Dusty Cowdery, Southcentral Foundation Alaska Native Resource Advocate
 Dusty Cowdery |
CIRI shareholder Dusty Cowdery has served as Southcentral Foundation's Alaska Native Resource Advocate in Seattle, Wash., since the program began operation in 1997. The advocate program started at the request of shareholders living in the Seattle area who needed help getting Indian Health Service and other similar program services in Washington state. As a dedicated Alaska Native Resource Advocate, Cowdery has helped some 18,000 clients in the five years the office has been open. Although the Alaska Native Resource Advocate is a Southcentral Foundation program, it operates from the Seattle Indian Health Board office. This enables Cowdery and her staff to work closely with the Indian Health Service. The oldest of 10 siblings, Cowdery is of Yup'ik, Aleut and Athabascan heritage. Her mother is Nada Roehl from Koliganek, and her father is Charles Roehl from Lake Iliamna. She is a 50-year-old single mother of two sons, Michael and Gary, and proud of her accomplishments and triumphs. |
She believes her biggest accomplishment has been staying drug and alcohol free for 16 years. The experiences she has had over the years on the road to sobriety have helped her to be a positive example for her clients. Her mission is to be a mentor, and her life is helping people make a better life for themselves, because she has been able to.
A yearning to learn more about her culture and language is a lure to come back to Alaska. However, Cowdery would like the program to become better established in the Northwest Native community before she moves back. She enjoys all forms of the arts from attending pow wows and any Native gathering to ballet and the symphony. She sews furs and leather and does beadwork. She also enjoys the outdoors for camping, fishing and hiking.
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