Cook Inlet Native Head Start: A Place for Learning & Healing

Alaska’s First People were left behind as Westernization and education changed their ways of life. However, impassioned with a vision to affect change, Cook Inlet Native Head Start (CINHS) is rebuilding Alaska Native culture by focusing on children. Their mission is to build strong foundations through Alaska Native cultures and education, and the new early childhood educational facility in Anchorage, Alaska, is helping them do just that. 

This project was very personal for all the stakeholders. In a special video, CINHS leadership and design team representatives express the significance of this educational facility and how Alaska Native culture was thoughtfully incorporated into the process from the very beginning.

Ethan Petticrew, CINHS’s executive director, explained the impact of the new Head Start facility on future generations of Alaska Natives. “It’s a beautiful space, and it’s a beautiful space to learn our culture in. And a beautiful space to learn Western education in. We’re going to prove that we can do both. As native people, we can succeed at this and we can put our children in a better place in the future.”

Watch the feature video and read more about the Cook Inlet Native Head Start project here.