Where:
Oscarville, Alaska

Problem:
Oscarville, a rural Alaskan community, lacks jobs, clean water, and sustainable housing, and it struggles with high energy costs.

Solution:
RCAC staff helped Tribal leaders to access grant funds and participated in a collaborative planning effort to develop short- and long-term goals.

Oscarville, with a population of about 60, lacks the capacity and funding to improve its infrastructure. Its water treatment plant is shuttered, such that residents dump human waste from honey buckets into adjacent ditches. There is no working well, and residents must pack ice in winter and collect rainwater in summer. There is no public utility to serve the town, nor is there a police force. The majority of homes are in ill repair. There is a sewage lagoon but because it is too far for residents to reach, they tend to dispose of waste in ditches near their homes.

The community requested RCAC’s help to apply for Indian Community Block Grant funds and to secure matching funds to construct a new community services facility.

To address other challenges, RCAC worked with other nonprofit organizations in a collaborative process to help Oscarville and create a model plan for communities with similar issues. The plan includes projects, such as testing a portable in-home flush system that separates liquid and solid waste for disposal. The collaborative effort will continue, and the group has set multiple future goals including applying to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fund a new water well and landfill clean-up. The group also will develop a plan to address energy efficiency improvements to all Oscarville buildings and to improve electrical lines.