Rural & Alaska Native Communities

Mark’s strong connection to rural Alaska began when his father – Nick Begich – served our state in the Alaska Legislature and the U.S. Congress. As a freshman in Congress, Nick Begich was instrumental in passing the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Serving on the Anchorage Assembly and as mayor of Anchorage, Mark has fought for subsistence rights and against proposed state cuts to education funding for rural Alaska. Mark understands Alaska cannot be a strong state without a strong, vibrant rural Alaska. He made improving relations between Anchorage and rural Alaska a priority. Mark was the first Anchorage mayor to appoint a Rural Affairs Director, a position he created during his first term. Mark recognizes the critical challenges facing rural Alaska: skyrocketing energy prices, high transportation costs, lack of economic opportunities,  inadequate law enforcement, high suicide rates and underfunded schools and health clinics. As senator, he will fight for rural Alaska and build new relationships in the U.S. Senate to ensure Alaska Native programs and services are protected. Mark will be a partner Alaska Natives can work with for years to come.

CUTTING ENERGY COSTS IN RURAL ALASKA
Rural power utilities are beleaguered with aging infrastructure and exorbitant costs. The price of electricity is more than $1.00 per kw/hour in many villages in rural Alaska. Gas prices are more than $6.00 a gallon in rural hub communities. Skyrocketing prices for basic essentials are crippling rural communities and stretching pocketbooks. Rural hospitals, schools, and businesses are also making tough budget cutting decisions to cover record electricity and fuel bills. There is a critical need for long term planning which must include renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro, and geothermal generation. As senator, Mark will:

➢    Help Communities Lower Energy Costs. Community buildings are some of the largest energy consumers in rural Alaska. Mark will push for a new national Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund to help retrofit community buildings with energy efficient technology, cutting energy costs and saving taxpayers money. Mark also will fight for a new federal funding program to reward schools that adopt sustainable, energy saving, high-performance building and reconstruction standards. These new energy efficiency programs will also create good paying, local-hire jobs in rural Alaska.   
➢    Help Rural Alaskans Reduce Their Energy Bills. Mark supports increasing the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by $2.5 billion a year to ensure that more rural Alaskans don't have to face the tough choice of buying food or buying fuel. He also supports doubling federal tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements.
➢    Develop Renewable Energy and Diesel Hybrid Systems. Rural Alaska is home to some of the best renewable energy resources in the U.S., including wind, geothermal and tidal. Developing more efficient renewable generation systems based on a mix of renewable and diesel energy systems will not only lower energy costs and save families money, but also create new jobs in Alaska villages. It will also create opportunities for small entrepreneurial businesses.
➢    Bring the Benefits of a Gasline and Oil and Gas Development to Rural Alaska. Mark Begich will fight to ensure that Alaska gets it fair share of revenues from both onshore and offshore oil and gas development. This also means sharing revenues with Alaska's rural communities that won't have easy access to the jobs created or in-state natural gas distribution. Mark supports a strong revenue-sharing program from gasline revenues with all Alaska communities to fund essential public services and provide property tax relief. He also strongly supports of a construction of a spur line for rural Alaska's benefit.

IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF ALASKA NATIVES  
Alaska Natives and other rural residents face tremendous health challenges, starting with basic access to clean water and adequate solid waste and sewer systems. High energy and transportation costs also make access to healthy foods and medical services difficult. Failing health systems leave children and elders most vulnerable to high disease rates.  Mark Begich believes that rural Alaskans health status should be as good as that enjoyed by other Alaskans. As senator, Mark Begich will:

➢    Close Health Care Funding Gaps. Mark will fight to increase Indian Health Service funding for the Alaska Native health care delivery system and close the current funding gap in existing contracts with Alaska Native organizations. Mark will also work to improve the federal payment and reimbursement system for rural Alaska to ensure greater sustainability of our critical access hospitals and frontier clinics.
➢    Develop Our Own Health Care Professionals. Nearly 9 percent of Alaska's workforce is in health care. They are good jobs and we need Alaskans developing the skills to go into these professions. Mark will work to expand WAMMI, RANN, AHEC and other programs to foster and support rural Alaskans who want to enter these careers
➢    Fund Water and Wastewater Improvements. Mark will strengthen existing initiatives that have assisted Alaska tribes in addressing local environmental concerns.
➢    Build on the Denali Commission Success. Mark recognizes the many accomplishments of the Denali Commission to build health clinics in rural Alaska. Mark will build new partnerships nationally to ensure continued funding for the Denali Commission.
➢    Improve Long Term Care Options in Rural Alaska. National models for long term care don't work in rural Alaska. Alaska Natives should have the right and opportunity to grow old in the communities where they lived their lives with their families nearby. Mark will support the development of innovative programs for long term care in rural Alaska.  
➢    Expand Behavioral Health Services. Suicide rates in rural Alaska are some of the highest in the nation. Mark will work to expand programs that work in Alaska and support new partnerships with Native health corporations and tribal governments that integrate traditional Alaska Native values.

