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WID Featured Successes

Rebuilding a Life by Finding a New Community - Jacob Charliagia

Jacob Charliagia

Two years ago, Jacob Charliaglia was homeless, living on the streets of Anchorage, AK. He was struggling with alcohol addiction and owed more debts than he thought he would ever be able to repay. Jacob knew at age 44, to avoid becoming another stereotypical example of a Native American surrendering to a life of substance abuse and dependency, he had to make some major changes in his life. Seventeen months ago, he reached out to the Cook Inlet Tribal Council and has not looked back.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. (CITC) provides social, educational and employment services to Alaska Natives and Native Americans living in the Cook Inlet region. Established in 1983 by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) as a nonprofit social service agency, CITC administers over forty culturally appropriate programs designed to assist individuals and families to achieve self-determination. Annually these programs serve an average of 13,000 Alaska Natives and Native Americans. With a staff of more than 200 employees, CITC offers a variety of social services under six main departments: Alaska’s People, Educational Services System, Family Services, Substance Abuse Services, Employment and Training Services, and Youth Opportunity.

Jacob receives many of the services offered by Cook Inlet. His first step was to connect with the substance abuse treatment healing camp offered at the Copper Center. CITC then provided job training, resume writing assistance, and initially subsidized his employment as an accounting assistant at Jacob’s own corporation- Koniag, Inc. He is now enrolled in the Individual Development Account program, saving towards buying his own home. He is also repairing his credit and paying off old debts with help from the local Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

The key to Jacob’s success is largely due to CITC’s philosophy of forming partnerships within the communities of the people they serve in order to develop opportunities with cultural competence. The people at CITC recognize the important role that history and culture play in the lives of their members.

Jacob is an Aleut. The Alutiiq are one of eight Native Alaska peoples that have inhabited the coastal environments of south-central Alaska for many thousands of years. Jacob is a member of the Koniag Corporation. Koniag, Inc. is one of 13 regional Native corporations established by Congress under the terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) to settle the aboriginal land claims of Alaska Native people. ANCSA provided for conveyance of land and seed capital to Native for-profit corporations representing various geographic regions of the state. Rather than set up Indian reservations, ANCSA established corporations to receive the land and money, with individual Natives enrolled as shareholders in the corporations.

CITC provides more than services; they offer a refuge for individuals like Jacob. Their comprehensive approach of treating the whole person combined with compassionate support of staff, largely Alaska Natives themselves, establishes an environment where people can change their lives for the better. In seventeen short months, Jacob Charliaglia shows how far someone can progress when given the chance.