Montana Empowerment Center, Inc.

01/02/2026

Child Care payments were paused in the wake of fraud allegations in MN. This impacts all 50 states requiring them to provide additional verification before federal funds are dispersed. MT DPHHS-Child Care Bureau stated that they do not anticipate an interruption to child care payments at this time. For future updates, continue to follow us on social media or sign up for enews https://familyconnectionsmt.org/news-classes/e-newsletter-sign-up/

01/01/2026

Ms Wheelchair Montana 2026- Liz Alford recorded an empowering New Year's message just for us to share with you!

01/01/2026

Happy New Year 2026 from the Montana Empowerment Center staff!

We’re excited for the new year ahead and all the opportunities, trainings, and resources to come!

12/31/2025

✨ Today is the last day to make an end-of-year gift! ✨
Your support helps us provide free training, guidance, and encouragement to parents of children and youth with disabilities—from birth to age 26.

When you give, 100% of your gift stays right here in Montana, strengthening families, building confidence, and ensuring no parent has to navigate this journey alone. Families just like the Aschemans need your help!

There’s still time to make a difference today. 💙
Thank you for standing with Montana families!

Link in comments:

12/28/2025

It’s Not Too Late! -

My mind was full of questions, doubts, and uncertainty. I felt fear, frustration, and grief ... Then I found the Montana Empowerment Center. -Meghan

12/27/2025

🎉 Celebrating 5 Years of Impact! 🎉
As 2025 wraps up, we’re proud to celebrate five years of educating, encouraging, and empowering families across Montana. What started with a group of parents has grown into a statewide hub of support—and it’s all thanks to YOU.

This year we:
✨ Supported more families through calls, emails, and our new Empower Hour Webinar Series
✨ Delivered trainings across the state and expanded our library of reusable materials
✨ Published two major handbooks + 16 tip sheets, guides, and 45 webinars
✨ Reached more parents, youth and professionals than ever
✨ Strengthened partnerships with OPI, Voc Rehab, DPHHS, Head Start, and more
✨ Expanded and improved our website for easier access to resources
✨ Celebrated big and small victories with thousands of families statewide

We are grateful to our dedicated team and to every family, partner, and educator who has walked alongside us.

Here’s to 5 years of impact—and to many more ahead. 💛
Thank you for making this work possible.

12/26/2025

📣There’s Still Time to Make an Impact📣

As we close out the year, many of us are looking for meaningful ways to give back. If you’re considering a place to donate that truly makes a difference, please choose Montana Empowerment Center.

Your support helps provide essential services, hope, and empowerment to individuals and families across our communities. Every gift matters, no amount is too small.

Donate here: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=DRYT63XB2B5T6

Thank you for your generosity and for helping uplift others across Montana this holiday season!

12/25/2025

We want to wish all of our families and community partners a wonderful holiday season. May this time be filled with joy, rest, connection, and moments that matter most. We are so grateful for each of you.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

12/24/2025

🎄 Holiday Closure Notice 🎁

Our office will be closed starting today at noon as we step away to trim the tree, make last-minute treats, and wrap a few presents!

We wish you and your loved ones a joyous, peaceful holiday season and look forward to seeing everyone in the New Year!

If you need resources or information while we’re away, please visit
www.mtempowermentcenter.org

We will resume regular live phone hours on January 5th, from 11:30 AM – 4:30 PM.

12/23/2025

🎄 Holiday Hours Notice 🎄

The Montana Empowerment Center will be closed beginning December 24 at noon and will resume regular phone hours on January 5, 2026 from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm.

We wish you and your family a wonderful, relaxing holiday season filled with rest and connection.

If you need immediate information or resources while we are closed, please visit our website:
https://mtempowermentcenter.org/contact

Thank you for being part of our community. We look forward to connecting with you in the new year!

12/20/2025

To our 23 new donors in 2025—welcome! And to our longtime supporters—thank you for standing with us year after year. Together, you are helping strengthen our work and expand our impact for the Montana families and communities we serve.

Your generosity—whether it’s your first gift or one of many—makes real change possible. We’re honored to have both new and returning donors united in this mission, and we can’t wait to show you what we can accomplish together.

Thank you for believing in our cause and being part of this growing community of support.

100% of your gift stays in Montana and helps families with children with disabilities ages birth to 26!

If you would like to join them, link in comments:

12/19/2025

Judy!!! https://www.facebook.com/share/1BhMCszEQe/

Judy Heumann -- the renowned activist known as the “mother of the disability rights movement" -- was born on this day in 1947. Heumann, who used a wheelchair for mobility after surviving polio at the age of 18 months, helped lead the fight to establish the world's first comprehensive civil rights law protecting the rights of people with disabilities: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As she once observed, “when other people see you as a third-class citizen, the first thing you need is a belief in yourself and the knowledge that you have rights. The next thing you need is a group of friends to fight back with.”

Pictured here as TIME's Women of the Year for 1977, Heumann was at the center of multiple battles for civil rights for people with disabilities, most famously the 504 Sit-In. Organized by Heumann, Kitty Cone, and Mary Jane Owen, over 150 other activists occupied the San Francisco Office of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare for 25 days in 1977 demanding the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, one of the first federal disability rights laws. The 504 Sit-In remains the longest sit-in ever at a U.S. federal building.

Equally importantly, Heumann helped change the narrative about disability, showing that the true burden of disabilities is how others respond to it: "Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives — job opportunities or barrier-free buildings, for example," she once said. "It is not a tragedy to me that I'm living in a wheelchair."

In the days before the ADA, Heumann was refused admission to public school because she was a "fire hazard" and offered two hours a week of in-home instruction instead. In 1970, she took the New York Department of Education to court after they refused to give her a teacher's license, citing their belief that she would not be able to evacuate her classroom in an emergency.

After the passage of the ADA in 1990, Heumann served as the U.S. assistant secretary of education, and took her advocacy global, traveling to more than 30 countries as they passed their own disability rights legislation. Until her last days, she kept up her fight for equality, noting how much progress still needs to be made. "Change never happens at the pace we think it should," she once wrote. "Gradually, excruciatingly slowly, things start to happen, and then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, something will tip."

Her incredible story is told in a captivating picture book biography "Fighting for YES! The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann" for ages 6 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/fighting-for-yes

Judith Heumann was also the author of a powerful memoir for adult readers, "Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist" at https://www.amightygirl.com/being-heumann

Her memoir was adapted into a young readers edition, "Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Girl on Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution" for ages 10 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/rolling-warrior

For more books for children and teens starring Mighty Girls with disabilities of all varieties, visit our blog post "Many Ways To Be Mighty: 35 Books Starring Mighty Girls with Disabilities" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12992