43rd Annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference | DATE TBD
On October 12-15, 2025, we celebrated the 42nd Annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference (Elders & Youth; EY), we hosted in-person in Dgheyey Kaq’; Dena’inaq ełnen’aq’ qilan (Anchorage, Alaska; lands of the Dena’ina) at the Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center. Elders & Youth is open to all who want to learn and immerse themselves in a gathering that centers our Elders and our youth in Native ways of knowing and being. Next year's E&Y important dates will be announced in January 2026. To watch the 2025 E&Y visit our Facebook page.
Connecting our Elders and youth is imperative to knowing who we are, and how to work in good relationship together.
About the conference
The Annual Statewide Elders & Youth Conference is hosted by FAI in partnership with our community. Elders & Youth provides a special opportunity to live and love who we are as Alaska Native peoples, build strong relationships with one another, identify and advance solutions for the challenges and opportunities facing our communities, explore our creative worlds, and contribute to the greater community through the transference of knowledge between our generations.
Elders and Youth past conferences
Another component of First Alaskans Institute’s Leadership Development Initiative is the Elders & Youth Conference. The Institute has sponsored and hosted the event since 2004 at the request of the Alaska Federation of Natives.
Elders & Youth Conference History
In 1984, the first Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Youth Conference, attended by 54 high school students, convened in response to a resolution passed by delegates to the previous AFN Convention. By allowing Alaska Native students their own gathering, modeled on the main Convention, the conference was a training ground in advocacy, collaboration, and leadership development.
