Native Scholars Convene in Juneau

This week, Juneau, Alaska, is hosting a gathering of indigenous scholars from across the United States, brought together by the Native Children’s Research Exchange (NCRE) Scholars Program. The event is designed to foster collaboration, share knowledge, and highlight the strength and resilience of tribal communities—particularly through youth development and substance use prevention initiatives.

Building Community Among Indigenous Scholars

Since its founding in 2012 by Michelle Sarche, a tribal citizen of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe, the NCRE Scholars Program has aimed to address the professional isolation that many native scholars face at their home institutions. Sarche, who is known for her work in Native American child development, parenting, and early care and education, explained the need for such a program: "Many of these scholars are isolated in their home institutions. There aren’t any other Indigenous scholars, and we just really saw the need to first and foremost create community."

The NCRE Scholars Program has hosted 41 scholars in different cohorts since its inception, with the 15th group convening in Juneau. The program specializes in advancing research in youth development, from pre-birth to early adulthood, as well as substance use prevention in native communities.

Collaboration and Grant Writing Efforts

The gathering in Juneau is providing scholars an opportunity to learn from local experts, collaborate with peers, and focus on grant writing that supports native research and academic support. Katie Schultz, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and a University of Michigan social work professor, highlighted the significance of these meetings. Schultz, originally from Cordova, Alaska, joined the scholars program nearly a decade ago. She now focuses her research on domestic and dating violence and sees these in-person cohorts as instrumental to furthering research and community-based work.

While in Juneau, the cohort met with organizations like the Sealaska Heritage Institute to gain firsthand insight into local approaches to supporting youth development and tribal resilience. Schultz emphasized, "It’s beyond just writing the right thing in the grant, but being able to spend time in community, talking with folks that are doing this work, learning about the different approaches."

Highlighting Tribal Strengths and Resilience

Jerreed Ivanich, a scholar of Ts’msyen descent who participated in the same NCRE cohort as Schultz, now helps lead the program. Ivanich, a faculty member at the Colorado School of Public Health, conducts research on the impact of social networks on mental health. He shared that while much of the research focuses on addressing harms like violence and substance use, the scholars are committed to centering the strengths and resilience inherent within tribal communities.

"The first sentence of every grant is like, ‘Here’s the huge negative problem.’ Right, that’s where you start," Ivanich said. "But I think a lot of the scholars in that room and the folks here are trying to flip that script to say like, tribal communities have a lot of strengths, and like let’s center those strengths. Let’s revitalize that strength, and if we can do that, then we can actually address those issues."

Continuing Community Engagement

The Juneau gathering runs through Friday, with scholars planning to continue meeting with local organizations working to support child development and community building. The event underscores the ongoing commitment among native scholars to foster collaboration, conduct meaningful research, and build academic support networks that highlight the resilience and growth of tribal and native communities nationwide.

Source: ktoo.org.