As September rolled to a close SWAMC reluctantly said “Goodbye” to long time team member Laura Vaught. Laura’s professionalism, intelligence, and work ethic had not gone unnoticed by the Commissioner of Commerce, Community and Economic Development these past two years of COVID chaos, and she was offered a position working directly with the Commissioner on some very complex and new projects. While I hated to see Laura go (basically threw myself on the floor and sobbed) I am proud of her accomplishments and the many organizational improvements she made here at SWAMC during her seven year tenure. We all wish Laura the very best in her new position and are lucky to have someone in the Commissioner’s Office who understands our region, people, and challenges so well. Thank you for all you did, Laura. You made a difference.

Meg Friedenauer has accepted the open position here at SWAMC, and we are very lucky to have found her. Meg brings experience as an elected municipal Council member in Haines, with EDA grant management, Tribal Leadership/Organizational support, and strong media and computer skills to the team as she and her husband have moved to Anchorage recently. Meg is already proving to be an asset to our organization and is fitting in comfortably with our day to day work environment. Please welcome Meg to SWAMC!

SWAMC is committed to helping our municipal, tribal and business members access new COVID Grant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the options are many. We know there are solid projects that could be funded with little to no match required, and we are here to help get these funding opportunities connected to the right projects, but we need to hear from you to do it! If you have a port/dock project, water/sewer upgrade or expansion, broadband access construction project or many other items on your CIP list, you may be eligible for millions of dollars in funding right now. These grants are competitive and they are being submitted on a regular basis in the lower 48, but for some reason they are not in Alaska, particularly the Indigenous Community Grants. This is a mistake! Our region cannot miss this opportunity to receive full funding for long anticipated or needed infrastructure projects that are crucial to a stable or growing economy. Please consider calling SWAMC or emailing at [email protected] so we can talk about possibilities and timing. Remember, we are here to help you, help your communities. If we don’t have the answer, we will get it for you. If you need help navigating the application process, we will help you.  

Take care,

Shirley and Meg

Akiak will be the first community in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to bring high-speed broadband internet to all its residents. Akiak youth talk with engineers and technicians about which house they will be installing an antenna on next. (Photo credit: Katie Basile/KYUK)

Akiak is getting high-speed internet. Your community can, too.

Please check out this article from Alaska Public Media about Akiak Village's effort to get high speed internet to the community. It is the first 2.5 GHz tribal network in the state. SWAMC’s Broadband in a Box partner, Alaska Tribal Broadband (Harold Johnston and Craig Fleener) engineered, built, and will be operating the network. Kevin Hamer, CEO of Akiak Technologies, does a great job of explaining the need for BB in the villages and how we are using satellite to help make this happen. If a terra or subsea fiber cable is not in your future for the next decade or maybe ever, you should see what the new LEO and Geosynchronous satellites and ATB are capable of. We have talked about it long enough, it is now happening! The new ReConnect Program (see below) could be your path to the funding needed to connect your community, and we are here to help. You can find ATB’s SWAMC Broadband in a Box Plan on our website. I encourage you to do so! 

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Call (907) 562-7380 or email [email protected].