Montana ranks 31st in equal opportunities for children

Montana kids face greater challenges to opportunity than children in most other states and the gap is even wider for American Indian youth, according to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The 2017 Race for Results report analyzes risks for healthy development and progress toward key milestones to calculate an index score for each state on a scale of 1 to 1,000. The latter would mean "there are no barriers and all children have full opportunities available to them," said Montana Kids Count Outreach and Communications Director Jennifer Calder. Although no racial group in any state reached that mark, she said it is nonetheless important to set that as the goal.

JAYME FRASER [email protected]

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