Organizers of the inaugural Small Town Summit in Missoula hoped to create an event that would transcend boundaries, including township, city and state lines, as well as political boundaries. “Connectedness,” “empowerment” and “community-focused” were some of the words participants used to describe their experiences after attending the three-day Small Town Summit created to address the issues of rural America.
Author Archives: JoVonne Wagner
JoVonne Wagner is MTFP's Indigenous Legislative Fellow for 2023, a position created in collaboration with ICT (formerly Indian Country Today). A member of the Blackfeet Nation and a recent graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism, JoVonne interned two years with Buffalo’s Fire, an independent
online Indigenous news website. JoVonne also recently finished her student-instructor role with the Montana Media Lab — an arm of the UM School of Journalism that aims to educate Indigenous and rural Montana high school students on media literacy and audio storytelling. Contact JoVonne at
jwagner@montanafreepress.org.