EXPAND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES IN RURAL ALASKA
As mayor of Anchorage, Mark Begich has always argued that Alaska cannot have a strong urban Alaska without an equally strong rural Alaska. Rural Alaska faces tremendous economic challenges today - skyrocketing energy prices, high cost of living, limited Internet access and restricted transportation routes. As U.S. senator, Mark will build on the strengths of rural Alaska to expand economic opportunities and create vibrant, sustainable communities by:

➢    Affordable Access to High-Speed Internet Services. One of the fundamental building blocks to access the new economy is access to the Internet. Rural Alaska should have the same opportunities as urban Alaska to enjoy the benefits of the Internet, which brings access to information, schooling, job training, health care and economic opportunities. Mark Begich supports wise use of the national Universal Service Fund to ensure affordable high-speed Internet services in rural areas.
➢    Support Regional Profit, Non-Profit Corporations and Tribal Governments. Mark will work with Alaska Federation of Natives, First Alaskans Institute, tribal governments, and regional profit and non-profit corporations. This includes supporting programs such as Alaska Marketplace that have helped spur economic development in rural communities. Mark will also work directly with Alaska Tribal governments to maximize local benefits from economic development.
➢    Fight to Protect the SBA 8(a) Program for Alaska Native Corporations: The Small Business Administration's 8(a) program is a rare Federal economic development program that works for Alaska Native Corporations and communities. As a result of the participation in the 8(a) program, Alaska Native Corporations have distributed millions of dollars in dividends and other benefits to Alaska. Mark will work to ensure that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle understand the value of this program to Alaska Native and our state. Working with other members of the Alaska delegation, Mark will build new relationships across party lines to ensure that 8(a) contracting preferences for Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations are protected.
➢    Fight for federal funding. Mark worked with Governor Sarah Palin, other governors and mayors to win revenue sharing for all of Alaska's communities and he'll fight as U.S. senator for federal funding for rural villages.

ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY AND SUPPORT STRONG FAMILIES
Preventing alcohol, drug abuse and domestic violence is a key component to sustaining our communities. Creating healthy environments where families thrive is a priority for Mark Begich. Alaska communities should be places where children live without fear of domestic violence or abuse. Mark will build support and partnerships for programs to provide closer-to-home treatment, recovery and prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. He will also explore new and creative ways for Alaska Tribes to secure greater local control under federal law to combat these challenges and work to build strong families and communities. Mark supports efforts in many rural villages to establish tribal courts and elders panels to deal with some types of crime using traditional ways. Mark will support efforts to fully fund the Community Oriented Policing Services to help hire Tribal officers to work with the Alaska Village Public Safety Officers.

IMPROVE EDUCATION FOR ALL AGES IN RURAL ALASKA
America has an obligation to its first people to provide excellent educational opportunities in villages, regional centers, and at universities. Mark Begich's support for educational excellence at all levels means providing federal funding and empowering Alaska Natives to make their own decisions about schools. As senator, Mark will:

➢    Work to Repeal No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind has been a disaster, especially in rural Alaska. Mark will work to repeal No Child Left Behind. He will fight for new education policies that respect community values. Mark also supports stronger roles for tribal and village officials in education decisions.
➢    Support Culturally Relevant Curriculum. He supports parent and community involvement in the development of a culturally relevant curriculum that meets state standards and utilizes traditional ways to teach math, science, history, analytical skills, and further development of Alaska Native language immersion programs. Mark also supports new incentives and focused recruitment to bring Alaska graduates back to our rural communities as teachers.
➢    Make Early Learning Programs a Priority. Head Start and kindergarten funding has been challenged over the last decade by high costs of delivering services to rural communities coupled with the rising cost of doing business in rural Alaska.  In the meantime, funding for these programs has been diminished. Mark will build on the Head Start program and believes it is far past time for the federal government to step up and help states offer voluntary, universal pre-K.
➢    Help Alaska Native Students Succeed After High School. Mark believes we have to work harder to make sure Alaska Native students succeed after high school. That means expanding University of Alaska community campuses and distance learning. It means investing in apprenticeship and career education programs in Alaska's hub communities. And, it means ensuring that innovative work by the Alaska Native Education Program and the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program are fully funded.  

COOPERATIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON FEDERAL LANDS
Today, most rural Alaska communities are surrounded by federal lands. There are many opportunities for new partnerships between federal land managers and Alaska Native organizations to develop new economic development initiatives. Mark will work with federal agencies dealing with land management to encourage local hire for federal land management jobs in rural Alaska. Mark Begich will also push federal agencies - as the state's largest landowners - to do much more to expand tourism opportunities and renewable energy development on federal lands in rural Alaska.

PROTECTING SUBSISTENCE RIGHTS
Ideally, fish and game management in Alaska would be under one system.  Unfortunately, Alaska today is not allowed to manage fish and game on federal lands due to an Alaska Supreme Court decision.  Mark recognizes the critical role subsistence hunting and fishing plays in rural Alaska and with Alaska Native families. As senator, Mark will hold in-depth hearings to hear first-hand how federal management of subsistence is working in rural Alaska communities. He will fight to ensure that Congress never weakens ANILCA's protections for subsistence hunting and fishing.  

EMPOWERING ALASKA NATIVES TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR THEMSELVES
Mark Begich believes that traditional ways often work better than systems imposed on rural residents and Alaska Natives. He also recognizes that achieving success in tackling the major challenges facing rural Alaska will require a broader emphasis on regional planning where rural communities work together to decide their future. In Anchorage, Mark worked closely with the Dena'ina Athabascans of Southcentral Alaska to ensure their voices are heard in Anchorage planning efforts. He formed a Cultural Advisory Committee to oversee major projects that included cultural and educational aspects including a major salmon stream restoration project and the new Anchorage Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center which was named in honor of Dena'ina at his recommendation.