What We Do
Connect the world with Montana, furthering citizen diplomacy through global exchanges, community conversations and international leadership development.
Affiliated with the U. S. Department of State Cultural Affairs, WorldMontana® annually welcomes over 170 international leaders from diverse international backgrounds, professions, and a wide array of interests. The U.S. Department of State sets the focus of each group visit and WorldMontana® schedules meetings, interactions, and trips with comparable Montanans who speak to the professional study topic.
With Montana’s rich natural, mining, and agricultural history, indigenous populations and rural character, we share interests with leaders from Eurasia, Asia, Africa, and Central and South America seeking to learn from the impact of these characteristics on our lives. Topics of interest span everything from law enforcement and child adoption policy to indigenous population challenges.
You Can Become a Citizen Diplomat
Citizen diplomats are an important adjunct to the official work of the U.S. Department of State, engaging in person-to-person exchanges by opening our Montana homes, offices, schools, agencies, and communities to colleagues from around the world.
As citizen diplomats, we volunteer to engage with the rest of the world in meaningful, mutually beneficial ways. We believe that in a democracy, as individual citizens, we have the responsibility to help shape foreign relations, “one handshake at a time.”
History and Mission
WorldMontana® was founded in 1987 by Wendy Bay Lewis, as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to assist in changing the image of the United States one person, one friend at a time and to bring the world – its people and cultures, problems and triumphs, customs and cuisines, philosophies, and religions into the great state of Montana.
Insert U.S. flag, State Department seal, Global Ties logo , Open World logo, World Montana logo. All logos except WM provided by Global Ties