But Operation Renew Hope wants to teach new skills that will feed rural Alaska for a lifetime. Temporary positions are providing additional income after a slow fishing season. They are also providing experience for a much younger generation. But money earned by students won't buy the latest CD's or videogames. They are earmarked for necessity.
Administrators say long-term solutions are still a ways away.
Operation Renew Hope in conjunction with federal funds is only the beginning. A poll being used by environmental groups suggests that Alaskans are deeply divided over tapping into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But the pollster who conducted the survey says the results are not being interpreted correctly. Ivan Moore of Anchorage conducted the survey and says the results are being skewed. The 1998 poll conducted for the Alaska Conservation Alliance asked a random sampling of Alaskans if they agreed, OR disagreed, that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should be protected from oil drilling.