In the late 1970s, a group of Billings residents physically uprooted their lives. They moved across the tracks to the South Side and started serving pancakes to hungry kids, even giving rides to school. Their efforts turned into something much bigger, now addressing far more than at-risk youth
“For us it was really about fellowship, being together, growing in Christ, so we just said, let's just go where there is need. The most obvious need was just to move to the South Side,” said Scott Lynch, as he reminisced a few years ago with Todd Preston and Greg Oliphant about the grassroots start of a leading neighborhood nonprofit in 1978.
Forty-plus years later, what that group started has solidified into CLDI, Community Leadership and Development, Inc., an umbrella organization overseeing multiple causes. CLDI has taken shape over the past decade, helping with things like the state’s housing crisis.
“First one-bedroom and then there are two, two bedrooms because a lot of time in our neighborhood, grandparents are caring for grandkids,” says Kaleb Perdew, executive director of CLDI.
CLDI provides low-income housing that costs from $500 to $1,100 per month, and that’s a gift as thousands statewide sit on Section 8 and low-income housing wait list.
“I was the first one to move in right here, and I love it because it's a great neighborhood,” says George, CLDI Mosaic resident.
George, who declined to give his last name, lives in CLDI’S senior housing community called Mosaic. Next door is the organization’s latest housing development, Tapestry, a place to land for people like Promise Vosse, who’s renting her first apartment.
“I like where my life is at right now,” says Vosse.
That wasn’t the case just a few years ago, before she moved to CLDI’s Hannah House for a chance at recovery.
“I am able to be a mother now to my one-year-old son,” said Vosse in December of 2022 while living at CLDI’s Hannah House.
Vosse now has two young kids, a place to call home and a job at CLDI’S Rail Line Coffee.
“It's my favorite job and the longest job I've probably ever held. In five years, I would like to become a nurse,” says Vosse.
These are dreams that wouldn’t come true without community backing.
“We want to be involved in the community in meaningful ways, First Interstate Bank. Partnering with CLDI is a great way to do that with what they do and what their mission is,” says Brian Brown, First Interstate Bank Billings market president.
First Interstate Bank has donated about $400,000 to CLDI, purchased $4 million in tax credits to build housing, and the bank has even rented the nonprofit’s Gathering Space, an event venue.
“When you rent this space out, money goes back into the program, which can help them complete their mission. We’ve had our First Interstate Bank Christmas party here as well as my personal wedding with Marissa,” says Brown.
From first looks to first opportunities, there’s a lot of love to go around on the city’s South Side, as blight turns into beautiful lives.
“We love each other, we support each other in this neighborhood,” says George.
