Nearly one-third of Missoula County residents live in rural communities. Rural residents may face significant barriers to receiving help after experiencing domestic or sexual violence or stalking. Rural victims are more likely to lack access to jobs, public assistance, social services, transportation, and affordable housing. This makes it harder to leave an abusive partner to gain safety for themselves and their children. In 2010 Missoula County partnered with neighboring Mineral County to expand the reach of the program. The Rural Program has been funded by the Department of Justice Office on Violence against Women for the last 10 years.  

The Rural Program provides critical, life-saving services to underserved rural communities in Missoula County and Mineral County. 

The Rural Program: 1) Increases support to victims of relationship and sexual violence in rural and isolated areas through increasing victim advocacy services, providing civil legal services, and direct emergency financial assistance, 2) Improves victim response by providing training and strengthening collaboration between professionals who serve rural victims, and 3) Prevents future victimization by providing teen dating violence prevention programming to rural youth and a trauma-informed parenting support group for survivors.  

To learn more about our work in Mineral County, contact Mineral County rural outreach coordinator Mary Furlong at mfurlong@missoulacounty.us.

To learn more about other services funded by the Rural Program, contact Grants and Contracts Administrator Kelly McGuire at kmcguire@missoulacounty.us.