AFN Convention - "Rise as One"

Thank you, loved ones. You, strong, brave-hearted, and good First People of Alaska. We thank elders here today. Grandparents, aunties and uncles, foster parents, and mentors. Thank you for standing up for traditional values, for family and respect, so all Alaskans remember our roots, while taking wing to our future.

Your hard-working departmental commissioners and my cabinet members are here. My wife, Sandy Parnell, is here. Will you welcome her?

We remember those who have passed, but who remain part of our present and our future: Don Wright. Richard Dauenhauer, members of our families, near and far, young and old. I'm honored to be here: to speak, to listen, to share our journey together, in this place we call home.

The next few weeks are huge in my family! No, I'm not talking about the election. This is so much bigger than that. For the first time in our lives, Sandy and I will become grandparents. Any grandparents in the room? We are thrilled! And I'll share a secret with you: It's a boy.

When we think about people who have lasting influence on us, many of us do think of our grandparents or our elders. A quiet force for good. They live out for us kindness, forgiveness, honor. They listen. They mold our character. They help us transcend the day-to-day struggles and show us what really matters.

The way we Rise as One is by holding onto our values, caring for our loved ones, and standing up for what is good, and what is true.

As with you, we have learned so much from the Choose Respect work we have done together over the past five years. We have discovered that Alaskans, in their hearts, are with us in this cause of Respect. They are speaking out. They are getting help. It's sometimes painful. It is not easy work. And I would not trade my role as a champion for this cause, to help heal the hurt and to end the violence against women, children, and the vulnerable.

We have poured funding into shelters, and encouraged Alaskans to move themselves and their children to safety.

We have strengthened our laws and put more safety officers in place. We have launched programs for schools, collaborated with tribes and councils.

This is our march.

This is our cause.

This is our rally cry:

The cause of justice.

The cause of the oppressed.

That is what Choose Respect is all about!!!

And it is the fight for the lives of those who still have a chance to live free from domestic violence and sexual assault.

I want to thank each and every one of you here today for lifting up those traditional values, for standing up for respect -- for each other, and for this magnificent land we call our home.

As we pray for peace in our troubled world, we work for peace in all Alaska homes and communities: That they may be places where children grow into healthy good-hearted men and women.

We will rise as one, Alaska, so that, from every walk of life, Alaskans succeed in their own ways, on their own terms, following their own dreams, respecting all.

We started with 18 communities. But dozens of communities stepped forward. We are now a force -- 173 communities as a force for good. Together, it is how all of Alaska Rises As One.

Along a cliff, there is an updraft known as a "Ridge Lift."

We have all seen it in Alaska: That place where the wind cannot help but rush toward the heavens. Birds soar endlessly, effortlessly. I believe Alaskans, too, can soar the ridge lifts along the cliffs that challenge us.

Yet, we cannot fly with just one wing. And so, we rise on these wings of good faith and perseverance. The rocky heights -- the cliffs -- become our opportunities.

Let me share about the importance of opportunity for one community.

On a chilly summer day, Sandy and I stepped out of an airplane in Barrow to the sight and sound of dancers and drummers.

The mayor of Barrow, our good friend Charlotte Brower, was smiling, and Sandy and I were filled with joy to see Alaskans celebrating, and upholding culture and traditions. Thank you, Mayor Brower, for your leadership and your warmth.

That day we marked the passage of Senate Bill 138, lifting a financial weight off the shoulders of the mighty North Slope Borough.

Allowing the borough to control its destiny by using oil lease property taxes for borough operations.

The tax law was a cliff, an opportunity. Many before us had tried to scale it. But with the leadership of Mayor Brower, and Rep. Ben Nageak, working with my administration, working with all legislators, we soared over it.

Rising together as one. Clearing the cliff tops and soaring. This is the story of Alaska: Creating opportunity from challenges.

Another cliff, another ridge lift, and Alaskans rising as one: Tribal Court Agreements.

Last year, I spoke to you in Fairbanks. I pledged to work on an agreement between the State of Alaska and the tribal courts.

We recognize culturally relevant remedies can help lower crime, alcohol abuse, drug use, domestic violence, and suicide.

We listened: to what Alaskans said about the need, for culturally accepted remedies.

We said: We must protect the constitutional rights of all.

You said: There must be a way to increase tribal involvement.

We said: We Will Find That Way. We will work with you. And we continue to do so, for as long as it takes. Because justice is a journey.

And healing is the prize.

In the interim, there is much we can do. And we will. Juvenile justice is one area where we can do more. The way we can do it is to enlist tribal entities in juvenile justice activities through development of resources to care for their own through culturally relevant services.

I have asked Commissioner Streur to identify a strategy to develop the resources, in consort with State resources, up to and including a facility transfer.

We rise as one when we respect the rights of all and we protect our people from harm.

