2023 Fall Program Highlights - The Friendship Center

• September 12 2023

The Montana Board of Crime Control is pleased to announce the Fall 2023 Program Highlights recipient:

The Friendship Center

The mission of The Friendship Center (TFC) is to be a safe haven for those affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking and to empower our community to flourish in relationships free from violence. 

The Friendship Center was established as a Model City project, funded by President Johnson’s Great Society legislation. It began as a homeless shelter for families and a safe haven for women experiencing domestic violence. The Friendship Center expanded its ability to offer services during the 1980s as domestic violence became more widely recognized as a societal problem, and following the passage of VAWA in 1994, began to serve survivors of sexual assault. After VAWA was reauthorized in 2000, TFC expanded to serve survivors of stalking. The Friendship Center has continued to adapt to provide person-centered, trauma informed, and culturally sensitive services to those impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking throughout the 21st century.

Every individual who receives services from TFC is less likely to continue to experience harm, regardless of what type of service is provided. As well as providing direct services to survivors, The Friendship Center operates a 24/7 Crisis Line that offers support to the community and partner agencies around the clock every day of the year.  

The Friendship Center prides themselves on staff retention, which benefits the community and clients, providing more stability and consistency, and therefore, better outcomes for survivors who seek assistance more than once. They maintain strong working relationships with community partners through the longevity and experience of their staff, and their partners are more likely to make referrals to TFC that benefit survivors.

In recent years, The Friendship Center has increased efforts to provide community outreach and education for the purpose of preventing intimate partner violence and sexual assaults. The outreach and education coordinator, in collaboration with direct services advocates, presented to more than 1,000 community members in 2022, with 35 presentations focused on consent and healthy relationships. TFC continues to build new relationships and gain traction in school districts within their service area, with the belief that empowering youth to seek out and build healthy relationships will decrease the frequency of relationship abuse in future generations.

If you are in need of safe shelter, emotional support, legal advocacy, or help because you are in an abusive relationship, or are concerned about someone who is, please call The Friendship Center at (406) 442-6800.

For more information about The Friendship Center, please visit: www.thefriendshipcenter.org 

• The Friendship Center 2022 Video
• The Friendship Center 2023 Video
• 2021 The Friendship Cener in Numbers
• Fall 2022 - The Friendship Center Newsletter
• Spring 2023 - The Friendship Center Newsletter
• Friendship Center Brochure