Resource Database

3 Rivers Communications offers digital televison, Internet services, and telephone services including local and long distance. Further, 3 Rivers Communications supports Montana communities through grants, sponsorships and donations.

The American Planning Assoication (APA), through its professional institute AICP, organizes volunteer planning teams tailored specifically to a community's needs. Members offer their time and expertise to people and places where additional resources are needed. This program is supported by volunteer professionals, community contributions, and grant funding.

The Art of the Rural: Rural Arts and Culture Resource Guide provides users an assortment toolkits, funding opportunities, rural art conference session opportunities, book suggestions, articles, reports, and blogs concerning rural community art.

Bear Paw Development provides professional planning and project management. ent services the following geographic areas in the State of Montana. Services include small business development, brownfields program, community development, loan department, and value added agriculture programs.

The Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund Program (BSTF) provides state funds to promote long-term stable economic growth in Montana with financial assistance in the following two categories: Economic Development Job Creation Projects & Planning Projects.

The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health, Inc. is a non-profit private foundation established by Blue Cross of Idaho. This foundation provides money for planning and projects that encourage active living (e.g. biking).

The Wyoming Business Council provides the Business Ready Community Grant & Loan Program, a program that provides financing for publicly owned infrastructure that serves the needs of businesses and promotes economic development within Wyoming communities. Cities, towns, counties and joint powers boards are the primary applicants for this program. State and local community development organizations can assist and provide project management development under contract to the primary applicant.

Butte CPR provides grants to improve buildings, educational tours, lectures, preservation workshops, and other events, liaison with local government, business, and civic organizations, and the labor to restore, renovate and salvage historical buildings in the nation's largest National Historic Landmark District.

The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) provides communities access to the resources they need to convert their own good ideas into reality.'CIRD works with communities with populations of 50,000 or less, and'offers annual competitive funding to as many as six small towns or rural communities to host a two-and-a-half day community design workshop. CIRD further provides web-based access to a wide range of rural design resources include a blog and educational webinars.

Wyoming is given broad authority to design and structure a program to meet local community and economic development needs. However, any project funded with CDBG funds must meet one of three U.S. Housing and Urban Development-imposed national objectives. 1 .Benefit to low- and moderate-income families; 2. Elimination of slums and blight; 3. Projects which meet an urgent community development need that pose a serious and immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community.