The road to King Cove? That's about respect. Respect for the people of King Cove. Their lives are as important as the lives of government workers in Cold Bay. We will never stop fighting to help the people of King Cove access the Cold Bay airport. It is a matter of respect and protecting our people from harm. King Cove and the State of Alaska have offered tens of thousands of acres in exchange for about 200 acres, so a short road can be built through the refuge. Congress approved it. Secretary Jewell and the Obama Administration blocked it. Unconscionable!

We rose as one for rural education. Fairness is a core value we share. We agreed with Willie and Sophie Kasayulie of Akiachak. Children of rural Alaska deserve good schools! You know, I visited rural Alaska schools, I saw many were unfit for learning. And I did something about it. This fall, the first of five schools had its ribbon cutting: The Emmonak school. In Koliganek, the building envelope is under construction.

I deliver on my promises.

Not only in Emmonak and Koliganek, But Nightmute, Kwethluk, and Kivalina.

Far into the future, we have made a difference for generations of rural students. Because we didn't accept the status quo.

We settled the Moore case, because I believe what you believe in:

A better education for rural children is paramount to our future.

We went further than the Moore case. We changed the status quo

With the Alaska Education Opportunity Act: Digital learning. Voc-Tech. Residential. Alaska Performance Scholarships. And much more.

This next legislative session, we are blowing the doors wide open on vocational and technical education. When our young people graduate from high school, they can not only get a high school diploma, but a skills certificate for a trade.

Think of it. Graduate from high school and be ready to work in: Welding, heavy equipment, pipefitting, marine technology, diesel mechanics and more. Jobs for all Alaskans.

Alaska's children will rise as one because we are on the threshold of a new promise, with more than 120,000 Alaska jobs coming available in the next decade. Four out of five of them will not require a college degree. They will require a set of skills.

And if you want people with good skills, who can solve problems, who can make things run, look to rural Alaska -- the most capable people on earth.

We rose as one to bring down the cost of energy. I think of St. George's wind and diesel generation, I think of Delta's and Tok's school biomass heat. And Kodiak's wind and hydro integration. I think of Igiugig, employing new technology with river-generated power. Hundreds of rural energy projects have come through the Renewable Energy Fund.

AEA recently received 66 new applications to be evaluated and funded during the upcoming legislative session. Projects completed to date are displacing 13 million gallons of fuel per year.

And then there's the Interior Energy Project -- that was always intended to be able to produce propane for rural communities.

There are those who are trying to stop the North Slope plant from being built, even though we've got the gravel pad done and air permits in hand. We can't let that happen. There is too much at stake for rural Alaska.

We rose together as one to sign cooperative agreements, such as with the Central Council of Tlingit-Haida, and the State of Alaska, to better the lives of the people. Thank you, President Richard Peterson. Just last week Tlingit-Haida and the State signed a major agreement with Microsoft IT Academy, to cooperate in training for IT careers. This will give Alaskans a tremendous boost in bridging the gap between education and the real world, helping students get the IT skills they will need in life, for college or career.

Before I close, I have a very important duty, a joyful duty, and that is to recognize this year's Shirley Demientieff Award winner.

The Shirley Demientieff Award: Continuing the unforgettable legacy of one of Alaska's greatest change agents: The great Athabascan activist Shirley Demientieff, who many in this room remember as a friend and a champion.

This year's awardee has wisdom and clarity that makes her in demand on every board and at every round table. She has been a keynote speaker here in year's past. But she is so much more than her resume. She is truly a leader.

Her name: Gloria O'Neill. That name is synonymous with Effectiveness and Heart.

Did you know that she was once a little girl who spent her summers with her family fishing in Naknek?

Did you know she also worked in a cannery as a bull cook at Petersen Point?

That as a kid she'd wake up in the winter, and it would be 20 below, and she'd go out and chop and haul wood?

That she grew up moose hunting with her dad?

She has packed so much into her life, I know that her grandmother, Pomela Peters, would be proud of the great heartfelt leader her granddaughter Gloria has become. For Gloria is a living example of how important the elders are in our lives.

Gloria serves her people. She has served as president and CEO of Cook Inlet Tribal Council since 1998. She has led the organization's growth in becoming a powerhouse in social service provision, with now more than 50 essential programs serving more than 14,000 Alaska Natives and American Indian people each year.

She serves on the University of Alaska Board of Regents, the Cook Inlet Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. She serves as chair of the Anchorage Museum Association Board of Directors, as board member of the Anchorage Community Land Trust, for AFN. As a Cook Inlet Housing Authority Commissioner, and on the Bureau of Indian Affairs / National Tribal Budget Advisory Council.

You hear these words: "She serves. She serves. She serves." She is truly a servant leader for our times.

Originally from Soldotna, Gloria has been a tremendous asset to education innovation.

I have learned a lot from Gloria, and she has influenced our legislation supporting rural residential hub schools.

You have heard her speak passionately about education in rural Alaska. She talks of the value of partnership in education and how we need to come together to have a solution that really helps our students thrive and have opportunity, but also, as she puts it, we want young people to "know who they are and where they come from."

I heartily support that sentiment.

Please help me welcome Gloria O'Neill.

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