Grant awarded to Flathead Youth Home

Whitefish Community Foundation has awarded a grant to Flathead Youth Home in Kalispell to support a new Youth Advocate position. The $36,146 grant was made possible by the Circle of Giving and other donors to Whitefish Community Foundation’s Kids Fund, established in 2019 as an initiative to help address child homelessness in the Flathead Valley.

The Youth Advocate will work with each resident of Flathead Youth Home to develop short and long-term goals and navigate opportunities to help ensure personal success into adulthood. The new position will allow the organization to provide ongoing support and guidance to youth for up to six months after they leave the facility.

Opened in 1997, Flathead Youth Home serves young people from the Flathead Valley and surrounding areas who need a safe, stable and trauma-informed place to live. Nearly all youth who enter the home have experienced significant trauma,including abuse, neglect and family substance abuse. Typically, these individuals have long histories of homelessness and limited opportunities for family reunification or foster care placement.

In addition to providing a safe and welcoming home, Flathead Youth Home offers support to help establish a sense of normalcy and address mental health, behavioral and emotional challenges. The home has the capacity to house eight residents, and on average serves approximately 70 individuals during a calendar year

Whitefish Community Foundation is dedicated to fostering philanthropy, building endowments and helping donors and nonprofits benefit communities in the Flathead Valley. Last year, the foundation awarded $130,000 in Kids Fund grants to five local nonprofit organizations. For more information about the work of Whitefish Community Foundation, visit www.whitefishcommunityfoundation.org.