Armed with $12 million in seed money, a coalition is taking the next steps in a fight to eradicate poverty in north-central Montana.

"Today is the first day of a 10-year project," Paul Tuss, executive director of Bear Paw Development Corp., said earlier this week. "Now we need to take a deep breath and think about organization."

The charitable foundation created by the family of railroad magnate James J. Hill on Monday awarded the Northcentral Montana Community Ventures Coalition $12 million to help fund its poverty-reduction proposals. The foundation, called the Northwest Area Foundation,...