April 3

SCF's New Early Head Start location offers convenience

Southcentral Foundation's new Early Head Start Program is currently enrolling families at its new location in Anchorage's Northway Mall. The program, accessible via city bus, offers culturally appropriate, comprehensive child development services for Alaska Native/American Indian infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years old, pregnant women, and their families who meet the federal low-income guidelines. The convenient location in the mall means parents can shop before they pick up their children.

The facility has a station to provide families with immunizations, well-child and well-baby care, child nutrition and growth assessment, prenatal nutrition and health services, pediatric and prenatal dental health, family behavioral and mental health services, and access to family medicine and family social services. Early Head Start staff members are working with the Anchorage Native Primary Care Center to enroll Head Start families in the Primary Provider Program, which will allow the families to see their primary care provider on-site at the Early Head Start facility or at the Mountain View Clinic. The goal is to provide easy access to prevention-focused health care. early hed start foto

Early Head Start is also working with the SCF Elders Program and the Foster Grandparents and Senior Companion programs to recruit Alaska Native and American Indian Elders for four-hour shifts at the facility for which they will receive a stipend. The elders will be encouraged to share their cultural heritage with the older children, and to hold, sing and talk with the infants and toddlers.

Early Head Start teacher Carlyn Cleveland makes a comfy chair for Sean Dakota Haynes, 30 months, at the new facility recently.

The program's funding allows hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week throughout the year. Based on current funding, the program can accommodate 32 Early Head Start children plus 20 Head Start students, ages three to five. Currently, three classrooms can house eight children each, and one is equipped for up to eight infants. When additional funds are secured, the facility will hold an additional 60 Head Start children and eight toddlers, for a total of 120 children. The facility will include a two-chair dental clinic and large indoor play area. SCF's Dental Clinic has donated equipment for the dental office, and Cook Inlet Housing Authority has furnished the equipment for the play area.

For more information and applications, call Southcentral Foundation Early Head Start at (907) 258-5477 or fax to (907) 729-5000.

CITC summer programs offer "learning, earning"

Cook Inlet Tribal Council's Summer Youth Program is gearing up with some exciting activities and programs for youth, including the Summer Youth Employment Program and the Summer Youth Enrichment Camp. These programs serve the seven participating villages of Chickaloon Village Traditional Council; Knik Tribal, Inc.; Native Village of Eklutna; Native Village of Tyonek; Ninilchik Traditional Council; Salamatoff Native Association, Inc.; and Seldovia Village Tribe.

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) provides youth with entry-level work experience, career development services and high school elective credits through participation in accredited classes sponsored by CITC. Participants are paid wages of $6.50 per hour. Work sites include aide positions in the fields of clerical, maintenance, childcare, medical service, computers, landscaping and gardening.

The program starts on June 12 for students. Applications for the program will be available from CITC beginning May 15, 2000. As determined by Federal guidelines, the SYEP serves low income, economically disadvantaged, Alaska Native, Native American and Hawaiian youth, ages 14 through 21, residing in the Cook Inlet region.

The Summer Youth Enrichment Camp, administered by CITC, will operate from June 19 to Aug. 24. The camp will consist of 10-day sessions, enrolling up to 24 youth per session. Located in a wilderness setting in Ninilchick, the Summer Youth Enhancement Camp was established on the concept of Native culture, connectivity to the Earth and awareness of self and the world's environment. This year, the camp's youth will be responsible for the care, handling and planting of hundreds of seedling trees to replace those destroyed by Spruce Beetles.

After enrollment of several days and based on performance, participants attending the Enrichment Camp may be able to earn a stipend. There is also the possibility of some of the youth earning elective credits for work performed at the Camp, if prior arrangements have been made with the high school the youth is attending. continued on page 7

For more information on these programs, contact the CITC Youth Services Program, 670 W. Fireweed Lane, Suite 201, Anchorage, AK 99503, (907) 265-4933.

By William C. Prosser

Chairman of the Board

I would like to address an issue that comes up every election season - management compensation. Some people ask: Why do we have to pay the managers of our company so much? How do we decide how much to pay them? I know these questions well, because for many years I have asked them myself. After 25 years, I've concluded that the answers come in two parts and are really quite simple. First, in order to create the most value in our company, we must hire the best people we can find to run our business. After we have hired these people, we must do what we can to retain them, because as time goes by, they become even more valuable as their experience and skills grow. Top quality employees produce top quality results. CIRI's remarkable success shows, in my judgement, that we have sought out and retained the highest quality professional staff.

The second part of the answer is a little more challenging, but it boils down to fairness. Underpaying staff is unproductive for the employees and is likely to produce poor results. Paying staff at the right level, however, can produce great results. It's our job on the board to find a middle ground. Let me tell you what the CIRI Board does to keep compensation at a fair, balanced level:

* We set a basic policy of paying in the middle of the market for comparable businesses.

* We hire third-party professional compensation consulting firms to advise us on comparable companies and comparable pay. These firms use their own data and methodology to make recommendations. They look at Native corporations as well as other companies of similar size in similar businesses.

* We have a Compensation Committee to study these issues in detail and make recommendations

to the board. The Compensation Committee includes board members and a shareholder who is not a board member.

The results of this process may not always be popular. Frankly, they have not always been popular even with me. What I can say, though, after years of dealing with this challenge and watching the results of our management team, is that in the judgement of your board what we are doing works well for CIRI and its shareholders. We are building a lasting business of which we all can be proud.

So, as the election season approaches, look carefully at people who are saying, "CIRI pays its management way too much." Ask yourself, as I have, how do we achieve the strong results CIRI has by hiring and keeping the best staff possible.