Reports
	Early Childhood Business Summits: Challenges and Opportunities for Montana's Workforce By: Julie Ehlers & Daphne Herling [Download PDF] In August and September of 2009, Montana KIDS COUNT held business summits in Missoula, Billings, Havre, Kalispell, and Hamilton.  The primary goals were to continue ongoing discussion on early childhood investment issues with business leaders.  This executive report outlines the findings and recommendations.
	Montana's Comprehensive Needs Assessment for Substance Abuse Prevention By: Steve Seninger & Daphne Herling [Download PDF] This report is the updated Needs Assessment for Substance Abuse Prevntion which reviews data used in the 2007 report and compares is to the most recent data available.  It also includes additional research and analysis undertaken by Montana's State Epidemiological Workgroup to expand our understanding of the consequences and consumption related to Montana's alcohol abuse problems.
	2008 Teen and Motor Vehicle Crash Data Analysis  By: Carole Cochran, Thale Dillon, & Daphne Herling [Download PDF] The research explored child and teen deaths from motor vehicle crashes in two parts:quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative data from case studies. The statistical analysis used National KIDS COUNT demographic, social and economic data for all 50 states to determine their influence on child/teen mortality.
	Economic Returns for Investing In Children's Health By: Dr. Steve Seninger, The University of Montana [Download PDF] This article examines the situation regarding uninsured rates for Montana's children as well as a cost analyis of expanding health care coverage to uninsured children.  The following article appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of the Montana Business Quarterly.
	Exceptional Returns: Economic, Fiscal, and Social Benefits of Investment in Early Childhood Development  [Download PDF] This study, produced by the Economic Policy Institute, demonstrates the substantial payoffs of providing all 20% of the nation’s three- and four-year-old children who live in poverty with a high-quality early childhood development program.
	POLICY MATTERS: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies [Download PDF] This discussion paper from the Policy Matters Project puts forth an approach to setting benchmarks for a state policy agenda to encourage stronger family relationships.
	2007 MONTANA JOB GAP STUDY  Living in the Red: Montana  Family Budgets Falling Behind  [Download PDF] This report produced by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizers, features: A living wage for all counties in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington; A comparison of real wage growth with the rise in the living wage; The percent of job openings that pay a living wage; The ratio of the number of living wage job openings to the number of people looking for work.
	Invest in the Very Young [Download PDF] In this paper, James J. Heckman, Ph.D., explores the assumptions and foundations of current policies toward skill formation. He examines the conventional wisdom articulated by our political leaders and draws on a body of recent scholarship that challenges many of the premises that govern popular policy discussions. This scholarship suggests that taking a broader view of the way skills are produced in a modern economy is more appropriate and, ultimately, more beneficial.