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Alaska Grant Spotlight

Pilot Station Community Development Plan

Project Title: Development Plan

Project Start/End Dates: 9/30/2004 – 9/29/2006

Total Grant Amount: $109,570Pilot Station is an Alaska Native Village located on the northwest bank of the Yukon River, within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The relative isolation of the village has presented it with a myriad of issues and constraints to overcome.

On the economic front, over half of the community's population of 550 is under 18 years of age, and 28% of the total population lives below the poverty level. There has therefore been a pressing need to establish a local economic base in order to accommodate the burgeoning population growth. On the environmental front, the homes in Pilot Station have no piped sewage or running water. Honey buckets are hauled to the sewage lagoon, and thus the frequency of water-borne diseases is high. The community's landfill is also not compliant with state regulations: trash is not separated and hazardous materials are disposed of in the same manner as all other garbage, thereby leaching toxins into the water table, heavily impacting the subsistence-based community.

Previously, there was no plan in place to confront these issues. This ANA project implemented a participatory approach to create Pilot Station's first comprehensive Community Development Plan. Community meetings and surveys formed the foundation for the creation of a comprehensive assessment of the current state and a structured set of priorities for its future development. The Pilot Station project staff commendably committed itself to a process in which the beneficiaries of the project influenced and shared control over development initiatives which affect them and the subsequent resource decisions.

At the community level, a forum was created for the sharing of knowledge, and the project encouraged Pilot Station residents to provide input on the development of their community. The community survey enabled greater community involvement in determining priorities which will lead to suitable development considerations. This project therefore provided enlightenment on the concept of self-government and educated the community on how the Pilot Station Traditional Council can serve the needs of Pilot Station. Furthermore, this participatory approach will lend credibility to any future effort by the Pilot Station Council to implement associated development plans. Overall, the community has been empowered, and they have created a set of directions for the growth and progress of their community.

For the Pilot Station Traditional Council, the development and creation of the first Community Development Plan has educated each member on the issues, priorities, and concerns of their constituents in a structured, formal way. The desire for a more stable job base and the appeal to improve the sewage lagoon and dump-sites within the village have gathered the most support from community members. The project's implementation has also informed the Council of their responsibility in setting Pilot Station's course for development, including their responsibility to secure the economic resources to meet the stated needs of the community and to protect the village's environmental resources.

One of the challenges faced by Project staff was the initial response of skepticism from the older generation; there was a general disbelief that the development of a community plan would lead to the actual implementation of priority-based projects. However, the advent of community meetings and the encouraging number of completed surveys and drop-in requests seem to have brought a different way of thinking to the village. Community members have become more vocal in sharing their personal visions of progress for the village, and this development was evidenced by the community's recent collective request to open a second store in Pilot Station. The Traditional Council has heeded this appeal and is now moving forward with the planning for the community's second store.

The Pilot Station Traditional Council now has clear, current and accurate information about the priorities and concerns of its constituents. A foundation for appropriate policy implementation and project development has therefore been successfully built by this project. Pilot Station as a community is now free to procure further grant funding to realize its vision for progress, and to capitalize upon the environment of empowerment that has been created by this project.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana/programs/success_stories.html