The Alaska Native Village Corporation Association.

• Author: LaBelle, Marleah Makpiaq

In 2011, the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association (ANVCA) was founded by The Kuskokwim Corporation, also known as TKC, a group of ten village corporations in the middle region of the Kuskokwim River that merged together in 1977. Today, there are 176 village corporations in Alaska that are de facto members of ANVCA.

"ANVCA promotes the success of our village corporations and protection of our Native lands," according to the nonprofit's mission statement.

TKC had the vision and the foresight to create ANVCA and was the association's first member, providing office space for the organization during startup.

As many organizations do, it struggled in its infancy. ANVCA heavily relied on dues-paying members as its main source of revenue, an activity that didn't gain traction. Adding to the financial strain, some members of ANVCA thought TKC might wield special interests and overshadow other members as the founder. The ANVCA board of directors deliberated and ultimately decided to separate the two organizations in 2017.

While separating from TKC provided some political stability within its members, it also created a huge loss of revenue. The unanticipated loss resulted in ANVCA borrowing money from its members to continue to operate.

When ANVCA detached from TKC, it was reimagined and revamped under new leadership. Initially the association hired Hallie Bissett as a contract employee working part-time; today Bissett is the executive director of ANVCA.

ANVCA changed its funding strategy and built relationships with sponsors. "The organization went from negative $30,000 to nearly $500,000 in revenue. which is a huge change in five years, so I'm really proud of that," Bissett says.

ANVCA Advocacy

Each year, members of ANVCA travel to Juneau and Washington, D.C. to meet with state and federal legislators and conduct advocacy work for their Legislative Fly-Ins.

Most recently, the association spent much time and attention on the US Supreme Court case, Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. The case challenged the inclusion of Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and by doing so, challenged the tribal status of ANCs. The case was resolved in June 2021, with the US Supreme Court ruling in favor of ANCs, finding them eligible for the $8 billion reserved for tribal governments.

"When you think about ANCs, we are really the first corporate, socially responsible...