Sunday Around Town & More on Housing

Since it was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon I decided to grab my camera and capture some more photo's of town.  It was also a good time since nearly everyone is "Up River" or "Up Mountain". Meaning, we're getting close to the last couple nice weekends before Fall and Winter arrive, its also the time of the year the second herd of Caribou are pass through our area.  Up Mountain refers to the holy/spiritual mountain South West of Arctic Village called Daschenle (pronounced "Dutch-En-Lay").  Last night walking home from the school around 10:30pm I saw several campfires flickering all over the hillside.  Up River refers to traveling via boat up the Chandalar River to hunt Moose or Caribou.  Some people fish, but mostly for dogfood.  

This is the village Community Hall.  The second largest building in town after the school.

This is the Village Council, basically a Town Hall.  Also serves as hub for all Village logistics, like maintaining fuel and electricity.  The Chief works here along with a small staff.
This is the post office.
This is the clinic.  They don't offer very high levels of care, most emergency services have to be flown to Fairbanks or Anchorage for treatment. Minor scratches and illnesses can be treated. They can call in medevac planes from Fairbanks.  Its less than a 50 minute flight.
This is the village store and youth center.  On the right is the village store, they offer several different dry goods (pasta, stuffing, chips, rice,), canned goods (soups, veggies, sauces), and frozen goods (meat, pizza, etc...).  They also have various circulating refrigerated goods like eggs, bread, and fruit.

The youth center is loosely run as a hangout spot for teenagers.  I've never actually been inside, but this is where BINGO is managed from, the main fundraiser for youth.
This is the local Episcopalian Church.  It is the only church in the village.  This is the second church building in the village and was constructed within the last 20 years.  See my previous post for pictures of the original church built in the 1920's.  
Here are several of the homes/cabins around the "downtown" area.  Notice the caribou antlers lining the roof.

These are actually my next-door neighbors.
This is what they call a "cache".  Basically a storage shed adjacent to a house full of excess junk.

-New Housing Project-

Now more on the housing project.  There is a push this summer to construct new housing in Arctic Village.  Every couple years as part of a state/federal housing commission the village receives money to contract new housing.  An outside Project Manager visits periodically from the state to track and help with constructing new housing, but it is primarily internally run.  There are several villagers with extensive carpentry and construction background that run these projects.  All the labor is hired internally which stimulates the local economy, especially for men out of high school up to 20's and 30's.  

The homes have more of a modern design, and are much more efficient for this climate.

The village council maintains a list of people authorized a new home.  Preference goes to large families and elders living in old rundown and unsafe homes.  Once homes are complete they are turned over from the housing commission to the village council who places families.  After the family lives in that home for 5 years the deed becomes theirs.  If you move out of the home before 5 years the home goes back to Village Council. 

There are many different generations of homes as you can tell from my earlier posts  and pictures of cabins. The newer houses are wood sided, while older ones are still made of log. Some people choose to build their own homes from log or other material as traditionally done.