The richland county health department (RCHD) has served as the sponsoring agency of the northeast MT rsvp program since 2004, now covering daniels, mccone, richland, roosevelt, sheridan counties,…

The richland county health department (RCHD) has served as the sponsoring agency of the northeast MT rsvp program since 2004, now covering daniels, mccone, richland, roosevelt, sheridan counties, and the fort peck indian reservation. An estimated 573 rsvp volunteers will serve. Of this number, 265 rsvp volunteers will be placed in outcome assignments. Some of their activities will include: distributing opioid & elder abuse prevention information; food delivery to the homebound; connecting veterans to services; and providing tutoring for students affected by covid. The primary focus area of this project is healthy futures. The cncs federal investment of $198,545 will be supplemented by an anticipated level of non-federal resources totaling $106,766. At the end of the three-year grant: 1. 200 individuals living in frontier areas will know how to access preventive and primary health care services and programs; 2. 300 homebound or older adults and individuals living with disabilities receiving food delivery & companionship service will report increased social ties or perceived social support; 3. 80 individuals will receive companion transportation to in-town and regional medical appointments; 4. 300 community members will be better prepared in the event of an emergency shelter in place and know how to access services; 5. Additional community needs that will be addressed by volunteers are: student & adult literacy, environmental awareness & stewardship, veteran support, opioid & alcohol abuse education, and non-profit support. The northeast MT rsvp program has played an invaluable role by helping bridge community gaps and combine available resources since 2004. The vision of richland county health department northeast MT rsvp is to transform our frontier region by showing partnering agencies and nonprofits how to more effectively engage volunteers so those organizations can better meet the needs of their communities and become a service enterprise. Additionally, RCHD is hosting one americorps grant program. Eight full-time americorps members will be serving on various community projects and alongside rsvp volunteers to accomplish similar goals.