Tanana Chiefs Conference facts for kids

The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) is a group that helps over 10,000 Alaska Natives in Interior Alaska. It's a non-profit organization, meaning it works to help people, not to make money. TCC supports 42 villages and aims to help Native people make their own decisions and work together.

TCC's main building in downtown Fairbanks, with the Chena River nearby.

How the Tanana Chiefs Conference Works

The Tanana Chiefs Conference is a non-profit group made up of Native governments from 42 communities in Interior Alaska. A Board of Directors guides the TCC. This board has 42 members, with one person chosen from each village council. They meet every March in Fairbanks.

A smaller group, the Executive Board, has nine members. These members are chosen by the main Board of Directors. The president of the Board of Directors is also the main leader of the TCC.

TCC gets money from different places, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the United States Department of Labor. This money helps tribal governments and eligible Alaska Native people. The state of Alaska also provides money for services that help everyone living in the region.

In 2006, TCC had almost 700 full-time workers. Many other people worked part-time or seasonally. About two-thirds of the staff worked in the villages, and two-thirds of the staff were also Alaska Natives.

The History of TCC

The story of the Tanana Chiefs Conference shows how important it is to keep traditional Native values while dealing with modern challenges. TCC works to provide health and social services for more than 10,000 Alaska Natives. These people live across a huge area of about 235,000 square miles (608,647 square kilometers) in Interior Alaska.

TCC started to become a modern organization when more non-Native people moved into the Interior. Native leaders began to work together more closely to protect their traditional rights.

Early Land Protection Efforts

The first big land issue happened in 1915. Chiefs organized to protect a burial ground in Nenana from the Alaska Railroad. Because of their efforts, the railroad changed its plans and avoided the cemetery.

After Alaska became a state in 1959, the threat to Native land grew. The Alaska Statehood Act said that Native land rights were recognized. However, the state government started making plans as if these rights didn't exist. Two plans were especially worrying:

• Building a road to the Minto Lakes area.
• The Rampart Dam project.

Another idea, creating a harbor at Point Hope using nuclear blasts, also caused concern. These projects helped lead to a big movement to claim Native lands. Many young, educated Native leaders began to push for a fair solution.

Founding the Tanana Chiefs Conference

One of the first leaders was Al Ketzler Sr. from Nenana. He helped organize a meeting of 32 villages in Tanana in June 1962. This meeting led to the official start of the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Al Ketzler Sr. was TCC's first president. He reached out to other Native groups across the country. He also met with the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood from Southeast Alaska and the Inupiat Paitot from Barrow. In 1963, Ketzler went to Washington, D.C.. He presented a request from 24 villages asking the Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall, to stop the state from taking more land until Native land claims were settled.

Ketzler left TCC from 1964 to 1969, but other young leaders like Ralph Purdue, John Sackett, and Tim Wallis continued the work. In October 1966, TCC met with other Native leaders in Anchorage. Together, they formed the Alaska Federation of Natives.

Oil Discovery and Land Settlement

In 1968, oil was found on the Alaska North Slope. This was a big moment for Alaska Natives. A bill to settle land claims was already in the United States Congress. Most of the land in question had already been claimed by Native groups.

Secretary Udall had already frozen the status of land titles in late 1966. This meant no one could buy or sell the land until Native claims were settled. This made the state and oil companies very interested in settling the land disputes quickly. After a long effort, where Al Ketzler and many other Alaska Natives stayed in Washington, D.C., for weeks, Congress agreed to a settlement. This settlement gave more than 40 million acres (160,000 square kilometers) of land and nearly $1 billion to Alaska Natives. This was done through a new corporate structure.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed in December 1971. It created 13 regional for-profit corporations for Alaska Natives. Twelve were in Alaska, and one was for Alaska Natives living in the rest of the United States. It also created nearly 200 village corporations. These corporations were set up to manage land, money, and natural resources.

TCC created Doyon Limited as the regional for-profit corporation for its area. ANCSA also allowed for non-profit groups to manage health and social service programs. The Tanana Chiefs Conference became the non-profit organization for the TCC region.

Expanding Services

With the land claims settled, a major goal was achieved. But other important needs remained. Mitch Demientieff became TCC president in 1973 when he was just 20 years old. Under his leadership, TCC developed a regional health authority.

In 1975, the Indian Self Determination and Education Act allowed TCC to become the main provider for many programs in the region. TCC made agreements with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This allowed TCC to take over managing services like housing, land management, tribal government support, education, employment, and natural resources programs.

The Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center, across from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, is TCC's main health care facility. Left: Beginning stages of construction, May 2011. Right: Nearing completion, June 2012.

TCC also made agreements with the Alaska Area Native Health Service. This brought services like community health aide support, outreach, environmental health, and mental wellness programs. In the late 1970s, TCC also received grants from the state of Alaska. These grants helped provide health care, social services, and public safety services to everyone in the Interior region.

In 1980, TCC started to move its programs out of Fairbanks. They opened smaller offices in places like Fort Yukon, Galena, Holy Cross, McGrath, and Tok. This helped create more local jobs and made it easier for people to get information and services.

In the mid-1980s, under President William C. "Spud" Williams, TCC took over the management of the Alaska Native Health Center in Fairbanks. It was renamed the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center, after a respected Traditional Athabascan Chief. New facilities and services were also developed in the late 1980s. These included the Paul Williams House, the CAIHC Counseling Center, and new dental and eye clinics.

The Tanana Chiefs Fire Crew in 2019.

All these programs are built on the strong commitments started by the Tanana Chiefs many generations ago. This means working to protect land rights and helping Native people make their own decisions. It also means supporting the right for rural Alaskans to gather food from the land and water. And it includes helping local village governments make and enforce their own laws.

People and Land in the TCC Region

The Tanana Chiefs Conference region is very large. It covers about 235,000 square miles (608,647 square kilometers). This is about 37 percent of the entire state of Alaska, and it's a little smaller than the state of Texas.

The total number of people living in this region is 86,130. Out of these, 10,623 are Native people. About half of all the Native people in the region live in Fairbanks, which is the only big city in the area.

Cities and Villages in the TCC Region

(Listed roughly from east to west)