Bozeman Strategic Planning Feedback

Thank you for providing valuable feedback to our strategic planning process! Please help us prioritize potential action items and solutions generated through our community conversation series to address the needs of each of our communities. We ask that you rank the listed ideas and provide additional qualitative feedback on what you believe we should be focusing on for each individual need identified in Bozeman.

For a deeper dive into the needs identified in Bozeman, please see our 2019 Community Needs Assessment.

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* 1. What is your connection to HRDC?

I am a customer.

I am a staff member at HRDC.

I am a stakeholder/partner.

I am a volunteer.

Other (please specify)

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* 2. Housing surfaced as the #1 need for Bozeman in our Community Needs Assessment Survey with 84% of survey takers indicating so. Bozeman and Gallatin county as a whole has experienced massive growth in the past decade. While there are many jobs for our growing workforce, there is a lack of affordable housing and rentals for that workforce. Over 33% of households are considered cost burdened (allocating 30% or more of their monthly income to housing) in Gallatin County. According to the Bozeman Community Housing Action Plan, between 5,400-6,300 housing units are needed over the next five years to address the housing shortfall. COVID-19 has only exacerabted this need.

Below is a list of potential action items to address the need of housing in Bozeman, please rank them.

Preservation of existing housing

N/A

Development of affordable home ownership

N/A

Development of affordable rentals

N/A

Influence policy to require some link between income and affordability

N/A

Influence ammending inclusionary zoning policy locally to include rental property development and condominium development

N/A

Policy (density and planning) - for environmental impacts, accessibility, traffic etc

N/A

Increasing our capacity and services offered at the warming center

N/A

Increase awareness of housing crisis and supply shortage

N/A

Attract other partners to aide in development and policy

N/A

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* 3. Please build on the above list and provide additional feedback. What other policy, promoting, partnerships, and programs should we be considering to have a positive impact in the arena of housing in Bozeman?

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* 4. Mental Healthcare surfaced as the #2 need in Bozeman in our Community Needs Assessment Survey, with 43% of survey takers indicating so. Almost half of Bozeman respondents feel that the community lacks the adequate resources to meet the mental health needs of youth and adults. Montana continues to have one of the highest suicide rates in the country both for adults and youth. While Bozeman specifically may have a plethora of mental healthcare providers, there is a gap in affordability and accessibility for all community members.

Below is a list of potential action items to address the need of mental healthcare in Bozeman, please rank them.

Promote community awareness, reducing stigma

N/A

Provide space and technology for practioners and telehealth opportunities

N/A

Help community members navigate existing available resources

N/A

Affordability (1,2,3) Address and reduce stresses to income, housing, and debt that impact mental health

N/A

Increasing access, particularly crisis access, removing barriers to traditional delivery methods

N/A

Work with insurance providers to cover behavioral health services

N/A

Support increased funding to provide previous case management programming

N/A

Connect community members with affordable telehealth therapy opportunities

N/A

Increase awareness of community services available

N/A

Support and enhance Elevating Behavioral Health steering committee priorities

N/A

Promote whole health service delivery (integrated behavioral health)

N/A

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* 5. Please build on the above list and provide additional feedback. What other policy, promoting, partnerships, and programs should we be considering to have a positive impact in the arena of mental healthcare in Bozeman?

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* 6. Healthcare surfaced as the #3 need in Bozeman in our Community Needs Assessment Survey with 35% of survey takers indicating so. Over half of community members feel that Bozeman lacks accessible and affordable healthcare. Feedback has been that there may be technological barriers to signing up and obtaining healthcare. Additionally, a commonly reported barrier (nationwide) for seniors and youth is a lack of transit to and from medical appointments.

Below is a list of potential action items to address the need of healthcare in Bozeman, please rank them.

Service navigation, connecting community members to available healthcare resources and providers

N/A

Develop supportive housing

N/A

Help promote policy that aids in access and affordability

N/A

Improve public transportation to healthcare destinations

N/A

Continue our partnerships with local healthcare providers - Bozeman Deaconness, Community Health Partners, etc.

N/A

Advocate for expanded Medicare/ACA and universal healthcare

N/A

Advocate for further medicaid expansions allowing housing costs to support healthcare initiatives

N/A

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* 7. Please build on the above list and provide additional feedback. What other policy, promoting, partnerships, and programs should we be considering to have a positive impact in the arena of healthcare in Bozeman?

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* 8. Childcare surfaced as the #4 need in Bozeman in our Community Needs Assessment Survey, with 31% of survey takers indicating so. With the rapid population increase there is also increased need for quality early childhood and infant care. According to the Lost Possibilities report, 60% of parents have missed time from work because child care was not available.

Below is a list of potential action items to address the need of childcare in Bozeman, please rank them.

Partner with local employers to identify ways in which they may implement employer offered childcare

N/A

Partner with Childcare Connections to further assist providers in obtaining licensure, programming, and structure

N/A

Support Early Childhood Coordination Council objectives and priorities

N/A

Develop infant care

N/A

Expand head start capacity

N/A

Advocate for public PreK programming

N/A

Partner with local employers to create affordable care solutions

N/A

Advocate for increased income eligibility for best beginnings scholarships

N/A

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* 9. Please build on the above list and provide additional feedback. What other policy, promoting, partnerships, and programs should we be considering to have a positive impact in the arena of childcare in Bozeman?

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* 10. Transportation surfaced as the #5 need in Bozeman in our Community Needs Assessment Survey with 18% of survey takers indicating so. While the perceived need of transportation has gone down in recent years with the introduction of Streamline it still remains a concern in our community, especially as we continue to grow. Due to the growing number of daytime employees and new growth patterns there is an opportunity to tailor routes to help offset the new parking demand. There is also a continued interest in improving our existing multi modal transportation options, including neighborhood trails, connector trails, and commuter pathways.

Below is a list of potential action items to address the need of transportation in Bozeman, please rank them.

Help promote policy that increases transit funding in Montana

N/A

Increasing ridership of already available transit resources

N/A

Community awareness and education of transit options that already exist

N/A

Implement new transit route recommendations from Redesign Streamline 2020

N/A

Create Urban Transportation District

N/A

Partner with Gallatin Valley Land Trust and others to synchronize multi-modal transit

N/A

Develop and implement outreach efforts targeted at customer sub-populations (youth, outdoor, recreation, seniors, etc.)

N/A

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* 11. Please build on the above list and provide additional feedback. What other policy, promoting, partnerships, and programs should we be considering to have a positive impact in the arena of transportation in Bozeman?