Tribes in Southeast Alaska will soon have more say in their emergency preparedness plans.
The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced this week it’s the recipient of a $240,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.
The money from FEMA will be paid in salary reimbursements, with $80,000 available through July of this year and another $160,000 through July 2018.
Village public safety officer Cory Padron has served as a VPSO in Saxman through the Central Council for five years.
Padron says he’ll look for training opportunities and additional grants to increase the disaster resiliency of tribes and communities across Southeast.
Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer.
Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF.
Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about.
Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.
