the school district?
Cordingley: We do [grants]. We do issues institutes. Book talks that had two speakers. We had somebody come in and talk to our school counselors, and we’ve had listening sessions with trustees in partnership with the library.
We do trading places every other year [that] the Legislature isn’t here. We bring business leaders and nonprofit directors and people who are working in government and in the community, match them with building administrators and they spend the day together, half the day in school and half the day at the place of business. That’s very fun.
We do Great Conversations in the fall. That’s the only thing we do that we charge money for, but we’ve done that since about 2003 or 2004, so that’s been a long-standing program for us as well. We sponsor Pen & Ink arts and literature magazine, which is produced by the two high schools. We got the Harrison Writing Awards and also this year we just launched the visual arts award, called the Going to the Sun Award. And then we also got to sponsor the bison [harvest] this year.
MTFP: Can you describe the foundation’s overall impact on students and educators? What do you hope for the foundation’s future?
Cordingley: We do hit every single grade. The other thing that we do is honor students and honor teachers. We do something called Let’s Talk About Great Teachers. This is one where we pick teachers, principals [and] school nurses who are exceptional, who are doing extra things for their kids or making a difference beyond what we expect of them every day. Sometimes, and I love it when this happens, a parent will have written me a letter saying, “Did you know…?” and then we look into it and then we get to let that teacher know, [and] I know they are meaningful to them. We are working right now on getting ready to notify our distinguished scholars and distinguished achievers for the Celebration of Excellence. That’s our capstone project of the year, and we recognize distinguished students who meet specific benchmarks by the seventh semester of high school.
I started July 1, 2008, as director, but I had been fully involved in the foundation since it was an idea. Because I have been part of it from the beginning, I never want people to conflate the foundation with me because it isn’t about me and has always been about the community. It’s going to be fine. It will continue to grow and say yes to new opportunities.
The community is so supportive, and one of the keys to us is we haven’t ever only appealed to people who have kids in school right now because the bulk of Helenans don’t. Our tagline is “great schools are everyone’s business.” If we want to live in a community with a healthy economy, if we want to live in a safe community, if we want to have people who keep our public library going and who open restaurants, take care of us when we’re old and in a home, then all of those things happen because of what happens every day in our public schools. That will continue and this community has been fabulous about saying yes to the foundation.
(Editor’s note: Cordingley is the mother-in-law of Kriston Cordingley, MTFP’s director of partnerships and advancement.)
Glad You Asked
After nearly two feet of snow fell last week in the Helena area and with warmer temperatures expected this week, county officials are urging residents to be prepared for potential flooding.
In a press release, Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Tom Rolfe highlighted ways people can prepare, particularly residents who live in the Helena Valley or near creeks and other water sources.
Rolfe recommended clearing debris from culverts and purchasing sandbags at hardware stores. County Public Works Department and Disaster and Emergency Services staff told Rolfe the county is ready if flooding issues arise.
“While the county has been working to improve the task of moving water through neighborhoods over the last few weeks, the extra snow we received combined with unusually high temperatures could create a problem,” Rolf said in the release.
Residents with additional questions or concerns can contact the county commissioner’s office at 406-447-8302.
