Strengthening Support Services Summit
February 24th, 2026
Thank you for joining us!
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Pulling in the Same Direction: Alignment in Helena’s Service Sector with Emily Frazier from Helena Area Community Foundation as our original speaker. Life happens and Amy Emmert with St. Peter’s Health stepped in to lead this session.
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Shelby Whelan with Zero to Five Montana went over the results of Helena’s Child Care Community survey from 2025.
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Emily McVey and Jeff Buscher with United Way of Lewis and Clark Area led the discussion on housing.
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Toni Lassu from PureView led the breakout session on Substance Misuse.
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Jesse Heide from the YWCA led a discussion on mental health.
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John Tabb spoke about 988.
More information on Montana 988 here.
Emily McVey shared about 211 and United Way’s new App.
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Led by Rebecca Hargis of Elevate Montana - Helena Affiliate.
The Resilience in our Community presentation will connect the dots and feature a report from the HOPE National Resource Center. They recently led a collaborative research project analyzing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) data from Montana, Kansas, South Carolina, and Wisconsin to study the lifelong health effects of positive childhood experiences (PCEs).
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, provides further evidence that PCEs are associated with improved long-term health, better life opportunities, and reduced medical spending. Following this report, I will highlight local service providers, such as yours, that embody the 4th Building Block of Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences.
Girls Thrive spoke about their programs for girls in our Helena community. Find slides here.
Click here for more info on Girls Thrive
Helena Indian Alliance spoke about their many programs that work to support children and community members in a variety of ways. Click here to learn more about HIA.
Speakers
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Emily is the Executive Director of the Helena Area Community Foundation. She is here to share her wisdom with us on how we can collaborate better for our community.
Emily Frazier, CFRE, MA, is a Helena native and a nonprofit nerd. She holds a master’s degree in Philanthropy and Development from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, is a Certified Fund Raising and loves connecting people to the causes they care about. Emily has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 15 years and joined the Helena Area Community Foundation in 2019. Emily is a 2021 graduate of Leadership Montana and was selected as one of Helena’s 20 under 40 in 2021. Emily serves her community as a CASA volunteer, and her hobbies include cooking, playing board games, and carving candles as an apprentice chandler. She is thrilled to be living and working in her hometown, for her hometown! She lives with her husband, Eric, and her dogs, Hershel and Watson.
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Emily is the Executive Director of United Way.
Emily has lived in Montana her whole life. She and her husband, Mike, raised their children in Helena, participating in a number of extracurricular activities such as Boy Scouts and sports. Emily’s background includes a formal education in culinary arts, sociology, and public relations, and she has a master's degree in public administration. Her nonprofit experience includes working at Florence Crittenton Home, Montana Youth Homes under Rocky Mountain Development Council, as well as volunteering for other nonprofit organizations. Emily worked for the state of Montana for six years for Child and Family Services. Emily was glad to return to the nonprofit sector in 2019 to work alongside other nonprofits to make meaningful change happen in the tri-county area. When she is out of the office, Emily enjoys cake decorating, and trying out new hobbies by taking adult education classes.
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Gina Boesdorfer has been working in victim services since 2008. She started her career as a volunteer at a local domestic violence sexual assault agency during college. Gina has a B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She also has an M.A. in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis on trauma after completing her clinical practicum at a veteran's health and trauma clinic. Gina and her family moved to Helena in 2015 when she took a job at The Friendship Center. Gina first worked primarily with the shelter residents. She then transitioned to a role managing the programmatic side of the agency as well as the facility. Gina has served as the Executive Director of The Friendship Center since 2021.
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Jesse is the Clinical Director at the YWCA Helena. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant. Jesse will lead our Substance Misuse breakout session.
Jesse grew up in Indiana as the second born of four children. After earning her degree in psychology from Boston University in 2003 she planned for a short stay in Helena—but quickly fell in love with the town and its people, deciding to stay
In 2008, Jesse earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Montana, launching a career dedicated to supporting children and families. With extensive experience across multiple systems - including court system, school systems, service providers, child protective services and levels of care - including inpatient, school- based, and outpatient service; she has developed a deep understanding of the complexities of social work.
Drawn to the YWCA’s unwavering commitment to women and families, Jesse joined the organization in 2023 as Clinical Director. In this role, she finds immense fulfillment in:
guiding women on their recovery journeys;
helping children navigate their emotions;
strengthening family bonds, and
ensuring YWCA Helena provides top-tier services to the community.
