Hot Springs Community Heart and Soul

Tucked into rolling hills of the Cabinet Mountains in Western Montana, the Town of Hot Springs is home to a small town of tribal members, ranchers, farmers, artists, and natural, mineral rich hot springs. In order to move beyond surviving to thriving, the town of Hot Springs has adopted the Community Heart & Soul, a development process, created by the Orton Family Foundation alongside small towns over the last twenty years, to collectively work on building stronger, healthier, and more economically vibrant towns.   Community Heart & Soul is a catalyst for positive change that guides a community in making the best decisions about its future.  Hot Springs, Montana has chosen this model to help guide the residents with issues of multigenerational poverty, economic development, rural food security, and have identified these five overarching goals for our community work:

• Community Heart & Soul is a community development tool used by communities to create a collective impact by including everyone. Here are the overarching goals that we have developed thus far

  • Engage youth and adults to promote cross generational transfer of knowledge. 

  • Create Hometown Pride through civic involvement and engagement 

  • Unite together to form a town wide and solid infrastructure that will support the discovered values of the people.

  • Present Hot Springs as a vibrant small town community with opportunity 

  • Show our Community is fun and exciting

1) Secure office location

2) Build a team of volunteers

3) Setup office with computers and printer

4) Engage with the community

5) Analyze the data collected by Volunteers

6) Make an action plan

7) Put it into action and have fun!

We are doing this project because we care about our community. We want to engage every member of this small town and get them involved.  By engaging and including everyone in the town, we are allowing them to participate and create programs they want; as well as, build the skills and connections necessary to maintain them. The town has a vibrant history that includes the tribal community and those of the farmers and ranchers that have been here for multiple generations. Overall, we want everyone to come together to help build a town that will not survive but thrive in the western Montana area for years to come. Community Heart & Soul is a catalyst for positive change that guides a community in making the best decisions about its future.