The Arctic Resilient Communities Youth Fellowship (ARC-YF) selected 21 youth leaders from across Alaska, Canada, and Greenland to serve in the inaugural class of Fellows. ARC-YF is designed to advance sustainable development by engaging emerging leaders in efforts that build resilient Arctic communities.

ARC-YF builds strategically on work done through the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group’s Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Arctic Mining (MBAM) initiative. ARC-YF was initiated, and is being implemented, by Institute of the North and North Star Group in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and with support from Global Affairs Canada and the Denali Commission.

“The Institute is honored to work with our partners and these young leaders to advance sustainable development and advance opportunities for prosperity across the north through resilient Arctic communities.” said Jon Isaacs, chair of the Institute of the North Board of Directors.

The 2023 ARC-YF cohort, ranging in age from 18 to 30, will collaborate with subject-matter experts to necessary to lead their home communities and regions into the future:

Alaska 

  • Sierra Nalaġuzruaq Anderson is Inupiaq from Nome, and currently attending the University of Alaska Anchorage focusing on biology, mathematics, and Alaska Native studies.
  • Sadie Blacanaflor is Filipinx from Fairbanks and is currently a program director for Arctic Encounter and adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
  • Joshua Atghaghvik Cannon is Siberian Yupik and Spanish with family roots in the whaling community of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island.
  • Eben Hopson is Inupiaq from Utqiagvik, Alaska, where he is a photographer / cinematographer, and provides food for his community through subsistence hunting.
  • Na’ni’eezh Peter is Alaska Native, Gwich'in, Dine (Navajo), and Tohono O'ohdam from Shonto, Arizona and Arctic Village, Alaska.
  • Anastasia Rankin is Aleut from Unalaska, Alaska, who works at the Ounalashka Corporation while pursuing an associate degree at Central Washington University.
  • Charitie Ropati is Yup’ik and Samoan from Kongiganak, Alaska, and is currently a researcher at Giffin Lab and studying civil engineering at Columbia University.

 Canada 

  • Samreen Ahmed is second-generation South Asian immigrant from Whitehorse, Yukon, currently studying eenvironmental northern conservation sciences at Yukon University.
  • Hannah Hoefer is from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and is an assistant negotiator on claim settlements and self-government agreements in the Northwest Territories.
  • Jukipa Koiterk is Inuk, English, and Quechuan, from Igloolik, Nunavut and is studying aviation at First Nations Technical Institute in Iqaluit, Nunavut.
  • Tiana Lemon is Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nations from Dawson City, Yukon Territories and serves on the board of directors for the Chief Isaac Group of Companies, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s for-profit economic development corporation.
  • Amelie Aubrey-Smith is from Fort Smith, NWT, and is currently attending school in southern Canada to pursue a degree in the sciences.
  • Jody Tulurialik is Inuk from Taloyoak, Nunavut and practices traditional sewing, tanning sealskins, and practicing the Inuktitut language.
  • Gail Wallace is Inuk from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut and is a counselling program manager at Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre.

Greenland 

  • Juliane Aronsen is from Kangaatsiaq, Greenland and is currently living Sisimiut, Greenland to attend school at Nord Atlantiske Gymnasieklasse.
  • Miyuki Daorana is of Greenlandic and Japanese descent, born in Nuuk and currently living in London, England studying anthropology.
  • Edna Lyberth is from Maniitsoq, Greenland and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Engineering in Fisheries Technology at the Technical University of Denmark.
  • Kirsten Petersen is from Sisimiut and Nuuk Greenland and attended high school at Nord Atlantiske Gymnasieklasse which triggered her interest in diverse cultures.
  • Nivi Rosing is Grenlandic Inuk from Nuuk, Greenland, and is currently attending Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottawa, Canada.
  • Freyja Stefansdottir is from Kujalleq, South Greenland and works at the Isortoq Reindeer Station of South Greenland herding reindeer.
  • Illuna Sørensen is from Nuuk, Greenland, but is attending school in Copenhagen, Denmark at Aalborg University.

The fellows will engage in facilitated discussions and develop community-based projects on topics related to climate change, biodiversity, green energy, responsible resource and infrastructure development, Indigenous Knowledge and Arctic governance, through a series of virtual seminars and in-person workshops in Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

The first in-person workshop is planned to take place in Alaska, March 23-28 to coincide with the Arctic Encounter Symposium. All fellows will travel to Utqiagvik and Anchorage to provide both rural and urban experiences, and will meet with Arctic leaders from Indigenous organization, industry, and government organizations.

This fellowship is made possible thanks to initial investments by Global Affairs Canada and the Denali Commission. “We are so grateful to our foundational financial partners for their early support, and we are working with local Alaska business and organizations to underwrite the March workshop in Anchorage and Utqiagvik, Alaska.” said Francesca Bray, ARC-YF coordinator.

Those interested in joining this unique partnership are invited to contact info@arcyf.org.