Being Good Relatives (BGR)

“When Natives fight Natives, someone else is winning.” ~ Vernita Herdman

Over the course of the past several years, FAI has been bringing together Alaska’s Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations to address points of conflict and healing while strengthening and resetting these relationships to work towards the bright future we all desire and aspire to for our peoples. Through interactive dialogue, sharing, and deep listening, we discuss the challenges we face, the unique strengths of each entity, and map out the authority, scope and reach of our organizations to help us identify solutions and build stronger relationships for our people.

These sessions, grounded in our Indigenous principles and values are designed to:

• Create space for Tribal and Alaska Native Corporation leaders to have critical conversations to identify the barriers, opportunities and possibilities in working together;
• Overcome internal and external forces at play that make our relationships difficult;
• Learn from examples of successful partnerships, positive stories, and ways to reset relationships;
• Elevate solutions to overcome the challenges we face in advancing our shared goals;
• Operationalize our values and ancestral knowledge into our work to deepen our relationships and strengthen our force as a people.