Program Update

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Alaska Power Association (APA) - The upcoming APA Annual Conference will be held in Fairbanks, Alaska on August 12-13, 2010. Federal Co-chair Neimeyer is scheduled to address the audience on the agenda on August 12th.

Emerging Technology Program - Through the passage of SB220, the emerging technology program was established and funded by the State of Alaska this past legislative session. Governor Parnell signed the bill into law in June. The legislation establishes an advisory committee appointed by the Governor which will oversee the project selection process under the Alaska Energy Authority.

Last summer, the Commission issued a solicitation for emerging technology grants, with $4m in available funds. Nine (9) projects were selected and are now underway. The Commission’s FY10 Work Plan includes up to $2.24m to match State of Alaska funding. It is anticipated that the AEA process will look similar to this process.

Energy Advisory Committee (EAC) - The EAC met on April 26, 2010 from 12-2pm in Fairbanks. Agenda items included the establishment of a planning/design review process and reallocation of prior year funds toward the planning and design program and potentially augmenting the emerging technologies program. A final funding strategy is being developed and will be finalized in August 2010. No solicitations are open at this time.

Site Visits - Commission staff recently traveled to Bettles for community discussions over the planning for a bulk fuel facility. Commission staff also accompanied AEA and EPA staff on rural site visits to Minto and Akiak with the goal of furthering EPA’s understanding of rural Alaska issues and potential joint funding of energy projects. Other site visits have included a community meeting in Nenana to discuss a hydrokinetic demonstration project and a visit to Ruby to discuss pending power plant construction.

Falls Creek Hydro Dedication - Gustavus Electric hosted a dedication ceremony for its recently completed hydro project on June 18, 2010. Commissioner Kathie Wasserman represented the Commission at the event. The project is a run-of-river facility, consisting generally of 3.1 miles of access road, a diversion structure, a 9,400 feet long penstock, a powerhouse containing a single 800 kW generating unit, a tailrace conduit for conveying the powerhouse discharge to near the upstream limit of anadromous fish habitat, and a 5-mile long buried transmission cable between the powerhouse and the existing diesel powerhouse in Gustavus.  The project is currently providing for a majority of the electric needs of the community of Gustavus. The Denali Commission provided funding in the amount of $2.8m to supplement the roughly $9m construction budget.

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Background: The Training Program was instituted by the Denali Commissioners in 1999 to ensure Alaskan residents were trained to construct, maintain and operate Denali Commission investments in rural Alaska.

Current Funding Decisions for FY2009 USDOL Appropriations

Alaska Works Partnership was funded $1,010,196.00 to strengthen construction career pathways through Apprenticeship Outreach and on-site Construction Job Training. Rural residents will receive information and services related to applying for registered apprentice positions in the construction industry.

Construction Education Foundation was funded $810,180.00 to strengthen construction career pathways in rural areas through the facilitation of National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) certification followed up by intensive Construction Institutes that lead to advanced construction training, apprenticeship, and/or employment.

First Alaskans Institute was funded $225,000.00 to facilitate a Leadership Institute to foster future leaders of Alaska by engaging, challenging, and exposing them to professional work experiences that will enhance their ability and confidence to manage and lead in the future.

University of Alaska was funded $1,013,724.00 to facilitate the delivery of allied health training to rural Alaskans. Through this funding, allied health programs are developed and then sustained through on-going support from the University.

The Youth Initiative funding has been discontinued due to the reduction in the FY09 training budget.

The Denali Training Fund is undergoing a strategy change and will not be available for public application until further notice.

Next Training Advisory Meeting:

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Overview of Current Program Activities

In March, the transportation program announced $17,575,567 in FY 2010 road and waterfront development projects. A list of road and waterfront development projects can be found on the Denali Commission front page: www.denali.gov. Staff has been working with recipients and program partners to process the necessary award documents and get these new projects moving into design and or construction.

2011 Project Nomination Process (PNP)

This year's PNP for FY2011 begins August 1 and ends on November 1, 2010. Application documents and instructions for submittal of project nominations will be posted to the Denali Commission Website front page August 1, 2010. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it - 907-271-1640 with questions regarding this process.

Upcoming Site Visits

Program staff is currently planning upcoming transportation site visits with program partners, local residents, and other stakeholders. The purpose of these visits will be to visit communities that have a need for a project, upcoming projects, current projects in design or construction, and or communities that have projects that have been completed. The following lists communities that program staff will be visiting over the next few months:

· Kotzebue

· Wainwright

· Kiana

· Nome

· Brevig Mission

· Gambell

· Shaktoolik

· Bethel

· Nunam Iqua

· Emmonak

· Dillingham

· Stevens Village

The TAC will be meeting September 28-29th in Anchorage, Alaska. Meeting location and other details will be posted to the Denali Commission website as this date is closer.

