Alaska Venture Fund

04/30/2026

"I feel like a strong community is one that can show up for each other in not just times of crisis."

As we turn the page on April, we want to take a moment to celebrate not only National Volunteer Month, but also our awesome team member Jocelyn Ciarlone! Jocelyn has been working with Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage - MANA, using her background in legal services to streamline systems and help MANA share resources to meet neighbors' basic needs. In 2025, she and MANA helped distribute over $70,000 of aid to community members in the Anchorage area!

Thank you to Jocelyn, and to all our incredible staff who volunteer for their communities here in Alaska!

You can learn more about MANA and Jocelyn's work with them in this video from Alaska Public Media.

And you can support MANA here: https://www.wearemana.org/

04/21/2026

We're so excited to celebrate Alannah Hurley, Executive Director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay (UTBB), who has been named a recipient of the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize—one of the world's most prestigious environmental awards, recognizing grassroots leaders who have fundamentally shaped the future of their communities.

Alannah has spent more than a decade doing exactly that. Working on behalf of the 14 federally recognized Tribes represented by UTBB, she has helped defend the Nushagak and Kvichak watersheds, the region's salmon runs, and the Yup'ik, Dena'ina and Alutiiq ways of life that depend on them. The EPA's 2023 veto of Pebble Mine was a landmark moment, but the work continues, with UTBB pushing for permanent region-wide protections while supporting the strong, sustainable communities that call this place home.

Congratulations to Alannah and to UTBB, this award is so well deserved!

Alannah Acaq Hurley is the 2026 winner for North America! 🏆🌍

A Yup'ik leader with United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Alannah helped mobilize 15 Indigenous nations, NGOs, and other Alaskans to stop the Pebble Mine megaproject and save Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The victory protected 25 million acres of wilderness and the world’s largest wild salmon run.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4mm2szD

04/02/2026

This spring, many of us are deep in the work: focused on sustaining the agreements, processes, and relationships that will shape the future of our state.

The ground is shifting in ways that are hard to keep up with. But alongside our partners, we hold a shared conviction: that a sustainable future for Alaska is worth building toward, and that the people closest to this place are the ones best positioned to lead it.

In our latest newsletter, we sit down with Natalie Dawson to discuss what's at stake for Alaska's public lands and launch a new series spotlighting the grantees whose work we're proud to support.

🔗: https://alaskaventure.org/newsletters/the-long-game-public-lands-community-leadership/

02/25/2026

Around 60% of Alaska communities don't have a registered fire department, and the communities with registered fire departments can often lack sufficient personnel, equipment and funding.

The Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative is working to change that. Trainings like Fire Incident Response Education, Guardianship and Preparedness (FIRE GAP) focus on in-community preparation, helping residents prepare homes, train responders, treat fuels and improve planning.

These investments save lives by strengthening local capacity before wildfire occurs.

Learn more: https://alaskaventure.org/the-power-of-preparation-adapting-to-alaskas-changing-wildfire-landscape/

02/23/2026

Rural communities in Alaska are witnessing rapid changes to conditions that are increasing wildfire risk to the places they call home.

Working with partners across the state, Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative is investing in preparedness, training and coordination to help communities adapt and respond.

Learn more here: https://alaskaventure.org/the-power-of-preparation-adapting-to-alaskas-changing-wildfire-landscape/

02/18/2026

As wildfire season grows longer, more severe and more unpredictable, communities across Alaska are preparing in new ways to protect lives, homes and local infrastructure.

Through the Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative, Alaska Venture Fund is helping communities build the capacity, coordination and leadership needed to adapt — while also protecting globally significant carbon stored in Alaska’s landscapes.

🔗 Read more:

As wildfire season grows longer, more severe and more unpredictable, communities across Alaska are preparing in new ways to protect lives, homes and local i ...

02/16/2026

“I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind the gentlemen with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights.”

Today we honor the life and legacy of Elizabeth Peratrovich (Ḵaax̱gal.aat), the Alaska Native woman whose efforts and advocacy led to the passage of the Alaska Equal Rights Act—our nation's first anti-discrimination bill.

Thanks to Elizabeth, her husband Roy and other Alaska Native community leaders and members, this historic civil rights legislation was passed in 1945.

Learn more here: https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/11/elizabeth-peratrovich-civil-and-voting-rights-activist/

02/12/2026

What happens in Alaska matters far beyond its borders.

This simple idea drives the Alaska Climate Impact Project, a new effort to turn Alaska’s vast carbon resources into practical climate solutions, good jobs and long-term economic opportunity.

In our latest article, AVF Partner Erin Harrington shares how this work is not only a climate imperative, but an economic one for Alaska as well.

🔗:

Alaska Venture Fund Partner Erin Harrington leads the Alaska Climate Impact Project, a new effort to transform Alaska’s vast carbon stores and other climate ...

01/12/2026

"Basic fire prevention isn't done the same way everywhere. We are building a cohesive strategy for wildfire preparedness and resilience in Alaska that a coalition of communities and partners can participate in."

The Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative (AWRI) brings together Tribal and community voices with partners across the state to respond to the growing threat of wildfires in Alaska. As Program Director, Jeff Ennenga leads AWRI’s strategic initiatives to increase wildfire preparedness and emergency response efforts and funding across Alaska.

Learn more about this work, bridging on the ground fire leadership with community and state-wide collaboration to support Alaska’s communities.

https://alaskaventure.org/fire-knowledge-and-community-jeff-ennenga/

01/07/2026

When Jeff Ennenga joined the Girdwood volunteer fire department, wildfires in Alaska rarely made headlines. But in the years since, Alaska’s wildfire risk has become one of the most pressing challenges facing communities across the state.

Today, Jeff leads AVF’s Alaska Wildfire Resilience Initiative (AWRI), drawing on his firsthand experience fighting wildland fires and deep relationships across Alaska to guide AWRI’s work at both the micro and macro level.

AVF’s Maggie Bryan sat down with Jeff and other AWRI team members to discuss his approach to building wildfire resilience and the impact it is having in communities across the state.

Not long after arriving in Alaska, Jeff joined the Girdwood volunteer fire department, enlisted in firefighting courses and soon became a full-time wildland ...