A scholarship recipient of The CIRI Foundation, Cameron graduated in May from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in justice. Her goal is to attend law school at the University of Washington in the fall of 2002, and she feels her internship has allowed her to make important contacts that might prove important when she applies to law school.

"This internship is exciting because I'm working on projects that really matter," said Cameron. She says that Alaska law interests her because Alaska is a unique state that experiences problems in its justice system that no other state experiences.

"The numbers just don't add up," said Cameron when talking about the Alaska Native prison population. Although Alaska Natives represent just over 16 percent of the state population, Alaska Natives make up more than 34 percent of Alaska's prison population.

Denise Morris, president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Native Justice Center, is pleased the center can provide internship opportunities to Alaska Natives involved in the justice field. The Alaska Native Justice Center will be placing 12 interns statewide as part of the center's goal to increase the number of Alaska Natives employed and proactively involved in the Alaska justice system.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council administers Youth Opportunity Programs in 41 centers serving 46 remote villages across Alaska. Many of the small villages rely on a seasonal traditional subsistence-based economy for hunting, fishing and gathering. The participating villages also have to meet specific criteria set by the funding agency, the US Department of Labor.

One of the villages participating in YOG is Selawik, an Inupiaq village located above the Arctic Circle and 100 miles south of Kotzebue in the northwest region of Alaska. The population is approximately 780 people with most residents between the ages of 14 and 21. Selawik faces an extremely high school drop-out rate.

The following is a first-hand account of the changes that have occurred in Selawik as a result of the Youth Opportunity Program. It is the perspective of one of the regional Youth Opportunity Program coordinators, whose job it is to support several regional programs through technical assistance and training of village-based staff.

"My first site visit took place in early June. Although the snow had melted, the river that runs through the village was still semi-frozen. I found it strange to see a road system made out of wood planks and I remember the feeling of the fear of the unknown as the small plane left the so-called runway. I stood all alone wondering what to do next when I heard the sound of a four-wheeler making its way to the village airport. A middle-aged man with a summer parka and weather-beaten face approached me with a smile. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows and I said 'hello' with a smile. The Eskimo man said to me 'Are you the YOG lady from Anchorage?' I said, 'yes' and he said 'You've come to the right place! Jump on!' As I held onto the machine with my over-packed bags ­ I travel light these days ­ I wondered where all the people were. There was no one in sight and the village gave you a sense of an absence of motion or disturbance, even though it was the middle of the day.

"Today, if you were to visit the Native village of Selawik, you would hear hammers banging on nails and electric saws cutting away with youth fixing the boardwalks. The engines of four-wheelers with youth taking trash to the dumpsite and youth repainting elders' homes as the elders stand outside with guidance and support teaching the youth Inupiaq values. If you visit the clinic, water/wastewater plant, the village IRA, or Rodman's ­ the village store, you will be greeted by a youth who no longer sleeps until the middle of the day. In addition, as you visit the future Youth Opportunity Grant center you will find three out-of-school youths learning the trade of carpentry.

"Since my ancestors were Inupiaq, the elders who I have met in this village invited me for lunch and told me that even though I didn't grow up in the village every Inupiaq is responsible to all other Inupiat for the survival of our culture spirit and the values and traditions through which it survives. As I sit at my desk in my Anchorage-based office, I look forward to my next site visit, because I have arrived at the right place!"

— Ilka Paniptchuk, Cook Inlet Tribal Council Youth Service Coordinator, Region III Northwest Alaska

Lead instructor Bernadette Chato, award-winning radio journalist and host and producer of National Native News, familiarized reporters on aspects of culture, protocol, and social issues specific to Native people. The intensive three-day seminar included lectures, roundtable discussions, feedback and critique, with hands-on work sessions in the studio and cultural field trips.

Native American Rights Fund Attorney Heather Kendall-Miller spoke to the reporters about tribal sovereignty, federal Indian policy and the government-to-government relationship. In addition, reporters heard from Chickaloon Native Village Chief Gary Harrison about Alaska's rights versus tribal rights.

"My goal is to help reporters understand the unique nature of Native communities and how they can modify standard news-gathering practices to yield better coverage of Native issues," said Chato.

In a 1999 Koahnic survey of major media outlets, few news organizations could recall a Native news story they had recently produced. Most cited barriers that prevented them from adequate coverage of Native issues including reporters and editors who didn't know where to start, had no contacts in Native communities and didn't know how to unearth and investigate possible leads.

"I hope the result of the National Native News seminar is that reporters feel more committed to covering Native communities not just for National Native News, but also for their local stations and other media outlets," added Chato.

Chato is a member of the Navajo Nation. She was assisted by David House, digital production specialist and music director of KUNM in Albuquerque, N.M. The National Native News seminar is a project of the Koahnic Broadcast Corporation Training Center and National Native News with support from the US Department of Labor.

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