Alaska Native Technical and Resource Center (ANTARC)

Historically, criminal justice activities designed to intervene in or prevent perceived problems in Alaska Native villages have been imposed by funding sources or have been offered to local communities in tandem with desired resources, including financial support. In either case, the programmatic solutions have been extrinsic in origin, lacking true local ownership and investment in sustainability. There has been an often-repeated tendency to rush into program adoption without rigorous evaluation, without detailed and localized specification of problems to be addressed, and without regard for cultural context and restrictions. Thus, programs have come and gone while the problems they were devised to alleviate remain.

This proposal is designed to shut the program revolving door by increasing the inherent capacity of local villages to identify and specify problems, develop solutions to those problems, implement those solutions, and evaluate their impact.

The Justice Center and the Alaska Native Studies Department formed a partnership to establish the Alaska Native Technical Assistance and Resource Center (ANTARC). The goals of ANTARC were to increase village capacity to problem-solve and to establish the University of Alaska as a repository of information and technical assistance. In essence, a "criminal justice cooperative extension" program would be built by extending extant village capability to problem solve, improve the university's capacity to provide meaningful assistance, and establish a credible link between the university and rural Alaska.

The foundation for achievement of this goal entailed a three-year effort initiated with four villages—Gulkana, Kotlik, Wainwright, Yakutat—which became ANTARC partners for the project period.