BUTTE — Many in the Mining City already consider Butte to be a space of resilience, but on Friday, members of Butte-Silver Bow County are celebrating a $20 million grant from the EPA to build a new resilience hub that will not only focus on the health and well-being of citizens but also arts and culture.
"Culturally this community embodies the very definition of resilience. We bear a unique capability as individuals from this place to endure and adapt to changing conditions, and it is emblematic both of our industrial and it continues to contribute to our revitalization. This is because of who we are," says Julia Crain.
Crain is the Butte-Silver Bow planning director and has been working with local business leaders and citizens for the past five years to configure a plan that outlines the community’s needs and vision for the resiliency hub.
"These needs have been identified through multiple plans over the years, and all of these plans pointed in one direction and that’s this direction, this vision that you see before you," says Karen Byrnes, B-SB Community Development Director.
Last month, Butte appeared on the list of recipients for the EPA’s Community Change Grants, made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Butte is the only city in Montana to receive the funding. A summary of the grant listed on the EPA’s website says the building will be equipped with solar power and satellite communication as well as other modern amenities like an air filtration system.
"This is a real win for the leadership here in Butte again to be the only successful applicant from the state of Montana to secure these funds, and we’re really excited to see this project come to fruition," says Danielle Arigoni, Director of Environmental Justice Community Health and Environmental Review Division.
She says the $20 million grant award is a win for the leadership and for Butte's citizens.
"Through the construction of the Butte Community Resilience Hub, Butte demonstrates yet again the challenges ahead by planning for the future in creating a shared space that provides for an environmentally just and a high quality of life for generations to come," says Crain.
Butte-Silver Bow says the next step in the process is to send out a request for proposals, and construction of the facility will be completed in three years.
