| Hello Friends, |
The past month has ushered in unprecedented changes at the federal level. At Alaska Venture Fund, we are leaning into our values and staying true to our vision, while remaining clear-eyed and alert to the shifts around us.
One of the values we hold dear comes from the Koyukon Athabaskan: Neełghoyeneeheghaałeneek - to take care of one another, and to take care of oneself or a place, to be mindful of our interconnected relationships. In a sense, everything we do at Alaska Venture Fund can be viewed through a lens of taking care of each other and the communities and landscapes that sustain us - and those yet to come.
In this newsletter, we highlight stories of how AVF and our partners are caring for each other - by enveloping birthing mothers in culturally connected care, by building holistic community preparedness for fire, and by working to ensure the nation’s largest national forest, itself a complex web of interrelations, thrives into the future.
Thank you for the ways you show up for us, for Alaska, and for future generations. If you have an idea or suggestion, as always, we’d love to hear from you.
The Alaska Venture Fund Team |
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| News and Views |
| Updates, stories and perspectives shaping our work. |
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| New Video Shares Vision of Alaska Native Birthworkers Community |
The Alaska Native Birthworkers Community, whose co-creators include AVF Partner Helena Jacobs, Abra Patkotak, Margaret David and Charlene Apok, released a beautiful short video about their work. With a vision for “sovereignty from first breath,” ANBC provides free direct services to Native birthing families, free training opportunities to current and aspiring Indigenous birthworkers, and builds partnerships to broaden impacts. As Penny X’waséeya Gage wrote following her birthing experience with ANBC support, “This group provides the kind of care and consideration all Native families in Alaska deserve.” Learn more at ANBC’s website.
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| The Forests of Our Future |
| Natalie Dawson, AVF’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, asks, Is it possible to see the forest for more than trees? AVF and our partners are tackling one of the most significant public lands opportunities in Alaska – revising the 3-decades-old plan that guides future management of the Tongass, the nation’s largest national forest. Natalie describes the importance of this moment to chart a path toward Indigenous stewardship, climate resilience, and community and forest health. |
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| Building Resilience: AVF Pilots Community Fire Training in Igiugig |
| Alaska Venture Fund partnered with the Village of Igiugig to pilot a community-wide fire preparedness training. As climate change exacerbates the frequency and intensity of wildfire in Alaska, Alaska Venture Fund is empowering remote communities to protect their people, structures, and lands. “I feel ten times more comfortable being ready to respond,” one participant said of the training, which included activities ranging from hands-on fire training to creation of an original dance by the children of the community. |
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| Welcome Laureli Ivanoff! |
| Alaska Venture Fund is excited to welcome Laureli Ivanoff to our team as communications lead for Indigenous programs and projects. Laureli is Yu’pik/Inupiaq and grew up in the Inupiaq village of Unalakleet. With experience as a radio journalist, writer, and executive director of Native Peoples Action, Laureli brings a passion for elevating Alaska Native narrative and worldviews in our state and national discourse. |
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| In case you missed it |
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Listen to Alaska Public Media’s coverage of Cold Case, an original play that debuted in Juneau in the fall of 2024. Written by AVF’s Cathy Tagnak Rexford and winner of the Stavis Playwright Award, the play brings to life the experience of a grandmother and granddaughter navigating heartbreak and bureaucracy as they seek to bring home their missing relative. “I just hope that it is healing, and that it is reaching into the hearts of the people who are here to see it,” Cathy says. Cathy manages AVF’s Aywaa Storyhouse, a project to reclaim and amplify narrative sovereignty by and for Alaska Native Peoples through the arts. |
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AVF’s Natalie Dawson discusses her professional journey, how Alaska inspires her, and thoughts on finding purpose in a recent episode of The Shadows Run podcast. “I feel there’s going to be greater pressure on us to unsee the humanity in each other, and the best way we can counter that is to just get engaged,” Natalie says. “Get involved in the things you care about, it will likely lead you to paths you didn’t even know existed.” |
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'This Is Alaska' Video Shorts:
Lily Hope: Weaving History |
In this 3-minute video, Tlingit weaver Lily Hope shares the beauty and power of Chilkat weaving, and how she came to her life’s work.
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