For more than 50 years, the Bureau of Business and Economic Research has been working to help Montanans understand their state and make informed decisions in their personal and professional lives. This Web site was designed to provide you with the Bureau's various types of information pertinent to Montana's economy.

The Bureau—a research department within The University of Montana-Missoula's School of Business Administration—was founded in 1948 to monitor the state's economic and business conditions. The Bureau has expanded from a staff of four to a research department of 18 full-time employees and more than a dozen part-time workers.

Identified for decades as the poorest group in the United States,
American Indians living on reservations have experienced a decade of
"striking" economic and social change since the 1990s, according to the
Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. Census data on
15 key socioeconomic indicators -- including income and poverty,
unemployment, education, and housing conditions -- indicate that,
"despite substantial gaps between American Indians and the rest of U.S.
society, rapid economic and social development is taking place among
gaming and non-gaming tribes alike."

Is English losing ground to Spanish in the United States? Not according to a new analysis of 2000 census data by the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research at SUNY-Albany. English remains the language of choice among the children and grandchildren of Hispanic immigrants -- just as it did with European immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. According to this study, 72 percent of third-generation or later Hispanic children spoke English exclusively.

Agenda for Children is Louisiana's statewide child advocacy agency. Its mission is to make Louisiana a state in which all children can thrive, by ensuring that the basic needs of children and familie

The mission of the Center on the Family is to enhance interdisciplinary research, service, and education that supports and strengthens families. Most often, our work focuses on the multicultural families of Hawai`i. Families are critical to the development of children, the well-being of individuals, and the strength of society. For these reasons, our programs and activities are preventive in natur

Connect for Kids reports from a December 2004 panel discussion on U.S. immigrant policy and how it affects kids.

The newest, and presumably last, museum to win space on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. opens this week with much expected fanfare. Once the celebration is over, museum leaders hope to get down to the serious business of overcoming stereotypes and teaching kids about the American Indian past, present and future.

The Education Trust has launched a bilingual Web site to reach the 40 million Latinos who constitute the largest and fastest growing minority in America. The site provides reports and resources on achievement disparities and tools for communities to bridge the gaps.

Federal and state officials are pursuing tougher accountability and other reforms to address the stubborn achievement gap between black and white students. But education analyst Richard Rothstein says that by focusing reforms at the school-level, policymakers are neglecting a vital area: social class differences in health care quality and access, nutrition, childrearing styles and even exposure to environmental toxins that affect how well children learn. Cost: $17.95.

By developing programs for youth grounded in American Indian tribal cultures, the National Indian Youth Leadership project is helping cultivate a new generation of strong leaders. Rob Capriccioso takes a look at the New Mexico-based organization.