Teaching Job Skills to Rural Alaskan Teens

In one of the most remote areas in North America, the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center is equipping teens with the education and skills they need to thrive.
May 2, 2019 10:00 AM ET

Teaching job skills to rural Alaskan teens

Nome is one of the last signs of city life in Alaska before everything becomes rural. Alaska Natives have lived in remote communities throughout the Bering Straits region for at least 10,000 years, sustaining themselves with a subsistence lifestyle of Arctic and sub-Arctic animals and plants. But those same communities, with an average population of 425, lack the resources to train young Alaskans with the job and life skills they need to keep their communities strong. Go to Wells Fargo Stories to watch the video: https://stories.wf.com/teaching-job-skills-rural-alaskan-teens

That’s where the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center, or NACTEC, comes in. The Nome-based center hosts the region’s high school students for two- to four-week training in fields aligned with Alaska's priority industries — construction, health care, hospitality and tourism, seafood harvesting and processing, transportation, natural resource development, education, and information technology.

Wells Fargo has donated $100,000 over the past five years to support NACTEC, said Nome Branch Manager Drew McCann. The company’s contribution is part of its unwavering support of Alaska Native communities, which includes a $50 million, five-year commitment to help address the economic, social, and environmental needs of American Indian and Alaska Native communities.