People & Culture
RSSPeople & Culture in Alaska is a topic covering the institutions and programs that shape health, education and community life. It takes in schools, public health, Medicaid and EMS policy, rural hospitals, and tribal organizations serving Alaska Native communities.
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Week of Aug 24
$5.5 million for Anchorage public health nurses, WIC and child care inspectors
The Anchorage Assembly takes up $5.5 million in state grants Tuesday for public health nurses, WIC clinics and child care inspections, without a hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Petersburg hospital gets preliminary nod for behavioral health grant
Petersburg Medical Center has preliminary approval for about $400,000 in behavioral health money, but cannot hire or buy anything until the state signs off.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A health center's request to Unalaska grew nearly six-fold in a year
A health center's grant request to Unalaska grew from $180,000 to more than $1 million in a year, pushing the city's grant program past its own guideline.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom 
A course that usually means flying to the East Coast is coming to Anchorage
A hospital cleaning certification course usually held on the East Coast is coming to Anchorage in September, if 20 people sign up by Sept. 4.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska seeks groups to run perinatal substance use treatment program
Alaska is seeking groups to run its perinatal substance use treatment program. In 2022, only about 10% of pregnant Alaskans who needed such care got it.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska adds $16.8 million in rural health awards without naming who gets the money
Alaska asked for $2.5 billion in rural health money and got $272 million. The state has now spoken for $182 million of it, without naming Friday's winners.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska nonprofits can now apply to grant K-12 scholarships under a new federal tax credit
Alaska is joining a federal tax credit funding K-12 scholarships for nearly any schooling. Nonprofits can apply now, and school-board and teacher groups object.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage elementary schools drop pre-packaged meals for traditional food service
Anchorage elementary schools have dropped pre-packaged meals. The district says more students are eating lunch but has not released the counts.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
More from People & Culture
Alaska Mental Health Trust opens $636,523 for equipment at agencies serving beneficiaries
Alaska agencies serving Trust beneficiaries have until Sept. 9 to apply for equipment funding. The $636,523 pool caps each award at $30,000.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
First Tlingit opera moves to Thunder Mountain Middle School after lighting failure
A power outage killed the stage lighting at Juneau-Douglas High School, moving the first Tlingit opera in recorded history to a middle school auditorium.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Alaska superintendents ask FCC not to cut school internet subsidy
Alaska superintendents told the FCC that districts reachable only by plane or boat would lose the discount that makes school internet affordable.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read
Alaska says 4,264 fewer K-3 students ended the year reading at the lowest level
Alaska ended the school year with 4,264 fewer K-3 students in the lowest reading category. The figures compare fall to spring, not year to year.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
New Alaska Medicaid work rules start in January 2027 — with broad exemptions
Starting January 2027, some Alaska Medicaid recipients 19 to 64 must work, study, train or volunteer 80 hours a month to keep coverage, though many are exempt.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Rural health transformation program set as keynote topic at Anchorage disability employment conference
Alaska's $272 million Rural Health Transformation Program will be the keynote topic at the Oct. 12-13 Employment First Conference in Anchorage, drawing employers and disability employment providers.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Chugachmiut is hiring a lead for nearly $7 million in Indigenous education work
The Chugach region's Native nonprofit is seeking a contractor to lead nearly $7 million in Indigenous education work, from language revival to youth programs.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Meta settlement would cap teen social media at two hours a day, bringing Alaska millions
A proposed settlement with Meta would cap teen time on Instagram and Facebook at two hours a day and bring Alaska millions of dollars.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
About People & Culture
People and Culture in Alaska takes in schools, health care, social services and community life across the state. It covers the public institutions people rely on day to day, from school boards and clinics to water systems and food assistance.
Schools are a large part of it: school boards decide budgets, charter schools and building closures, and building schools in rural villages carries high construction costs. Public health agencies deal with drinking water safety, tuberculosis and overdose response, while the state manages Medicaid billing and SNAP administration.
Tribal health and service organizations, such as Maniilaq Association and Tanana Chiefs Conference, deliver care and aid in rural regions. Alaska Native language programs, from reading screeners to college certificates, and arts and cultural projects round out the subject.
