Youth creating sustainable communities in rural Alaska
Keyword
Rural youthAlaska
Igiugig
Igiugig (Alaska)
Alaska Natives
Eskimo youth
Aleuts
Athapascan youth
Rural youth
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In this thesis I discuss the ability of the people of Igiugig to define their strengths and vulnerabilities as a village, and their ability to create innovative solutions in their conscious efforts to become a more sustainable village now and in the future. I argue that this process provides the village of Igiugig with a high degree of self-determination and increases its ability to move into the future on its own terms rather than terms defined solely by world politics and economics. A key component of Igiugig's process of becoming more sustainable is the accommodation and empowerment of its youth. The village makes an active effort to instill a feeling of belonging in its youth and encourages the young people to take an active part in the shaping of the village. The youth, categorized in this thesis as residents from age fourteen to thirty-one, make up roughly one third of the population in Igiugig and they contribute with a diverse set of resources that combined greatly enhances the strength of the community. Although all residents play an important part in Igiugig's sustainability efforts, it is this group of young people that in many ways is leading the development of the community. In order to accommodate the youth in this way and enable them to take on leadership the village has had to open up to change and compromise. While this has come with certain challenges, it has also to some degree strengthened the village by increasing diversity and thereby the ability to respond to change without jeopardizing the quality of life of the people living there. With this thesis I attempt to show the strengths of a rural Alaskan community and explore the idea that there is tremendous potential for creating innovative and healthy solutions to the problems faced by many rural villages, in Alaska and elsewhere. I also emphasize the great need for open communication about values and goals within a community, and the equally important need for intergenerational collaboration and acceptance. Furthermore, I argue that state and federal policy can both aid and hinder this positive change, and that rural villages need to be shown the trust and help needed for them to become more sustainable.Description
Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2012Date
2012-08Type
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Conducting rigorous research with subgroups of at-risk youth: lessons learned from a teen pregnancy prevention project in AlaskaIn 2010, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) received federal funding to test an evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The grant required a major modification to an existing program and a randomized control trial (RCT) to test its effectiveness. As the major modifications, Alaska used peer educators instead of adults to deliver the program to youth aged 1419 instead of the original curriculum intended age range of 1214. Cultural and approach adaptations were included as well. After 4 years of implementation and data collection, the sample was too small to provide statistically significant results. The lack of findings gave no information about the modification, nor any explanation of how the curriculum was received, or reasons for the small sample. This paper reports on a case study follow-up to the RCT to better understand outcome and implementation results. For this study, researchers reviewed project documents and interviewed peer educators, state and local staff, and evaluators. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) the professional growth of peer educators and development of peer education, (b) difficulties resulting from curriculum content, especially for subpopulations of sexually active youth, youth identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and/or asexual, pregnant, and parenting youth and (c) the appropriateness of an RCT with subpopulations of at-risk youth. Three recommendations emerged from the case study. First, including as many stakeholders as possible in the program and evaluation design phases is essential, and must be supported by appropriate funding streams and training. Second, there must be recognition of the multiple small subpopulations found in Alaska when adapting programs designed for a larger and more homogeneous population. Third, RCTs may not be appropriate for all population subgroups.
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Alaska Justice Forum ; Vol. 11, No. 3 (Fall 1994)The Fall 1994 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum analyzes the 1,552 juvenile detention events in Alaska in 1993, which involve 1,023 youths who spent a total of 21,452 days in detention. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), one of two Justice Department measures of crime in the United States (the other being the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports) has been redesigned. Surveys recently conducted by the Joint State-Federal Courts Gender Equality Task Force present an overall picture of gender equality issues in Alaska state courts.
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Alaska Justice Forum ; Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring 1991)The Spring 1991 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum describes provisions of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974 and discusses the juvenile jail monitoring activities conducted by the Justice Center for 1987–1989 under contract to the Alaska Division of Family and Youth Services. The Bureau of Justice Statistics describes the characteristics, criminal histories, and drug use patterns of women under the jurisdiction of federal and state prison authorities in the U.S. Alaska homicide statistics for 1965–1992 in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Alaska overall are presented; Alaska homicide rates have been below the national average since 1988. Rural justice was the topic of a roundtable discussion featuring Charles Ndlovu of the Community Law Center in Durban, South Africa.
