C3 Mission:

To positively impact student achievement by recruiting the right educators and by instilling cross-cultural competence for the right fit within school districts.

C3 is a three-year pilot project funded by the Federal Alaska Native Education Program. It seeks to boost teacher retention and student achievement in rural Alaska school districts by providing new to Alaska, early career teachers with cultural orientation and immersion, and by pairing them with mentors in the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project.

Currently, the project is focused within two rural Alaska school districts: Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) and Northwest Arctic Borough School District (NWABSD).

Each year C3 accepts 30 newly hired teachers from these two partner districts.

To view and/or download an application for the 2013 C3 Program, click here.

Participants receive these benefits:

• 3.0 credit 500-level multicultural education course through the University of Alaska

• Invitation to visit a rural Alaska Native culture camp in a village setting

• Training in cross-cultural communication and traditional teaching and learing styles

• Networking and support opportunities with community members, mentors and peers

What Is A Culture Camp?

Culture camps are located throughout Alaska. They are usually designed to connect Alaska Native youth to their traditional culture and their environment. They center around fishing, hunting, and gathering activities, and involve Native elders as teachers in a real-world classroom. Traditionally, extended families of Alaska Natives move each summer from their villages to remote camps to secure enough food for the long winter.

Many families still make summer camp an important part of their year. However, for many families, Western culture, and all that it brings with it, has caused an erosion of these traditions. Culture camps are a way to instill these traditional values in young people.

C3 participants share the roles and responsibilities of the young people in the camp, immersing themselves in the traditional ways and cooperative daily life of the camp.

2013 Camp Dates:

Lower Kuskokwim: June 9 through 20

Northwest Arctic Borough: July 12 through 23

For more information, contact C3 Project Manager Carmen Davis at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ,  (907) 272-5338.