When the Montana legislature decided in 2015 that the Montana Developmental Center would close within two years, it was a blow to the community of Boulder.
For more than 125 years, the MDC had been a major employer in the southwestern Montana town of about 1300. The state’s residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, the MDC employed roughly 250 people at the time of the closure decision.
“Not only will the community’s economy suffer extensively from the loss of over 250 jobs,” a citizens’ committee told legislators, “the overall community ‘psyche’ was done considerable damage through the loss of a valuable community partner of over 125 years.”Drew Dawson, chair of the Boulder Transition Advisory Committee (BTAC), says the community did not reel for long, though, before buckling down to figure out how to bounce back.
