Brave Heart Fellowship
Champions for Change
CA Native Youth Collective
Remembering Our Sisters
Building Communities of Hope
Creative Native
Democracy is Indigenous
Qaneryararput Yugtun Piniqerput. Qaneryararput Cugtun Kayuq-erput
In October, Sam Schimmel and Nikki Pitre traveled to Fairbanks for the 36th Annual Elders & Youth Conference hosted by the First Alaskans Institute.
The First Alaskans Institute helps develop the capacities of Alaska Native people and their communities to meet the social, economic, and educational challenges of the future, while fostering relationships among all segments of society. This is done through community engagement, information and research, collaboration and leadership development. FAI is a nonprofit whose purpose is to advance Alaska Natives.
This year’s theme was: Qaneryararput Yugtun Piniqerput, in Yup’ik, and Qaneryararput Cugtun Kayuq-erput, in Cup’ik. Roughly translated into English, it means language is our superpower. CNAY’s session was titled “Intergenerational Coalition Building”, which shared ways indigenous communities to create a pathway for intergenerational learning from Alaska to national programs. In an intimate setting we learned from each other and realized the need for a community of practice for inter-generational learning. In visiting with community members, we learned “the best classroom is at the foot of an elder”. Sam shared his upbringing, both in Alaska and in an urban city, as well as recognizing the silent knowledge that is a result of elders not passing down knowledge. We learned about the “adopt an elder” program, brother/ sister programs and “aunty’s place” as well as other summer camps and opportunities to engage multiple generations in settings. CNAY is hopeful to engage inter-generational spaces in programming, recognizing the power of our elders and thanks the First Alaskans Institute for their work.
Sam shared his upbringing, both in Alaska and in an urban city, as well as recognizing the silent knowledge that is a result of elders not passing down knowledge. We learned about the “adopt an elder” program, brother/ sister programs and “aunty’s place” as well as other summer camps and opportunities to engage multiple generations in settings. CNAY is hopeful to engage inter-generational spaces in programming, recognizing the power of our elders and thanks the First Alaskans Institute for their work.