STEP, Inc

03/05/2026

Please join us June 2nd & 3rd at the Billings, MT Depot for the 6th Annual Healing the Land, Feeding the Spirit Indigenous Food Summit. Registration is $75. Space is limited! Register here: https://form.jotform.com/253514105292046.

03/05/2026

Registration is open: https://tinyurl.com/JTRregistrationApril2026. Join us for a two-day Tribal public health training focused on addressing mental health disparities, confronting substance misuse, and uplifting Tribally-driven public health solutions.

03/04/2026

03/02/2026

Make sure to join Family Peers for Hope this Wednesday to learn about the Montana Developmental Assessment Clinic!

02/28/2026

Novartis has reached a settlement with Henrietta Lacks’ estate after claims that the pharmaceutical company unjustly profited off the use of her cells, which were taken without her knowledge 75 years ago and turned into a research tool. The details of the settlement have not been disclosed to the public.

In 1951, Lacks was admitted to John Hopkins Hospital, where she was diagnosed with cancer. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the doctors removed a sample of cells from the growth after noticing abnormalities in the tumor’s appearance.

The doctors found that unlike typical cells, which quickly died after a few days, Lacks’ cells remained alive and grew in number. They then multiplied them, creating the HeLa immortal cell line without her knowledge or consent.

Lacks’ cells have been crucial in developing the polio and Covid-19 vaccines, and helping researchers improve their understanding of cancer, viruses and the effects of radiation.

While Lacks’ cell line continues to advance medicine even decades later, her story has since become a necessary case study in bioethics and an illustration of structural medical racism.

Lacks’ family previously settled with another company in 2023 called Thermo Fisher, which they claimed also profited from the use of HeLa cells.

Lacks died on October 4, 1951, in the “colored ward” of Johns Hopkins Hospital without ever knowing the role that her cells played in the advancement of science. She was only 31 years old.

✍️: Lauren Nutall, reporting fellow
📸: Ben Birchall/AP

02/20/2026

The heartbeat of the Native drum reminds us who we are. 🪶🥁

That steady rhythm is more than sound — it is the first sound we ever knew. It echoes the heartbeat of our mother, the heartbeat of the people, the heartbeat of the Creator. When we sit in that circle and the drum begins, we are reminded that we are still here… and we are still moving forward.

On the Red Road, there will be hard days. There will be moments of doubt. But the drum does not quit. It keeps a steady beat — teaching us consistency, resilience, and unity. No matter how tired we are, no matter how heavy the walk feels, the heartbeat calls us back to balance.

Every beat says: Keep going. Stay sober. Stay humble. Stay connected. Stay in that good way.

The drum carries our prayers. The drum carries our ancestors. The drum carries us forward together.
When we follow that heartbeat, we don’t walk alone. We move as one people, one circle, one rhythm — forward on the Red Road

02/09/2026

Firearm Informed Training hosted by Veteran Navigation Network April 2, 2026
Space is limited. Sign up now:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2YDTGTiLQLhkqAWIyQq_cNnanIVJAAxRlLRTbiJ0XbqJdDA/viewform?pli=1