All Posts
New Center To Nurture the Health and Heritage of Indigenous Youth in Montana

New Center To Nurture the Health and Heritage of Indigenous Youth in Montana

The Mīyō Pimātisiwinkamik (“Good Life Lodge”) Youth Center project is a collaborative effort between the Rocky Boy’s Reservation community, the Rocky Boy Health Center, Dick Anderson Construction, Architecture 118 and McKinstry that will benefit the health, well-being and cultural knowledge of Chippewa Cree youth. Center construction is anticipated to be completed in late 2025.

Brian Molina, Jr. was raised on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation in north-central Montana and has dedicated his career to improving the health of his community. He began as an emergency medical technician and now serves as director of human resources and regulatory affairs at the Rocky Boy Health Center (RBHC).

“A lot of our kids don’t learn the basic things for taking care of yourself, especially preventive healthcare, and when they become adults, they don’t know how to take care of their kids and the cycle just continues health wise,” Brian said. “With the Mīyō Center, we’re aiming for a long-term approach to improving health. We may not be able to transform our community immediately, but we can begin shaping the future today.”

Brian hopes a key to a brighter future for his community’s youth is a health care and cultural wellness center that RBHC is constructing on the reservation with assistance from McKinstry, Dick Anderson Construction, Architecture 118 and others. Reflecting the input, hopes and aspirations of community youth, the Mīyō Center will provide indoor and outdoor spaces for youth to receive preventive medical care, learn health and wellness practices and be immersed in their culture surrounded by language, art and teachings that draw from the heritage of the Chippewa Cree. The center includes a health and dental clinic, a teaching kitchen leading outside to a permaculture garden, wild game processing space, a gym, sports courts and more.

Many years of thought, collaboration and planning have gone into this extraordinary center, and planning teams held numerous meetings and conducted surveys with community members to honor different perspectives. It was especially important to include Rocky Boy’s youth in the process with the hope that their input will ensure that visitors feel comfortable at the center and in accessing preventive care, which may be new to some.

“I’ve built a lot of projects in my time and what I’d like to say about this project is that it started with the kids,” said Beau Mitchell, director of environmental health and innovation, RBHC. “The kids were asked what they wanted for their community, and they said they wanted a health and wellness facility just for them. So, it’s really cool to see that the project started with the desire of these kids and we’re doing our best to meet them.”

Beau continued, “A key piece is connecting them to their culture. They wanted to be more connected to their language and the Chippewa Cree philosophies and we’re doing our best to develop our programming to incorporate all of that.”

“There’s a sense of pride seeing those walls go up,” said Joel Rosette, CEO of RBHC. “We love thinking about the future. The kids and grandkids of some of us will be able to play there, and I think of all our relatives that will have that opportunity. We want our kids to socialize in a safe space. We dug deep here and put all our effort and strength into building strong kids who will live and work in our community and walk with confidence.”

Drawing on natural heating and cooling from the Earth

To support a comfortable and welcoming environment for the center’s visitors and staff, McKinstry is building an energy-efficient vertical closed-loop geothermal heating and cooling system with all-electric heat pumps and a dedicated outside air system for building ventilation.

“What the building will be using is basically the free energy from the Earth, leveraging the consistent underground temperature to provide heating and cooling,” said Jonathan Franzese, a senior associate with McKinstry. “This ensures an energy-efficient and stable source of heating in winter and cooling in summer.”

This approach builds on the sustainable building practices found in other RBHC facilities and helps support the community’s sustainability goals.

“From the beginning our main (health center) building used geothermal; it was really good foresight that they did that,” said Joel. “As we’ve progressed, we’ve continued to evolve in that thinking. Having good sustainable buildings, having good natural materials — we really want to move in that path. We’ve been pushing the envelope on having environmentally friendly buildings.”

Creating opportunities in the trades for Rocky Boy’s youth

Just as youth on the reservation provided their input for the vision of the center where they’ll receive care and education, they also have an opportunity to contribute to building the center as apprentices. The project includes a construction apprenticeship program facilitated by Dick Anderson Construction.

Students who complete self-paced modules through the Montana Digital Academy with at least 70% proficiency qualify to apply for on-site apprenticeships at the youth center site, including McKinstry’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing portion of the work and other construction projects. Students from Box Elder School District and Stone Child College are currently enrolled in the program where they’re gaining practical knowledge in construction management, electrical work, plumbing and other trades. 

“This project is a great opportunity — you don’t always get to do projects that have such a direct and positive impact on the lives of the people who use it every day,” said Jonathan. “We are helping to create a space that the community can be proud of. It’s amazing to be part of a project like this where you can really give back and make a noticeable impact on people’s lives.”

McKinstry has a long history supporting projects that serve building infrastructure and comfort for indigenous communities and youth.

“We do a lot of work with rural schools in Montana and a lot of schools that are adjacent to or on some of the reservations,” said Kris McKoy, director of regional operations, Energy Montana. “We have a lot of pride in doing this kind of work that fits well with what we do. The benefit is all the good things that will happen for the kids who live there.”