Vol. 2, No. 9 • May 29, 2007
A new way of giving
Helvi Sandvik
NDC President
Since its inception 35 years ago, NANA has worked to find ways to bring the benefits of business back to the NANA Region villages. That effort continues today with the ongoing development of business partnerships that link the expertise of our family of companies with the interests of our communities, most of which are home to many NANA shareholders. For the past two years, TKC Technology Solutions has worked with the Kiana Traditional Council to find ways that technology can benefit the village. Together, they deployed personal locator beacons that can be loaned to people traveling by snow machine between villages during the unforgiving winter months. TKC Tech has also provided technical expertise during computer and software purchases and is now working to link NANA youth, excited about the potential of new technology, with adults and Elders who are not as comfortable communicating electronically.
Other NANA companies are also teaming with the region’s villages: Akima is working with Noorvik, Ki with Selawik, and TKC Communications with Buckland. Our goal is for each village to have a business partner that will customize a relationship that ties the needs and interests of the community with the capabilities of their partner company. These are all prime examples of how NANA employees continue to embrace the importance of their work and why our corporation is regarded as a prime example of a company poised to reach whatever goals it sets.
Kids these days …
Kiana middle school students learn how to teach computer skills.
Six middle school students and three high school students from Kiana were in Anchorage last week to learn how to teach computer skills to Kiana adults and Elders. Chris Hartley, a TKC Technology Solutions trainer, is volunteering to help students gain the skills they need to in turn help adults inexperienced with computers learn fundamental skills such as using e-mail and finding information on the worldwide web, along with a basic understanding of computer hardware and operating systems.
“Support Our Students,” a program funded through an Alaska Department of Education grant and TKC Technology Solutions, is partnering with the Native village of Kiana to advance ideas for helping keep college-age students in school, despite the challenges of being away from their family and home villages. The driving idea behind the train-the-trainer program, currently in its second year, is that if parents and grandparents can communicate via computer, they will be one step closer to speaking the language of today’s college students. In addition to the training, the program supports students by providing supplies such as calculators and computer memory sticks.
“I have always believed that if someone can learn, they can teach,” Hartley says, adding that when Kiana students have completed the course, they will be ready to teach Kiana adults and elders. “Teach them well, give them encouragement and tools, then let them teach.”
Today’s special
NANA Management Services (NMS) won the contract to provide campus dining services for the University of Alaska campuses in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. NMS is currently providing food services for the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the Anchorage and Juneau additions are new business. The bid was a collective effort between the UAF dining services team, the NMS marketing department, and a select group from the campus services division of NMS partner Sodexho, the leading food and facilities management company in North America. The successful contract is the result of a bid development process that began last November. Congratulations to the entire bid team for winning this significant piece of business for NMS!
Good Neighbors
Every year since the early ‘90s NANA employees have taken responsibility for the upkeep of La Touche Avenue, the street that runs next to our building in Anchorage. We can report that the street is clean again thanks to Ron Adams and NANA’s spring clean-up crew.