Children at a fish camp near Nome, Alaska, enjoy the long daylight hours in July. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/TWP)
A view of the town of Teller, Alaska, at a point on the Bering Straits at Grantley Harbor. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/TWP)
Elder Nettie Foxglove, 83, one of the 12,000 shareholders in the NANA Regional Corp., at her home in Selawik, Alaska. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/TWP)
Sitnasuak shareholder Daniel Karmun, a World War II U.S. Army veteran, checks his fish at a camp on the outskirts of Nome, Alaska. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/TWP)
Alaska natives are some of
America’s poorest corporate shareholders
They came by their holdings as a birthright, through a program created by the federal government four decades ago to settle native land claims in Alaska. Over time and through special privileges granted by Congress, the corporations have partaken in one of the great contracting booms in American history. But Alaska natives are still among the nation’s poorest citizens.
Where did all the money go?
HISTORY
Alaska native corporations were created by Congress 40 years ago to settle land claims and boost economic development. But after many of the fledgling corporations lost hundreds of millions of dollars, Congress passed rules allowing ANC subsidiary firms to participate in the Small Business Administration’s “8(a) program,” through which the government offers “set-aside” federal contracting work for small, disadvantaged and minority businesses.
Congress also exempted subsidiaries from caps on the size of contracts they could obtain without competition, from rules requiring that they be run by Alaska natives and from limits on the number of subsidiaries they could create to get government business.
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The story of Alaska native corporations is one of good intentions gone awry — and federal authorities looking the other way.
Over the past decade, corporations have started to give back to communities in donations and scholarships.
