Missoula Food Bank & Community Center (MFB&CC) envisions a community that works together in building a hunger-free Missoula where those most impacted are a leading voice in the solutions to poverty and hunger. MFB&CC currently serves 1 in 5 people in Missoula County – nearly 25,000 individuals and 7,500 households – through our choice-model store. We also serve our community through our rural satellite pantries and special programs serving children and seniors.

LEVL is a five-month program focused on providing people with lived experience in food insecurity the opportunity to explore new skills, share their stories, learn about advocacy, and build an intentional community. LEVL strives to empower people who are the true experts on the challenges Missoulians face and deeply understand the needed solutions to nourish our community. We hope that LEVL participants will feel supported in sharing their stories, using their voices and power to influence decision makers, and to build community within the group.

The group is facilitated by Ashlee Schleicher (she/her) and Amber Stewart (she/her). Ashlee is a member of MFB&CC’s leadership team and has personally experienced food insecurity and unstable housing in the last decade. Ashlee is a mom to a ten-year-old boy and is motivated by her own experiences to facilitate this group. This will be Ashlee’s third year co-facilitating LEVL and brings a passion for learning, personal growth, storytelling, and community engagement.

Amber has three children who are now entering their tween/teen years. She experienced food insecurity as a child growing up with a single mom and was taught to accept help, as well as to help others whenever possible...because we need each other. She earned her degree in communication studies and nonprofit administration and has spent all her adult years working with children and families through local nonprofit organizations and schools. Amber has worked in public schools, private schools, and in the homeschool community. She is passionate about education, experiential learning, growth mindset, equity, and the power of story.

Ashlee and Amber both see LEVL as a radical opportunity to build strong relationships with others and within themselves to transform the state of our current world for the better.

The LEVL application cycle is closed for 2025. Please check back in with us in July 2026 for information about the next year's cycle.