Headwaters Foundation Works to Refine Strategy

We are currently in Phase I – Landscape Analysis

To help inform this process, FSG worked with the UM Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development to gather information related to health disparities and outcomes in our state. Check out this slide deck, which presents data on the most pressing needs of low-income children and families in Montana, the root causes of those needs and what it might take to address them.

FSG also conducted interviews with Headwaters staff and Board Members to gain insights on key health issues and input on the Foundation’s future approach and priorities. Our team then gathered for an initial workshop with FSG to digest and respond to interview responses and state health data and plan for next steps.

Next, we’ll move into Phase II – Stakeholder Input

FSG has begun to analyze information from years of grantee reporting conversations and will soon conduct interviews with a core group of our grantee partners. They will also send a survey to all Headwaters grantees to ask them which approaches they view as the most effective to date, and where additional investments could yield the most positive change for Western Montanans.

To help us center the needs and perspectives of those most impacted by health disparities, we are working with FSG to organize listening sessions with community members from populations that face increased barriers to health. These groups include (but are not limited to) rural and low-income families, single parents, Native Americans and LGBTQ youth.