The state’s first Workforce Expo held on a tribal reservation took place Wednesday. The collaboration between the Fort Belknap Indian Community and Montana’s Department of Labor and Industry is an effort to expand career possibilities for rural youth.
Starting at 8 a.m., more than 600 students from Hi-Line schools began arriving at the event hall in the Fort Belknap community.
Inside, about 50 local businesses from more than a dozen industries waited to greet them. Prepped with hands-on activities and demonstrations, they hoped to encourage students to explore career paths outside of higher education.
"I saw some drones, I saw a hologram, some guy was using VR, you could even get in one of these cranes out here and be lifted above the entire expo,” said Box Elder high school Sophomore, David Morsette. “It's pretty cool here.”
The 2025 Aaniiih Nakoda Workforce Expo was the first of its kind. Fort Belknap’s Tribal Employment Rights Office Director Nancy Boushie said the event was nearly a year in the making.
“If we have one student that has an interest or finds an interest in something, then this whole expo was a success, all our efforts, our budgeting, everything, everything was a success,” she said.
Boushie said the goals of the expo are twofold: first, to show students there are viable nonacademic career paths; second, to build a labor force that could help fill gaps in trade-based jobs.
Many trade industries are facing labor shortages due to an aging workforce. Labor needs in tribal communities are often even greater than elsewhere in the state. According to state data, reservations in Montana experience higher rates of unemployment and people remain unemployed longer.
Commissioner of Montana’s Department of Labor and Industry Sarah Swanson says 50 percent of Montana high schoolers enroll in a higher education program after graduating. For Native youth, that number drops to 18 percent.
“That's what this event is all about, is bringing here to the community an opportunity for young people to see all the opportunities right here in their backyard in ways that they might not have thought of before,” Swanson said.
Students grades 7-12 filtered through the expo all day. Outside, food trucks offered lunch and snacks.
State colleges and universities also attended the event. Fort Belknap’s Aaniiih Nakoda College had several tables presenting work opportunities to students.
Teri Harper is the coordinator for the Buffalo Research and Education Center.
“We offer juniors and seniors the opportunity to come in the summer, learn about the ecosystem, the wildlife and how important it is, and become an intern by getting college credit,” she said. “But also, being able to give back to the community.”
The college sits in the heart of Blaine County. Fifteen percent of total earnings from the county come from the federal government, according to Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics and the Montana Nonprofit Association. Event organizers said while they haven’t felt direct impacts from the federal layoffs, the timing of the expo feels apt.
“It’s good luck,” said Montana Department of Labor and Industry’s Tribal Liaison Don Wetzel Jr. “The world's gonna go as the world goes and you gotta kinda ride it.”
Wetzel said at the end of the day, the most important thing is helping Montana’s young people find their unique paths.
“As long as we're getting our youth set up for opportunities in a career, a purpose, that they're working hard, they're taking care of their families, that type of stuff, we're doing a good thing,” he said.
Montana Public Radio is a public service of the University of Montana. State government coverage is funded in part through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
