Butte organization steps up to save Dillon’s one-woman public benefits office in need

One month before it was expected to run out of money and close its doors, a lifeline in Beaverhead County for low income residents struggling to access public assistance programs has found a way to stay open.

The Beaverhead Resource Assistance Center in Dillon is the only place in the state’s largest county by area where many people can reliably get face-to-face help navigating the bureaucratic maze of social services like Medicaid, food assistance and energy bill subsidies. The county’s Office of Public Assistance was closed eight years ago due to state health department budget cuts, and the next closest location is an hour north in Butte.

With significant changes to Montana’s Medicaid program coming in the next year, Scott thought she would have to close the resource center at the end of February due to lack of funding. She had applied for nearly two dozen grants to cover the $600 monthly rent and received rejections from every one.

But Action Inc., a Butte-based nonprofit, recently committed to funding the Beaverhead center, allowing it to keep the lights on and narrowly avoiding the demise of another essential resource for community members.

“It’s hard to explain how I feel,” said Pat Scott, who singlehandedly runs the center. “At peace. I guess that would be a way to put it. I don’t have to worry anymore.”

Scott helps people decipher stacks of paperwork, counsels them on next steps and juggles multiple phone lines to keep wait times as short as possible for visitors. And she does it all on a shoestring budget – no more than $600 for rent each month and less than that for her time.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services has taken steps in the last year to shore up its social safety net and reduce the backlogs that became commonplace when every Medicaid enrollee had to reapply towards the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, the state’s help line wait times and call abandonment rates are among the highest in the country, and as of October, it took more than 45 days to process 15% of income-based applications.

Some of the people who end up on the receiving end of those long wait times and dropped calls show up at the resource center’s doors first thing Wednesday mornings, the only day of the week it’s open.

The Beaverhead Resource Center works with around 20 contacts every week, according to Scott. Sometimes, a single person has to visit week after week in order to get their case resolved. In other instances, one individual will show up representing an entire household. Almost all have tried to sort things out on their own beforehand but have had little luck.

Margie Seccomb, Action Inc.’s CEO, said when the organization heard about the Beaverhead center’s pending closure. through reporting by the Montana State News Bureau in December.

“We can’t let that happen,” Seccomb said.

The nonprofit works with low income households throughout six counties. It offers housing assistance, runs a child care program and provides youth with job training.

Seccomb said it’s been harder to create touchpoints in rural communities as service providers have closed or downsized, so supporting the Beaverhead Resource Center felt like a natural partnership.

“It’s going to both increase access for the people we serve, but will also help Pat leverage more of the services we have to offer just by virtue of being connected with us,” she said. “I hope this is going to be a win-win situation for Action Inc. and the center but mostly for people in need over in Beaverhead County.”

Exactly how things will look remains to be seen. Action Inc will visit Scott and the resource center for the first time on Friday but Seccomb said the plan is to keep everything as is.

“We have no plans on changing anything, not even the name,” she said. “We just want to be able to keep that going.”

Before the Butte group came into the picture, Scott had been trying to gather enough private donations to close the gap for another few months. She raised about $3,500 that she said will now be used to help people directly with utility bills and other financial needs.