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Donna Avey retired last month after more than 12 years and 56,000 calls at Alaska 2-1-1, United Way’s information and referral service for people in need. Her call log and those of her colleagues would make a study in quiet, confidential service to neighbors unknown, where knowledge and skill fortify the kindness of strangers. Starting […]
Imagine you have no place to call home on a cold night in Anchorage. Even if you can take refuge at the Brother Francis Shelter or the Gospel Rescue Mission, there’s more to the cold than the ambient temperature. The shiver afflicts the spirit. Now imagine you have no place to call home on a […]
The Jan. 9 public meeting about Anchored Home, the city’s three-year plan to make homelessness rare and brief, offered a lesson in the contrast between long-range change and tonight’s needs. One man, who described himself as someone who does triage with the homeless, told those gathered at the Loussac Library’s Wilda Marston Theatre that he […]
As the 90% Graduation by 2020 community collaboration gets closer to its target date, we are focused on helping those students struggling the hardest to walk that graduation stage. And we know the students most likely to drop out are those facing difficulties outside of school that affect their ability to engage with school. For […]
Now that we’ve all had a week to regain our bearings and assess damages after the November 30 earthquake, we’re gaining a better grasp of the recovery challenges ahead. The Foraker Group surveyed Anchorage and Mat-Su nonprofit agencies and found that some suffered significant damage and disruption, while others — like United Way’s 2-1-1 — were able […]
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I was in my office Friday at 8:29 a.m. when I was reminded – like all of us in Southcentral – of the amazing forces of nature that define the Alaska experience. But in the hours and days that followed, as neighbors reached out to neighbors, I was struck and inspired by the unique and […]
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Ten hours a day, four days a week, Pedro Aviles makes his living by going the extra mile. It’s still a shorter trip than many of his students have to make. Aviles, 26, is the wraparound services coordinator for a community collaboration called Back on Track that helps high school students who are seriously at […]
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Co-authored by Michele Brown, Nancy Burke, Jasmine Khan, and Dr. Richard Mandsager. Anchored Home is Anchorage’s three-year plan to solve homelessness, and we’ve never tried anything like this before. Anchorage has had task forces, community plans, summits, forums and initiatives reaching back decades. And as you’re reading this, good people are at work helping some […]
In Anchorage, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief in August when the news media described the likely beginning of economic recovery. Job losses are slowing. Oil prices are rising. Modest job growth is on the horizon. I’m reminded of the 1980s bumper sticker plea for one more oil boom. If we see our […]
There’s a lot of discussion underway about the highly visible face of street homelessness in Anchorage. There’s another, more hidden and pernicious face; and that’s family homelessness. On Aug. 31 of this year, there were 87 known families with a combined 290 people on the Homeless Management Information System list. Sometimes a family becomes homeless […]
