HRDC

Founded in 1975, the Human Resource Development Council is a non-profit community action agency. HRDC serves Gallatin, Park and Meagher Counties which each encompasses approximately 2,500 square miles. The area we serve is bordered on the west by the headwaters of the Missouri River and to the south by Yellowstone National Park. To the east and north begin the expanding valleys of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Historically the area's economy has been based on farming, ranching, and extracting and processing of natural resources. The past 20 years, however, have evidenced a significant shift to tourism and related services. How it began: Prior to 1975 there were only seven HRDCs in Montana and they did not cover the entire state. Gallatin, Park, and Meagher counties received very limited services for low income people. Those services were administered through the Helena HRDC, but there was no agency committed solely to the residents of our communities. The State Office of Economic Opportunity (SOEO) was committed to expanding services of HRDCs state-wide and began working with the Sociology Department of MSU to prepare a situation statement which outlined the needs in the area. Thanks to George Galinken and Del Samson some resources were available to do that work. Rodger Ala, who had been a VISTA volunteer in Boulder moved to Bozeman and headed up a team of young volunteers to finish the situation statement. The statement was sent to the regional federal Community Services Administration (CSA) office as a request for funds. In May 1975 the first CSA grant to expand HRDC services was made to the newly incorporated District IX, HRDC. The grant was a minimal $40,000 but allowed HRDC to move from borrowed office space at MSU to the first HRDC office on Main Street in Bozeman. The first programs administered by the HRDC were Youth Employment, Weatherization, Migrant Workers, RSVP, and a child care Program called 4-C's. When the initial services are compared to the number of services offered today you see that HRDC has become a full-fledged human and community development corporation that exemplifies the very best of the original Economic Opportunity concept.