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Project Description This project will build an addition onto the Yukon Flats Center, which
is a rural campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The facility
will be used to provide educational and training opportunities for residents
of Fort Yukon and the surrounding communities of Arctic Village, Beaver,
Birch Creek, Central, Chalkyitsik, Circle, Rampart, Stevens Village,
and Venetie. The new addition will have space for a computer lab as
well as provide space for multi-day or week long training programs.
Current training programs that could utilize the facility include the
Rural Early Childhood Program and Community Health Practitioner Program.
Future programs could include training in microcomputer support, small
engine mechanics, tribal organization and management or any other training
program that communities suggest. When not in use for educational purposes
the facility can be offered to community organizations, government agencies,
and private groups who need space to hold meetings, conferences, and
other activities. In the summer the space can be converted into a cultural
center for use in the tourist industry. Proponents Capability The Yukon Flats Center is currently staffed with two administrative
employees and with part-time facilitators as needed. The staff provides
coordination and planning of educational programs, courses, and training
for the Yukon Flats region. As part of the Interior-Aleutians Campus,
the Center has a number of support staff in Fairbanks who assist in
some administrative duties. With this staff, the Yukon Flats Center
currently offers a number of educational opportunities for people in
the Yukon Flats region. First, the Center staff assist students in choosing
and registering for cross-regional audio courses. Second, the Center
staff determines, with input from community members and organizations,
appropriate local courses and designs and offers these courses in Fort
Yukon and the surrounding villages. Third, the Center staff assist in
coordinating ongoing training programs run by Interior-Aleutians Campus.
Fourth, the Center staff participates in or sponsors community events
such as an annual Christmas Bazaar that promote community values. Problem The Yukon Flats villages are faced with a great challenge in developing
their local economies. This challenge stems in part from the transition
that has taken place over the last 150 years in the Yukon Flats region
from a subsistence economy to a mixed subsistence/trapping economy,
to a mixed subsistence/cash economy. As with the rest of Alaska, early
economic developments depended on natural resource extraction, an inherently
volatile economy. While commercial trapping and fishing meshed well
with the traditional subsistence economy they depend heavily on the
global market. Fur prices in particular have been affected by global
events including the rise in anti-fur activism and fur farms. The volatility
of these markets has led to widespread unemployment among local residents.
Project Impact The primary impact of this project is to provide a facility for the training and education of large groups of residents from throughout the region. The facility will allow local organizations to hold trainings in Fort Yukon that they have been holding in Fairbanks, Anchorage, or even the lower 48 states. We will be able to expand existing programs and create new programs and all can be conducted in Fort Yukon instead of other towns. This will immediately impact the local economy by bringing more people and jobs into the region. Training programs and their students will spend dollars within the region instead of sending money to outside vendors. In addition, the increased space will allow larger meetings and conferences to be held in Fort Yukon. Again, this will immediately increase the economic opportunities in Fort Yukon and the region.
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Yukon
Flats Center Website ~
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