Community Conference

2009 marked APICDA’s tenth Annual Community Conference. The purpose of the conference is to bring representatives from each of APICDA’s communities together to discuss APICDA, their communities, and how the CDQ program is working for them. APICDA hosts all costs associated with the conference.

Participants include a representative from each community’s local government, village corporation, and traditional council or IRA. The representatives are selected by those entities. In addition, APICDA board members and management attend.

The conference begins with a report from APICDA on the preceding year’s activities. This includes a comprehensive financial report, as well as reports on training and education activities, subsidiary business operations, the status of ongoing projects, and a review of proposed future projects community by community.

Following the APICDA reports, a number of guest speakers make presentations on subjects of interest or significance to our region. Past topics include alternate energy, the potential impacts of climate change on fishery resources and marine mammal species, oil and gas development, an anthropological review of Aleut life since the mid-1800s, and political issues that affect our region.

Each community makes a presentation at the end of the conference, reviewing their current situation, needs and desires. Collectively then, the conference attendees make recommendations to APICDA on future projects that can assist the region. One highlight of each conference is presentations by the young people who also attend.