Outside of work, Jesse recharges by traveling to visit friends and family, spending time by the water, and cherishing moments with her husband and son.
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John Tabb, MSW, currently serves as a Suicide Prevention Program Manager for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services and as the Program Director for 988 in Montana. He is a retired army officer and combat veteran, with thirty years of active duty service and has a special interest in veteran suicide prevention.
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Rebecca Hargis, MEd, LCPC, is a survivor of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including sexual abuse and domestic violence. Her personal journey and search for understanding led her to a career as a child and family therapist. She is dedicated to helping others recognize, prevent, and recover from the effects of trauma.
In March 2017, Rebecca retired from Youth Homes in Helena, where she served since 2006 in various roles including Clinical Supervisor, Child & Family Therapist, Treatment Manager, and Birth Mother Counselor. She currently maintains her license and serves as the PACE trainer for the Elevate Montana Helena Affiliate.
Driven by her history and professional experience in the foster care system, Rebecca is a strong advocate for spreading awareness about ACEs and fostering community actions centered on Positive Childhood Experiences. Her mission is to help others break the cycle of toxic stress and instead promote a legacy of joy, hope, and beauty for the next generation.
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Shelby Whelan, the Community Navigator for Montana Child Care Business Connect, a program of Zero to Five Montana, supports communities on community-driven, data-informed child care solutions. After graduating from the University of Montana with a bachelor’s degree in psychology specializing in family and human development, Shelby worked in several roles within Zero to Five Butte-Silver Bow. In these positions, she helped develop and implement community-led projects related to children and families, facilitated a handful of early childhood coalitions and committees, received the 2022 Moving Mountains award, and became invested in the need for early childhood systems change in Montana. Shelby is certified in GrowthWheel business training and has supported diverse communities from across the state of Montana in their own community growth.
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Toni Lassu works as an LCPC and LAC at PureView Health.
Bio coming soon.
More information
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The Helena community—and surrounding areas—are filled with individuals and organizations dedicated to improving the lives of others. If you or your organization provides services to our community, this event is for you. Whether you're an unpaid volunteer involved in a coalition or a paid staff member of a local organization, we invite you to join us.
Our mission is to break down silos and foster collaboration in addressing the everyday challenges faced by community members.
By coming together, we aim to strengthen our collective approach to serving others, reduce duplicated efforts, and work more effectively as a united community.
Let’s build a stronger, more connected support network—together.
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Using priorities from the Community Health Improvement Plan, this summit aims to bring those insights into action. Resource access is a frequent topic in social services—how do people find what they need, and how do we ensure effective referrals? While our community has many resource directories, improving their use remains a key challenge.
The Quad S will feature expert speakers and breakout sessions focused on these issues, offering a platform to strengthen partnerships, share knowledge, and enhance service coordination. Whether you’re a service provider, business leader, or community advocate, this is your opportunity to help build a more connected support system.
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We had over 70 participants join us to discuss Early Childhood, Housing, Substance Misuse and Suicide Prevention. We heard from Emily Frazier on collaborating for funding.
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The Strengthening Support Services Summit (The Quad S or The Summit) is the next step in our community’s effort to improve collaboration across service providers, businesses, and organizations. It builds on foundational gatherings like Elevate Montana’s Coalition of Coalitions, which brought stakeholders together to explore ways to work more effectively across sectors. A key takeaway was the need to shift from competing for resources to collaborating on funding and shared services.
After a pause due to COVID, these discussions resurfaced when the Early Childhood Collaborative team participated in the 2023 Early Childhood Transitions Summit. That summit highlighted how service transitions—especially in early childhood, housing, and behavioral health—often create barriers for families. It became clear that intentional collaboration is essential to ensure people don’t fall through the cracks.
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In the spirit of streamlining community efforts, we have utilized information from the Community Health Improvement Plan or CHIP to guide the breakout session topics.
The Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) is a 3-year strategy for Lewis and Clark County, developed using data from the Community Health Assessment (CHA). It focuses on three priority areas—chronic disease, housing, and behavioral health—with six key topics of concern: asthma, cancer, heart disease, housing, mental health, and substance use.
They have regular updates to the community. Open to everyone.
Click here for more information.
Community Partners