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Congratulations to New Stuyahok upon successful completion of its Denali Commission Solid Waste project. RurAL CAP staff did an excellent job working with the community to purchase and install two skid-mounted burn units with smokestacks. Transporting the heavy equipment to the community posed logistical challenges because barge access to New Stuyahok is sometimes limited. The equipment purchased with the Denali Commission grant funds will help New Stuyahok's residents keep the community clean, healthy and attractive.

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The Health Facilities Program is pleased to have Ms. Jennifer Wooley with us as our summer intern. Ms. Wooley just completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of San Diego. After spending the summer with the Commission, she will be deployed by the Peace Corps to a yet-to-be-named location in Sub-Saharan Africa to teach science in a high school.

Ms. Wooley is working alongside Ms. Berzanske on implementation plans and structure around the new small prototype clinic designs, tailored to communities of fewer than 100 persons. We plan to pilot test one of the three designs in a small community in the Spring of 2011.

The Health Steering Committee met this spring and approved the general approach of utilizing savings of program funds from past years on new clinic designs and construction. On many construction projects, savings have been realized as the facilities are completed. These funds can be reprogrammed to new projects. Under this scenario, the Commission has recently funded construction of the Igiugig and Ekwok primary care clinics. As other communities successfully achieve approval of their clinic business plans, these reprogrammed funds become a critical tool to extend the limited resources of our Program. Clinics in Kaltag and Chalkyitsik have recently attained business plan approval, have completed designs and have secured the required cost share match. They are in line to be funded this summer.

The $10 million appropriation for the FY 2010 program year has been proposed to fund a mix of primary care clinics, elder supportive housing units, behavioral health facilities and projects which support primary care in hospitals. The US Secretary of Commerce must approve the Denali Commission Work Plan, which contains the details of the spending plans for all program areas. Upon approval of the Work Plan, the following grants will be executed:

• -Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, to contribute funding to the construction of four one-bedroom units in Soldotna - $805,000
• -Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, to contribute funding to eleven primary care in hospitals projects - $538,190
• -One or more grants to partner organizations to provide construction and program management for the design and construction of primary care clinics - $7,463,910
• -$492,000 is being reserved until December 2010 for one or more behavioral health projects. There are currently no behavioral health projects that have completed the due diligence process of the Health Facilities Program.
• -In FY 2010, $200,000 was reserved for the costs of technical assistance provided by a contractor to communities navigating the primary care business plan process.

The Health Facilities Program has been fortunate over the past few months to participate in the early stages of senior services planning in urban and rural, and tribal and non-tribal regions in the state. In addition, we have begun to explore our role in facilitating rural housing initiatives, As in all the Commission's work, we are one of many important partners, such as the Alaska Association of Housing Authorities, AHFC, MatSu Health Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, and United Way.

We continue to celebrate the completion of clinic and other facilities projects, including the new EA and Jenny Rasmuson Community Health Center in Skagway, open in June.

Program Update

Energy Wise Program

With stimulus funding from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), RurAL CAP is working with several communities across Alaska to hire local residents to work on energy conservation projects in their communities. Energy Wise is a project designed to improve residential energy efficiency and temporarily employ rural Alaskans to perform energy-efficiency upgrades. The project includes installing window film, testing appliances for energy consumption, cleaning refrigerator coils, sealing doorways, installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, and providing energy-efficiency education to residents.

RurAL CAP identified 16 communities to participate in the first of two phases of the project. Priority was based on the level of need, recent natural disasters such as flooding and whether a community had recently been served by the Weatherization program or was scheduled for the near future.

Twelve communities were selected who demonstrated their need as well as their commitment to complete the project and leverage local resources to ensure the highest impact. The communities being served are Akiak, Quinhagak, Tuluksak, Kasigluk, Chefornak, Nunapitchuk, Ruby, Huslia, Gambell, Savoonga, New Stuyahok, and Selawik. Crew leaders were hired and trained in September 2009 for the first five villages. Crew leaders for seven more communities were hired and trained in January. Tribal and city councils worked with RurAL CAP to recruit crew members and coordinate logistics. RurAL CAP staff traveled to each community for a "launch week" which included recruiting 4-10 local crew members to work with the crew leader and conduct home improvements. All crew members received "hands-on" training. As of early June, 993 home visits (including home education and installation) have been completed, 58 crew members have been trained (with a 95% retention rate), and several communities have concluded their work.