DEBORAH MITCHELL

Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc.

Presenters: DARLENE WRIGHT; BETH LEONARD; ZELMA AXFORD; DEBORAH MITCHELL; MALINDA CHASE; DEBORAH MCCARTER.

The above presenters are all Tanana Chiefs Conference employees, Alaska Natives and graduate students, with two of them being from two of the communities that the class is assisting in the community plans.

and KIMBERLY WILLIAMS, UAF Cooperative Extension Instructor

Community Planning in Indigenous and Rural Alaska

Indigenous graduate students from interior Alaska will share their approaches and experiences in assisting four villages in rural Alaska in their community planning efforts. Emphasis areas will cover current issues facing many Arctic communities; including cultural preservation; economic development; language preservation and oral history; youth development; information and social services; and tribal governments. These areas will be explored within the framework of collaborative and insider/outsider research dynamics as it relates to the reality of community planning as a development tool and a "voice" for reconciliation with service entities that work with these communities.

A Comprehensive Community Planning initiative came about from a request for community planning assistance from the Chief of Grayling Village in the Fall of 2001. A partnership was formed with the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc. (TCC); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); the University of Alaska Departments of Alaska Native and Rural Development, and the Cooperative Extension Service.

The USDA funded the initiative as a demonstration project that would serve as a model for Alaska villages that need to develop comprehensive community plans as a requirement for future federal and State funding for infrastructure and other projects.

Special Equipment Needed:

Power Point presentation overhead capabilities.