FIRST ALASKANS INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES 2008 COMMUNITY INVESTMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS

(ANCHORAGE, AK- April 3, 2008) - The communities awarded funds for the 2008 Community Investments were recently announced by First Alaskans Institute. A widely represented selection committee reviewed the more than sixty applicants that submitted a completed application for the Community Investments funding initiative. The number of applicants nearly doubled from 2007, the first year of the funding imitative.

The Institute's Board of Trustees approved $322,000 to be awarded in 2008 to the 12 qualifying projects across the state, bringing the total over the 2 years to nearly one million dollars. The goal of the funding initiative is to highlight projects that are sustainable and are helping to develop healthy and thriving communities.

Funding of projects in 2008 will be available for results-based activities that include family and community partnerships in the following areas:

• Pre-school education activities that better prepare children for success in school;
• Increasing high school graduation rates;
• Connecting Elders and youth in cultural learning;
• Promoting youth leadership development opportunities.

Below is a listing of the communities that received the awards, the name of the program, the amount they received, and a description of the program funded.

Afognak - Native Village of Afognak
Dig Afognak
$20,000.00
Four youth camps during the summer, all culturally oriented - youth leadership, science, musical arts, and subsistence harvesting.

Ambler - Native Village of Ambler
Promoting Healthy Leadership by Way of Cultural Reflection: A Village-Based Kuuvanmiut Elder and Youth Project $21,800.00
To strengthen Kuuvanmiut Elder/Youth interactions by implementing a culturally-focused, community-led project that trains youth, documents Elder life histories and identifies priority topics relating to cultural or traditional knowledge.

Dillingham - Safe and Fear-Free Environment, Inc.
$22,000.00
A Leadership and Assets Youth Coalition will be created - four committees will do two projects each on areas important to making their community healthy.

Fairbanks - Interior Aleutians Campus UAF
The Elder Academy Project
$46,484.00
Elder Academy for 3 weeks, the academy would combine elder mentorship, cultural activities, academics, outdoor life, gardening and leadership development to help AK Native students' development during the academic year.

Haines - Chilkoot Indian Association
Next Generation Warriors
$24,902.00
Program to enhance the leadership development of youth through a structured program providing mentors to create the essential cultural identity connection youth need to build confidence.

Juneau - Goldbelt Heritage Foundation
Honoring our Elders, Honoring our Youth
$47,098.00
Provide meaningful cultural opportunities for youth to connect with not only their culture but the land as well.

Kodiak - Leisnoi Village aka Woody Island Tribal Council
Elder/Youth Subsistence Fisheries Partnership
$18,405.00
Subsistence Fisheries Program: learning traditional subsistence harvest and processing techniques, and then distributes the processed fish to tribal members - those who need assistance due to age or lack of resources.  Also to include Environmental Education Topic: Exxon Valdez.

Koniag Region - Alutiiq Heritage Foundation
Future Masters
$25,710.00
10-day workshop students learn to carve masks, study Giinaquq: Like a Face exhibit, and work with Elders and master carvers.

Old Harbor, Ouzinkie, & Port Lions - Kodiak Area Native Association
Rural Preschool Enhancement Project
$29,123.00
Enhance 3 rural preschools' activities by incorporating a new outdoor environmental curriculum, improve classroom facilities and empower parents to support learning at home.

Ninilchik Tribal Territory, Ninilchik Village Tribe - Ninilchik Traditional Council's Early Learning Program $25,000.00
Pre-elementary students will engage in age appropriate educational activities and learn to participate in group activities and socialize in a safe environment.

Across the State - Rural AK Community Action Program, Inc.
Rural Providers' Conference Youth Track Support
$8,900.00
Youth Track - 4 day Conference focuses on providing opportunities for the development of youth leadership skills, fostering youth engagement in community service and cultural events, and promoting healthy, substance free lifestyles.

Sealaska Region - Sealaska Heritage Institute
Leadership Through Sports, Culture, and Language
$32,578.00
Our educational and cultural programs have been successful in strengthening our Native youth, would now like to extend this advantage to extracurricular activities such as sports.  The camps are an effort to provide a program integrating physical fitness and Native culture into the lives of our youth.

COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS FUNDING OPPORUNITY OPEN 1/4/08-2/8/08 First Alaskans Institute announces the second year of its Community Investments initiative by making $300,000 available for projects in 2008 to organizations and communities that demonstrate collaborative efforts among community organizations to plan and implement innovative, lasting programs that contribute to healthy and thriving communities.  Funding is awarded to results-based activities that include family and community partnerships in the following areas:

• early childhood education activities that better prepare children for success in school;
• increasing high school graduation rates;
• connecting Elders and youth in cultural learning;

promoting youth leadership development opportunities.

Please refer to the funding announcement (below).  The Community Investments Application is attached under "Download Project Documents" at the bottom of this page.  Two other resources (also at the bottom of this page) that First Alaskans Institute staff has developed that may be helpful while completing an application are the:

• Sample Proposal: A hypothetical proposal we have developed to illustrate the level of detail the selection committee will be looking for when they are evaluating proposals and,
• Examples of "Outcomes/impacts and indicators/measures" guide.