October 2026
In partnership with the Vodafone Americas Foundation, the Montana Campus Network for Civic Engagement (MCNCE) and Western Region Continuums of Service Consortium (WRCOS) is pleased to support Awareness in Action: Bright Sky on Campus grants to colleges and universities across Montana. These grants will utilize local events to share the Bright Sky, a free mobile app and website that provides practical information, resources, and support for anyone experiencing domestic abuse or worried about a friend, family member, or colleague. By sharing Bright Sky across campuses in Montana and the west, we can take meaningful, practical steps to addressing the urgent public health crisis of domestic violence.
At Chief Dull Knife College, In Lame Deer the Bright Sky Domestic Violence Awareness Talent Contest will bring together students, health providers and community advocates for an evening of entertainment, creative expression, and education. Throughout the event, student senate leaders will introduce the Bright Sky app and demonstrate its uses, as well as invite advocates and survivors of domestic violence to share their stories. By partnering with community centers such as Healing Hearts, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Health departments, recovery centers, and local law enforcement this event is sure to help attendees walk away with a stronger understanding of domestic violence awareness.
Carroll College will host a “Know. Support. Connect” Domestic Violence Awareness Month Campaign. The month will start with a kickoff event collaborating with student government leaders, the student athlete advisory council, and other campus organizations to provide students with information about recognizing behaviors, supporting peers, and accessing resources through a tabling event at the Wellness Center. Regular events at Carroll throughout October will also be under the “Know. Support. Connect” theme. For example, the weekly MindTap program will focus on the influence of alcohol and drugs in domestic violence, as well as partner violence in LGBTQ+ relationships. The Oktoberfest Educational Program will educate students on consent, bystander intervention, and personal safety around the Halloween season. After the month of October, Carroll will also be hosting a YWCA Clothing Drive, a Friendship Center Resource Basket event, Resident Advisor and Peer Minister domestic and dating violence training, and a screening of the film Behind Closed Doors-Real Stories. The campaign will combine high volume awareness events with smaller educational peer-to-peer activities to engage the most amount of students as possible.
The University of Montana’s Curry Health Center will use a variety of events to conduct a Domestic Violence Action Month to inform students about what actions can be taken against it. Through the Lauren’s Promise program, and a healthy relationships workshop, students will learn how to recognize red flags, ask for help, and discover what resources are available for themselves and others. There will also be a series of walk-up tabling events that will incentivize students to share how they would intervene in a situation in exchange for a prize. These events are made to engage students where they are at and build upon current relationships with UM Greek life, Athletic teams, and campus clubs.
Additionally, UM’s Tribal Outreach Office will organize and host a panel discussion in November, titled “Reconnecting Kinship.” The panel will bring together Native American professionals, community leaders, and students for a culturally grounded dialogue about healthy relationships and communities. Panelists will consider how assimilation, boarding school experiences, displacement, child removal, disruption of cultural practices, and other systems have affected Indigenous families and communities across generations. The conversation will examine how these disruptions have contributed to disconnection, trauma, and cycles of family and relationship violence, while recognizing that violence is not inherent to Native communities but exists within broader historical, social, and systemic contexts.
At Montana State University Billings, Student clubs will partner with the university Foundation and Marketing Team to promote and run pop up events to distribute resources, and bring awareness to domestic violence on campus. The main focus of these events is to support student run clubs and organizations in their planning of domestic violence awareness events throughout the month of October,
In southwest Montana, the University of Montana Western will work with each athletic team on campus including football, volleyball, men and women’s basketball, rodeo, and cross country to present information about domestic violence and its relevance in college. Presenters from Beaverhead County Public Health, and the Women’s Resource Center, will discuss domestic violence and its impacts on individuals and communities. The PATH (Peers Advocating Towards Health) program will also be used as a resource as it includes a dedicated peer educator whose primary focus is rape and sexual assault prevention. This programming is to educate students as well as inform them of already existing campus resources that are available year round.
For more information: Isabella Culver, culver@mtengage.org
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
