About 40 people gathered on a windy day at Kiana’s community building in early June. It was a decent-sized crowd for the small community of around 400 people, located about 60 miles east of Kotzebue. The group met for a blessing and meal at the newly-renovated building that will house Kiana’s youth program.
The program is called OPT-in Kiana. The “OPT” stands for “one positive thing,” something that the group strives to do each day.
“Kids my age were getting into bad stuff, and I thought they should have a fun place to go to to do stuff safely,” Ivory Gerhardt-Cyrus said.
She founded the program nearly a decade ago, because there was no place for kids to go after school. Gerhardt-Cyrus said the program is youth-led. OPT-in hosts cultural activities like beading, Iñupiaq dance and subsistence activities — but also things like board games, hula hooping and youth conferences focused on difficult topics like bullying.
“In the past, we have really made an effort to reach out to those youth who were otherwise disengaged and have historically kind of been some of our strongest leaders,” said Jeanne Gerhardt-Cyrus, the program’s outgoing executive director She is also Ivory’s mother.
“We've moved around from building to building to building for a long time,” Jeanne said. “We moved into one building, and [the city] said it was condemned. We moved into another building, and we had to leave.”
Jeanne said over the years OPT-in has shuffled through five temporary locations — one without water or plumbing, another that had frozen pipes and asbestos. At one time the program operated out of her house.
The program continued during the COVID-19 pandemic and the group sent out packages for young people to do activities in their own homes. Jeanne says around this time the group asked the Kiana city council for a space of their own. There were strict rules for gatherings at the time.
“All I remember is a bunch of youth were piled in my car, and we were calling into the meeting,” Jeanne said.
The city agreed to rent out Kiana’s old community building for $1 a year. But, Jeanne said there was a catch.
“It was pretty old and run down and not level,” she said.
With some financial help, the group fixed that.
Through funding from the Northwest Arctic Borough and the mining company Teck’s Village Improvement Fund, Jeanne said OPT-in was able to renovate the old building, add a new furnace and water heater, accessible shower, new roof and cafeteria-style kitchen. Plywood was added to the floors to support the dance group. The Rasmuson Foundation also provided funding for the building’s appliances and furniture.
“It's not just a building, it's like a home for ideas,” said Shaedyn Barr. Barr participated in OPT-in when she was younger and now sits on its board. “It's healing. We bring in so much laughter and leadership. It's a safe and welcoming place,” she said.
Barr said she enjoyed how the program exposed her to subsistence activities like fishing. But connecting with her culture through the program was particularly special.
“My sister and one of our cousins got to perform our great grandmother's traditional songs,” Barr said. “Cultural dancing and bringing everyone together – we just got to do what my ancestors done, dancing and just hearing all the stories.”
Jeanne said OPT-in’s building also hosts a movement group for elders — exercise that includes breaks to play bingo, sponsored by the Maniilaq Injury Program. She said at least once a month the group also hosts an event for the whole community, like a pancake feed or youth conferences.
OPT-in only operates in Kiana, for now. But Jeanne said now that the group has their own space, they’ve started to reach out to other villages.
