Arctic Institute for Indigenous Leadership Hosts 3rd

Sponsored by YES!, the Arctic Institute gathered twenty-four young Alaska Native leaders at the Taste of Alaska Lodge, November 11-17, 2009, for a culturally based transformative week of learning, listening, sharing, and reflection. The days were filled with explorations of our personal life journeys, as well as those of our diverse peoples. We dialogued on critical topics, ate traditional foods from the land, shared song and dance, and celebrated with the local community. We came to deeper understandings of the impacts and challenges posed by rapid changes to our peoples ways of life. And we formed lasting relationships that will likely carry far into the future. 

In August, we also hosted a two day Youth Leadership Gathering in partnership with the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a local service providing Native non-profit organization. This gathering went very well and brought together twenty teenage youth from around Alaska. Furthermore, we were invited and participated in a powerful statewide gathering of Alaska Native leaders to share on the questions of: Where are we as Alaska Native people? And where do we want to be?

In general, it was a good year. We made necessary adjustments to allow our programs to continue forward. Our commitment to this work is steadfast and we intend to continue to offer programs and opportunities, being as creative as need be, to support our peoples.

"The Institute allowed me to simultaneously heal and grow as a person, and discover ways I can personally contribute to the Alaska Native community. Best of all, we get to be ourselves and learn stronger ways to come together as a unified people"

- Dewey Hoffman

"A wonderful life awakening experience, everyone draws you in and you realize you are not alone! You gain friendships for life and rejuvenate yourself in a relaxing and fun environment."

- Tatiana Andrew

"The Arctic Institute is an amazing leadership experience. It is a space which allows you to express yourself, your hopes, challenges, and experiences to a group of other leaders who care and teach you to be a leader."

- Carol Wren

"I remember reading how the Arctic Institute changed someone else's life and I was skeptical, but it changed mine too. It made me more comfortable in my own skin and made me decide to move back home to Bethel to learn more about myself and my Yupik culture."

- Kirsten Kinegak Friday

“The Arctic Institute provided me the opportunity for nourishment of mind, body, and soul. Any sacrifice to attend will soon seem minor in comparison to all that is gained through participation."

- Amelia Ruerup

A Little about our Transformative Change in Alaska:

Transformational practice is both the art and substance of our work. We seek to offer opportunities for people to immerse themselves in experiences of deep inner reflection, while supporting awareness of the connection between our consciousness of self, with that of our behaviors, actions, and their implications on the external world. We practice our work within the context of our land and cultures. We incorporate, where and when appropriate, traditional knowledge, philosophy, song, dance, and medicinal practices. Knowledge of self, family, history, and community lay as a foundation to our gatherings.

Our people, and perhaps most people around the world, have experienced disconnect from self, culture, language, land, family, and community. This process was intentionally brought upon our people, through the many forms of colonization, and has impacted in different ways, each generation of Alaska Native people. In a local newspaper series we were referred to as “a people in peril.”

We now have generations of people, who are the outcome of boarding schools and other assimilative processes and practices that were aimed at changing who we were as a people. There are still remnants of these institutions among us today and many of the dysfunctional outcomes of these processes have become entrenched within our people and communities.

We see transformational work at the individual, family, and community levels as the only solution to overcoming the social ills our communities and people face, both from within and in regards to the greater society and world we live in. Our work is to provide processes and practices that help positively transform individuals and situations through healing, awareness, and deeper consciousness.

- Evon Peter, YES! Program Partner and AIIL Organizer