By Mary Jo Quinn, SCL
The dream for Missoula Interfaith Collaborative (MIC) evolved as Casey Dunning moved through a master’s degree in social work program as a young adult. He had already completed an engineering degree, married, and become involved in the Presbyterian Church in Missoula. He also became a youth counselor, both in his profession and within the church. His quest was always, “How can I help young people not make the same mistakes that I made?” Eventually, as his own family grew, he asked, “How can a church body discover a sense of outreach, a ‘passion’ for the works of justice within their community? Further, how can many churches that are discovering this passion support one another in this work?”
A Seed Takes Root
With the encouragement of Lutheran Pastor John Lund and others at the University of Montana, Casey developed his graduate thesis into what would become a living ministry. A substantial “seed” grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development helped bring that dream to life. In 2013, the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative (MIC) became an officially recognized nonprofit organization.
From the earliest days, Casey was able to bring together many individual faith congregations to support people who had recently been released from prison, often helping to resource these individuals in housing and providing support services for their new lives outside the confines of prison and/or jail.
Faith Communities Open Their Doors
At the same time, another effort was taking shape across Missoula: Family Promise of Missoula, an outreach from local faith communities focused on serving families without homes.
Thirteen church buildings opened their doors, each hosting up to four families for a week at a time. Within a given week, the four families were housed in a member faith congregation, where they were cared for entirely by the congregation’s members, including sleeping quarters, prepared meals with the companionship of the local community, job counseling, and transportation as needed. At week’s end, volunteers packed up the beds and belongings and moved everything to the next congregation in the rotation.
Over the course of a year, each of the 13 church congregations had four turns at housing and hosting the families three to four times. During the time the families were housed within Family Promise, they paid no rent, and they did not need to provide full meals for themselves. They were encouraged to save their funds for their eventual move to a permanent home. Supportive services, including case management and financial counseling, as well as job placement, were always available to the residents.
Growing Together
In 2016, Missoula’s Family Promise became one of several programs of MIC, increasing the strength and size of MIC. Following a conversation among various groups concerned with the housing needs of Missoula, a further dream was realized in the form of a family housing center, a $13 million building that could accommodate up to 31 families at a time. In collaboration with the local YWCA, which houses up to 15 families in its shelter for victims and families of domestic violence, the Meadowlark proudly opened its doors during the pandemic in 2021 and became a new
home for Missoula’s Family Promise program.
The Work Continues
Since its founding, MIC has continued to discern and respond to the evolving needs of the Missoula community. Some of its early initiatives, such as Common Good Missoula, Glass Recycling, and Ventures (a sewing manufacturing company), have since grown into independent organizations.
Today, MIC oversees vital programs, including:
Family Promise: providing transitional housing and support for families,
Missoula Works: creating job opportunities for those facing employment barriers,
Housing Advocate Network: training volunteers to accompany unhoused individuals seeking stable housing.
The MIC website offers impressive statistics. To date, MIC has engaged over 5,104 volunteers: supported and employed over 160 persons through Missoula Works; served over 11,189 meals; and has developed 65 congregations, local allies, and organizations. The whole of Missoula has watered well the dream for MIC.
A Dream Sustained
From one student’s question to a thriving network of faithbased collaboration, MIC is proof that the Spirit moves powerfully when people come together to serve. The Missoula community has watered well the dream that began with one person’s desire to make a difference, and continues to grow through the shared labor of love and justice.
To learn more about the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative, click HERE.
