UIC approves a second 2026 payment for its shareholders

Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation will make a second payment this year to beneficiaries of the UIC Shareholder Trust. The Utqiaġvik village corporation's board approved the special trust distribution, UIC announced Thursday.

UIC is the village corporation for Utqiaġvik, formerly Barrow. It was formed in 1973 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the 1971 law that gave Alaska Natives 44 million acres and $944 million in exchange for their land claims. UIC says it serves more than 4,200 Iñupiat shareholders and their descendants, and it pays them through the UIC Shareholder Trust. It is separate from Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the regional Native corporation for the North Slope.

UIC did not say publicly how much it will pay or when. Shareholders can find the amount and payment date on the UIC Shareholder Portal or by calling Shareholder Services at (907) 852-7444. UIC asked shareholders to update their mailing addresses and direct deposit information on the portal.

Until last year, UIC posted the amounts in its public announcements. It paid $30 a share in 2022. In 2023 it paid $50 a share to mark its 50th anniversary, which it called the largest distribution in its history. In 2024 it paid $44.71 a share in two payments. In 2025 it announced a regular payment of $27.24 a share. Since that fall's special payment, it has shared the amounts only through the portal.

UIC has told shareholders that its 2025 trust distributions were not taxable income.

The corporation's business reaches far beyond Utqiaġvik. UIC's revenue passed $1 billion for the first time in 2025, and much of it comes from federal contracts.

UIC's federal division is called Bowhead. Its companies work for the military and other federal agencies across the country and overseas. They make avionics, help develop weapons systems, run base operations and provide cybersecurity and marine support, according to Bowhead. Federal agencies obligated more than half a billion dollars to Bowhead and other UIC companies in the 2025 federal budget year, according to an Alaska News count of USAspending.gov records.

Many of those companies are in the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program, which helps disadvantaged businesses win federal work. Bowhead lists "Sole Source" among its contracting options, and UIC's website says its 8(a) companies "allow for sole source contracts of any size." A sole-source contract is awarded without competitive bidding.

Closer to home, UIC companies have built schools, hospitals, ice roads and runways, carry freight by barge and support oil and gas work. UIC Municipal Services has a $12.5 million-a-year North Slope Borough contract to run water and sewer systems in seven villages. UIC also owns the Stuaqpak building in Utqiaġvik and now runs the grocery store there.