MONTANA

Do you know who to call with questions about establishing a walking trail along a former railroad track? Do you want to learn more about creating a home-based business? Find answers to these and other…

Available at http://women.nase.org, the site provides articles and advice from fellow entrepreneurs about how they dealt with business issues.

We know this investment will pay off. Higher education increases a worker’s earning potential and satisfies growing demand for skilled workers. Education builds the people who build the economy.

"This is going to take a statewide effort," Peoples said. "If there is going to be hundreds of millions spent in hypersonics, the whole state will benefit. There isn’t any reason we shouldn’t be talking something like this for Montana."

Forbes talked about Montana’s bottom-of-the-list economic rankings. He talked about how 14.6 percent of Montanans live in poverty and 43.6 percent of Montana youths are classified as low income and uninsured. He talked about the 64,000 American Indians who live in Montana, making up the state’s largest minority group but less than 3 percent of students enrolled in state universities. In Montana, he said, just 0.6 percent of the state’s pharmacists are American Indian. Eighty-two percent of the counties meet the Health Professional Shortage Area definition, he said, and 57 percent of the counties are medically underserved areas.

A healthier population and educated citizenry, Forbes commented, can only increase the United States’ vision to be competitive in a global economy.

"Now that you’ve made the Rocky Mountains your home…Make the World your Market."

Sec. Chao commended Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who has sponsored the conferences for several years, for his efforts to bring women across the state together to talk about the issues they face both in the workplace and in their personal lives.