Intermountain Health Investing in the Economic Well-Being of Montana Communities
Through its Place Based Investing program, Intermountain Health supports community development organizations by providing funding for affordable housing and entrepreneurs in Montana.
By providing direct investment to support the growth and development of the communities it serves, Intermountain Health is supporting important areas, outside of direct healthcare, that help people live their healthiest lives.
Nicholas Fritz, Intermountain’s director of Place Based Investments, said these types of investments are an added resource to the communities served by the healthcare organization.
“Housing and economic stability are non-medical factors that can impact a person’s ability to live a healthy life,” Fritz said. “By helping to address these needs, we are able to move upstream to address social determinants of health.”
Intermountain Health launched the place-based investing program in 2018, and after its merger with SCL Health in 2022, the place-based investing program was brought to Montana in 2024.
In 2024, Intermountain Health provided a $5 million loan to MoFi to support small business development in Montana and the Mountain West.
MoFi is a Montana nonprofit organization with a mission of improving the economy of the Northern Rockies Region by providing loans to disadvantaged entrepreneurs and business owners, helping people who lack the assets, income, experience, or credit history to qualify for traditional bank financing.
MoFi has been serving the Billings area for 15 years, funding 164 small businesses. With the additional funding provided by Intermountain Health, the organization hopes to support even more. Recent recipients of this funding in Yellowstone County include childcare centers and personal training and wellness businesses.
One of the local businesses that has benefited from a partnership with MoFi is the newly opened StretchLab in Billings.
As a massage therapist for 20 years, Jo Smith was looking to build a business that could expand access to wellness services to members of the Billings community and allow her to step back from the physical demands of massage. After doing her research, she pursued an opportunity to open a StretchLab franchise in Billings.
Capital can often be hard to access for start-up businesses through traditional funding. It was Smith’s banker who recommended she contact MoFi to help her make her dream a reality. Through their holistic underwriting process, MoFi was able to fund Smith’s vision and now a year since opening in the Shilo Crossing development, she has nine flexologists working for her to help grow her business.
Intermountain Health has also provided a $4 million loan to NeighborWorks Montana (NWMT).
Established in 1998, NWMT is a leader in housing education and counseling, an innovator in single-family lending, a trusted source of gap financing for developers, and a champion of self-sufficiency for residents in manufactured home parks.
NeighborWorks has supported a number of projects in Yellowstone County including: the Laurel Depot, 24 new units located in Laurel targeted for low-income households; Fraser Tower, an affordable housing project for seniors in Billings; and the YWCA Billings Horizons Shelter, a new shelter to support the homeless population and mothers and families experiencing domestic violence.
Kaia Peterson, executive director of NeighborWorks Montana shared her enthusiasm for this investment.
“Montana was recently identified by the National Association of Realtors as the least affordable state in the nation when comparing wages to home prices. Intermountain Health’s investment is contributing to critical housing preservation and development and is an example for others to follow as to how investors can help create meaningful housing solutions," she said.
Fritz shared that investments are made after learning about the areas of need in the communities that Intermountain Health serves.
“It takes a whole lot of community engagement. We are constantly keeping our finger on the pulse of the communities we serve to see what the needs are and responding,” Fritz said.
The goal of the program is to continue to support and build the capacity of partner organizations across the state.
“We are proud to put our dollars to work to support and leverage the expertise of those who are already doing great work in our communities,” he said.
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