Intermountain, a Montana agency that has provided services to vulnerable children and families in the Flathead Valley for more than six years, is ready to begin building a $1.64 million permanent facility near Somers.

Providence Home will be constructed at 905 North Somers Road. Intermountain is hosting a celebration at 11:30 a.m. today at the site for its new therapeutic youth group home. The public is invited.

The new facility will offer short-term emergency shelter care. Other services include therapeutic family care, family wrap-around services, child and family outpatient therapy and training of families and professionals.

“This is very exciting,” said Pam Schapper of Whitefish, a member of Intermountain’s board of directors and longtime volunteer. “We have been working toward this for a very long time.”

Intermountain purchased the property near Somers seven years ago and had been raising the money since then for the facility. A $450,000 federal block grant is set to be released for the project in January.

The Flathead County commissioners on Tuesday issued a finding of no significant impact and public notice for release of the Community Development Block Grant money in January. The county, which applied for the grant, conducted an environmental assessment of the property and determined the project won’t have any significant impact on the environment. 

Given the findings of that environmental review, the county has decided not to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act.

However, public comments on the county’s environmental review or the release of money can be submitted by Jan. 22 to the Montana Department of Commerce, Community Development Division, P.O. Box 200523, Helena, MT 59620.    

 Intermountain has an outpatient child and family therapy clinic at 322 Second Ave. W. in Kalispell and also provides family-based services and full family foster care in the Flathead community. More than 400 Flathead Valley children and families have been served by Intermountain since the Helena-based agency first established a presence here in 2008.

“Seven years ago, the board made a firm commitment to provide services in the Flathead Valley,” Schapper said. “Since then Intermountain has been renting facilities for Providence Home and for its outpatient services.

“It's difficult to find the right kind of space that fits our requirements,” she added. “Purpose-built space was always our first choice.”  

Intermountain Providence Home will be a 5,500-square-foot structure that will be home to up to eight children in need of intensive therapeutic care and support. The facility will include space for counseling, meetings and staff offices.

Fundraising events, grants and individual contributions will pay for the facility.

Flathead County was one of the early supporters of the project, working with Intermountain to secure the block grant, the largest single contribution to the project. Intermountain Chief Executive Officer Jim FitzGerald said the partnership with Flathead County was key to getting the project off the ground.  

Other major support has come through the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Treacy Foundation, Steele-Reese Foundation,Gallagher Western Montana Charitable Foundation, Zinngrabe Charitable Foundation, William H. and Margaret M. Wallace Foundation and many individual donors.

To date, more than $1.35 million has been raised or pledged and an effort to raise the final $291,000 is underway.

 Intermountain was founded in Helena in 1909. The agency provides holistic, integrated services and a relationship-based approach, to help families create and sustain nurturing, healthy environments where children can thrive and grow. The campus in Helena provides the framework for the program at Providence Home.

For more information about Providence Home or the work of Intermountain, contact David Creamer, development officer, at 871-0137 or visit the website at www.intermountain.org/communityservices.