Mountain Shadow Association

Mountain Shadow Association (MSA) is a community-based, Native American-led non-profit focused on repairing and restoring relationships between children and their parents, citizens and their community, families and their culture, individuals and their environment. Dedicated to restoring Lodge Grass to its place of generational reputation as the Valley of the Chiefs in the heart of the Crow Reservation, MSA’s mission is to heal Apsáalooke families impacted by substance abuse, rebuild and strengthen parent-child bonds, and heal the impacts of intergenerational trauma by restoring families to health within their culture and community.

MSA is a grassroots, natural byproduct of a community-wide family-centered design process, thoroughly carried out over 9 months and facilitated through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Raising Places grant in 2017 (our final planning document is included as an attachment for your reference). This process helped us gather broad community input around what is needed to nurture our community so children and families can thrive. Local community members presented data and information to the community, studied the Lodge Grass growth plan, and listened, recorded, and organized community feedback over 11 community meetings. Mountain Shadow was then formed in 2018, on community recommendation, as a non-profit to pursue the revitalization of hurting, young families through a service conceptualized as a village-like center for whole family healing. Subsequently, we have developed a strong Board of Directors, Advisory Committee, and staff that are dedicated to bringing our community's visions of safe children, strong families, and supportive community to life.