Here’s some business news in the Missoula area:
The Missoula Public Library on Main Street has coffee and treats again. Clyde Coffee, which has a location on the Hip Strip on Higgins, now has a second location inside the library on the ground floor. They are open 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily, according to the Clyde Instagram page.
Black Coffee Roasting Company in Missoula has announced they’re closing their newest location on Main Street inside the Wren Hotel. In a social media post, the company said the location would be closing at the end of June.Â
“We will be concentrating our business back in the Spruce Street Quonset hut,” the post explained. “We’ll continue selling Grist baked goods and a full coffee bar. If you are in Missoula we look forward to seeing you there.”
Bob Oaks, founder of the North Missoula Community Development Corporation in 1996, received the Lifetime Achievement Award last month at the Montana Housing Partnership Conference in Missoula.
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“In his acceptance speech, Bob recounted how resident ownership in the Northside had dropped from 60% to 26% by the early 1990s,” the current NMCDC staff posted on Instagram. “Eight years of organizing led to the adoption of a Neighborhood Plan and twelve years of community meetings culminated in the Northside Pedestrian Bridge and our Community Land Trust — the first in the state! Bob’s work also helped seed Trust Montana, a Community Land Trust that provides permanently affordable homes all across Montana.”
Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis received a Changemaker Award at the same conference. The award was in recognition of her 15-year career as the executive director of Homeword. Â
“She led the organization to empower more than 1,000 people annually through homebuyer education, financial skills building, one-on-one counseling and expanded housing development, which now includes 32 properties housing over 2,290 Montanans across the state,” a press release stated. “Andrea served in many leadership roles in her time at Homeword, including Chair of the Montana Housing Coalition, advocating for state support of affordable and attainable homes, as a board member for Mountain Line and as a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines Affordable Housing Advisory Council.”
In response to the mass eviction notices issued to residents of a mobile home park near Kalispell, the nonprofit Whitefish Community Foundation has awarded a $45,000 Emergency Response Grant to NeighborWorks Montana to help displaced residents find new housing.
“Tenants of the Spring Creek Mobile Home Park received eviction notices last month to vacate the property within 180 days,” a press release from the foundation said. “In response, NeighborWorks Montana is working closely with park residents to help them relocate their mobile homes or find new housing. Nearly 30 families are impacted, including over 25 children.”
“We know from past manufactured home park closures how difficult it is for residents to regain stable housing when faced with this type of displacement,” said NeighborWorks Montana cooperative housing director Danielle Maiden. “We hope relocation assistance will ease some of the challenges Spring Creek residents are facing, and we are grateful to the Whitefish Community Foundation and donors for their support.”
In addition to awarding the Emergency Response Grant, the Whitefish Community Foundation has created the Spring Creek Resident Relocation Fund to accept tax-deductible donations for the emergency.
“We are pleased to take on this administrative role so that NeighborWorks Montana can focus on working directly with the residents,” said Whitefish Community Foundation president and CEO Alan Davis. “All fund administration fees are being waived, so 100 percent of the donations will directly support the Spring Creek residents during this difficult time. We hope others will be inspired to help reach the $160,000 goal.”
The Emergency Response Grant to NeighborWorks Montana is made possible by the Circle of Giving, the core group of donors who give $5,000 or more annually to support the grant programs and mission of Whitefish Community Foundation. In 2023, the Circle of Giving invested more than $1.9 million in Flathead Valley nonprofits, according to the press release.
To date, $50,000 has been raised for the Spring Creek Resident Relocation Fund, leaving a $110,000 funding gap.
Tax-deductible donations to the fund can be made online at whitefishcommunityfoundation.org, by calling 406-863-1781 or by mailing a check payable to Whitefish Community Foundation to P.O. Box 1060, Whitefish, MT 59937.
Devin and Savannah Doss recently opened Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services, which serves Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley.Â
The Dosses’ location will serve the areas that include the surrounding communities of Clinton, Condon, Hot Springs, Noxon, Haugan, Florence, Sula and everything in between.Â
The Missoula-Bitterroot Valley location provides a full range of janitorial services for all industries, with a focus on banks, churches, medical facilities, office buildings and schools in the local and surrounding areas.
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.Â