ANCHORAGE-Two small Alaskan communities have received Rural Innovation Fund Indian Economic Development and Entrepreneurship grant according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development yesterday. They were two of 46 rural and tribal communities in 19 states to be awarded more than $28 million through the new Rural Innovation Fund.

ANCHORAGE-Two small Alaskan communities have received Rural Innovation Fund Indian Economic Development and Entrepreneurship grant according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development yesterday. They were two of 46 rural and tribal communities in 19 states to be awarded more than $28 million through the new Rural Innovation Fund.

The Rural Innovation Fund received more than 300 applications from 48 states pursuing grant monies under the program. The Fund was set up to address distressed housing conditions and concentrated poverty.

The first of two Alaskan villages to receive funds, Atmautluak, lies on the west bank of the Pitmiktakik River in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, 20 miles northwest of Bethel. The Atmautluak Traditional Council intends to put their dollars to work in this Yupik community, with a population of population 277 people.

The Council will use its $798,888 to launch the Pikat Housing Development Company Project to address the need for sustainable, permanent jobs by developing energy-efficient, climate-sensitive, culturally-informed, and healthy housing for low- and very-low income residents in the Village of Atmautluak. In collaboration with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, the for-profit company will construct two prototype homes that can then be duplicated in the village ofAtmautluak as well as in the surrounding communities. The project will use a hands-on approach to build the capacity of the tribal government staff and local construction workforce. The tribe has a trained construction workforce with experience in conventional construction techniques but lacks training in green, energy-efficient new construction. Leveraging for this project is $507,202 from Cold Climate Housing research Center and Atmautluak Limited.

The second Alaskan community to receive monies from the fund was the organized Village of Kake, which is located on the northwest coast of Kupreanof Island along Keku Strait, 38 air miles northwest of Petersburg and 95 air miles southwest of Juneau. They will receive a Rural Innovation Fund Indian Economic Development and Entrepreneurship grant in the amount of $567,908 that will be used to provide small business development assistance to start-up oyster and geoduck farmers.

Shellfish aquaculture shows strong promise to provide expanded private sector employment and revenue to rural Southeast Alaska, which has been devastated in recent years with outmigration of jobs and residents. The Southeast Alaska Mariculture Business Development Project will offer business development technical assistance and capacity building services to existing and start-up mariculture businesses in the Kake, Naukati, Hoonah and Angoon areas.

All of these communities are located in economically distressed rural areas with less than 2,500 inhabitants. Services include a shellfish business incubator, mariculture small farmer apprenticeship program, and a mariculture equipment revolving loan fund for provision of essential equipment to create small shellfish farms. Key partners for the project include AK Shellfish Growers Assoc.; Univ. of Southeast AK Marine Advisory Program; Univ. of AK Center for Economic Development; AK Oyster Cooperative and Rural Community Assistance Corp. Leveraging for this project is $224,741.

“Rural America is vast and diverse, and different communities face different challenges and opportunities,” said Shaun Donovan, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. “Because there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to strengthening rural communities, this funding provides flexible resources to address either housing or economic development needs, or both. This is especially important for communities that may have more limited access to resources because of their distant locations. These are catalytic projects that will have an impact on their communities for generations to come.”