More from People & Culture
Anchorage's school board says closures won't fix the budget; residents aren't so sure
Anchorage's school board says closing schools won't fix its budget — even as most residents, by the district's own survey, favor consolidation.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Juneau Assembly votes 6-3 to sell City Hall to Sealaska Heritage Institute for at least $1.5 million
Juneau sold its old City Hall for $1.5 million to a buyer that plans to demolish it and does not yet have the money to build its replacement.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
YMCA child weight program starts Sept. 8; a parent must attend all 25 sessions
An Anchorage YMCA program requires a parent at all 25 sessions, and the last half hour each night is the children teaching back what they learned.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Many Alaska districts can reuse last year's foster care agreement for federal funds
Alaska school districts must upload a signed foster care transportation agreement with the Office of Children's Services to complete their federal education funding application.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Fish and Game teams up with Arctic Entries for a night of wildlife storytelling
Alaska Fish and Game is teaming up with Arctic Entries for a night of true wildlife stories in Palmer. Alaskans have until Sept. 7 to submit or nominate.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A young weaver 3D-printed his own form to make a cedar bark hat
A Bartlett High grad wove himself a cedar bark hat using a form he designed and 3D-printed at a tribal lab — work that led to an internship and a paid job.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
A state grant would keep TB screening running at Anchorage homeless shelters
A $2.77 million grant before the Anchorage Assembly would keep public health nurses screening for TB at shelters — the clearance many people need to get in.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The Presidential Fitness Test is coming back to Alaska schools, with $1.15 million behind it
The Presidential Fitness Test — the mile run and pull-ups many remember — is coming back to Alaska schools in 2027-28, a decade after it was dropped.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
The Anchorage Assembly recognized September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
The Anchorage Assembly recognized September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The region including Anchorage has Alaska's highest number of suicide deaths.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Anchorage set to get $3 million to expand its crisis-response system
Anchorage is set to get about $3 million to expand its mental-health and addiction crisis teams, add assisted-living beds and start mobile opioid treatment.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Wainwright's fuel tank ran dry and the airlift is weathered in
Wainwright's fuel day tank ran empty Monday morning. An airlift of 80 drums sits loaded in Anchorage, waiting on a safe weather window north.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska Native youth die by suicide at five times the rate of White youth
Alaska Native youth died by suicide at more than five times the rate of White youth from 2016 to 2024, the state reported. The gap in attempts is wider.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska's mobile service through 2034 gets locked in next week
Alaska's mobile carriers must lock in coverage and speed commitments running through 2034 by Sept. 1, based on maps frozen at the end of 2024.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Tlingit & Haida back a Ketchikan plan to treat addiction closer to home
The Tlingit & Haida tribe backs a Ketchikan plan for a residential addiction treatment center so Southeast Alaskans no longer have to leave the region for care.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Volunteers will build naloxone kits in Anchorage on Overdose Awareness Day
Volunteers will build naloxone kits in Anchorage on Aug. 31. Alaska recorded 238 opioid overdose deaths last year, down from 276 the year before.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Southcentral Foundation asks Congress to make IHS contract support costs mandatory
Southcentral Foundation asked Congress to move Indian Health Service contract support costs into mandatory spending to shield rural Alaska clinics from federal budget cuts.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Week of Aug 17
An Alaska water system logged the EPA's most urgent violation
A water system serving 771 Alaskans logged the EPA's most urgent drinking-water violation in March. The federal record doesn't say which community it serves.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Three remote Aleutian villages are getting traveling dental and medical clinics this month
Sand Point, Akutan and Atka are getting short-term traveling dental and medical clinics this month, in Aleutian villages 570 miles from the nearest hospital.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
A Fairbanks Head Start for Alaska Native families gets five more years of federal money
A Fairbanks Head Start for Alaska Native families won about $6.18 million in federal money through 2031 for classrooms and home visits from birth to age 5.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
UAF is buying an instrument its accredited chemistry program has gone without
Alaska's only accredited chemistry program has been operating without a standard mass spectrometry system. A $250,000 federal grant will finally buy one.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's arts council wants to bring arts and culture into classrooms statewide, building on a Kodiak model
Alaska's arts council is launching a statewide effort to bring arts and culture into classrooms, expanding a decade-old Kodiak model to the rest of the state.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska plans nearly $126 million for rural health projects, its biggest round yet
Alaska plans nearly $126 million for 105 rural health projects — its biggest round yet, though requests topped $2.5 billion for the money available.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
The feds are tightening subsidies for flights to small towns, but Alaska is exempt by name
The feds are tightening flight subsidies for small towns everywhere but Alaska, which Congress exempted by name because the flights there are lifelines.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
North Pole's library rolls out a fall lineup of programs for kids
North Pole's library rolls out a fall lineup for kids: baby playtime, storytimes, movie afternoons and reading aloud to therapy dogs, Sept. 1 through October.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
