Happy Thanksgiving!

Protecting Your Rights: Serving West Anchorage

November 22nd, 2024

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Happy Thanksgiving! I want to wish everyone a safe and warm holiday season. As we reflect on the legacy of American lands and all the things we're grateful for, it's also a time to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. Read on to learn more about volunteer opportunities and food drives happening around town this Thanksgiving season.

We've also included additional updates on school closures and elections results.

Giving Back

Lisa and I want to extend our best wishes to everyone this holiday season. Thanksgiving is a time to spend time with family and friends and reflect on all that we are grateful for. This year, we’re particularly thankful for a year full of good friends and family, and for the continued opportunity to serve our community as your Senator.

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Have some extra time or too much food in your pantry? Now is a great time to donate or volunteer for those in need. Whether you need some assistance in feeding your family this season or have food to spare, there are plenty of opportunities to give or receive help.

Giving Tuesday

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is Giving Tuesday. Every year on Giving Tuesday, nonprofits mobilize millions of people across the globe to show up, give back, and help improve their communities.

We encourage all who can to take part in this national day of giving and provide support in a way that is meaningful to you. Here are just a few opportunities to support Alaskan charities and organizations:

Food Bank of Alaska

Alaska Legal Services Corporation

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Food Bank of Alaska Thanksgiving Blessing

Mat-Su: Saturday, November 23 from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Anchorage: Monday, November 25 from 2:00 - 7:00 PM

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, let us help you plan a festive holiday meal! Food Bank of Alaska and their partners are giving away nearly 12,000 frozen turkeys—complete with a turkey pan, gravy, and all the groceries for a special holiday meal.

Your meal includes:

• Stuffing

• Corn

• Green beans

• Potatoes

• Apples

• Cranberry sauce

• Butter

• Dinner rolls

Important Details:

Bring proof of zip code
You may attend one site only
Offerings vary slightly by location, but all families will receive a festive meal while supplies last.

Let us help make your Thanksgiving special! Visit foodbankofalaska.org/blessing to learn more, make a donation, or sign up to volunteer.

Native American Heritage Month

This month is Native American Heritage Month. Every elementary school student learns that the legacy of Thanksgiving comes from the early days of this country in a time when pilgrims in a new country were shown care and given food by the First Peoples. That legacy of community is one we are proud to honor every year.

It is also important to acknowledge the more holistic picture of Native American history in America. That history is rich and complex. Colonization has often meant a loss of tradition, language, culture, food, and land for for Native peoples from the first colony in Virginia all the way to Alaska, the 49th State. Understanding this history of assimilation and colonization is critical to our work in Alaska, where we are grateful to live on Native lands that are rich and vibrant.

Elections Update

The final unofficial elections results were counted and posted on Wednesday, November 20th. In races where no candidate had reached 50% of the vote, the Division of Elections tabulated the ballots and determined the winner using ranked choice voting. KTOO broadcasted the tabulation, which you can watch here.

In this election, Alaskan voters considered two ballot measures.

Ballot Measure #1: Increases the minimum wage, requires paid sick leave, and prohibits mandatory meetings about religious or political issues.
Ballot Measure #2: Open primary and ranked choice voting repeal.

Alaskans approved Ballot Measure 1 by approximately 57.97% to 42.03%. And Alaskans rejected Ballot Measure 2 by 664 votes.

The unofficial results can be found on the Division of Elections webpage. The results are set to be certified on November 30th.

Election Results

Proposed Anchorage School Closures

This month, the Anchorage School District announced seven elementary schools that they plan to close in the coming years. The closures come as a result of years of under-enrollment combined with budget cuts. Seven schools are scheduled to close over the next three years, including one school in our district: Lake Hood Elementary. Three schools, including Lake Hood Elementary, are set to close next year. Three schools will close in year two, and one school in year three.

Closing schools is always a difficult conversation. Students and families are rooted in their community schools, some of which offer unique programs and opportunities.

Enrollment in ASD has declined by 6,450 students, or 13%, over the past decade. This trend is a direct result of outmigration of working-age families from Alaska and Anchorage. It's also a result of more homeschooling and correspondence schooling, which have seen a 118% increase in enrollment since 2010. The loss of students in our Anchorage schools means that it may be inefficient to operate schools that are under-capacity.

The closures are also a result of aging facilities that the school district can't afford to maintain while funding from the state remains uncertain. Currently, ASD has a maintenance backlog of over $1 billion among its 91 school facilities. Consolidating classes and programs will mean more efficient facility maintenance in our schools. The ASD does not expect to lay off any staff as a result of this initiative.

The School Board held a work session to discuss this proposal on Tuesday of this week. You can watch that School Board meeting on ASD's YouTube channel, available here. The Board is expected to vote on the final plan at their December 17th meeting.

ADN published an article about the upcoming school closures. To read the article, please click here.

Anchorage Police Shooting Report Released

Following several police-involved shootings this summer, the Anchorage Police Department announced that it would undertake an internal review of all officer-involved shootings over the past 15 years, from 2009 to 2023. (The Department did not include the eight 2024 shootings because of their ongoing investigations.)

Last week, the Anchorage Police Department released the report. Some of the findings, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News, include:

About 67% of officer-involved shootings happened at night, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
More than 70% of the officers who shot their weapons were within their first eight years of work as a police officer. A little over half happened within the first five years. This statistic could be because earlier-career officers are more likely to work patrol shifts and, therefore, more likely to respond to high-risk calls.
Police tried to use less-lethal weapons such as Tasers, police dogs and less-lethal ammunition in 17% of the incidents.
Police used force on Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, Asian, and Black residents disproportionately to their representation in Anchorage’s overall population.
About a fourth of officers who fire a shot on the job ultimately leave the department.

The Anchorage Police Department announced they would be implementing several new measures to reduce police shootings, including further training for supervisors to help manage incidents, implementing additional "less-than-lethal" weapons such as tasers, and using drones to help officers assess a situation from a safe distance.

You can read the full report here.

Community Information

→ Open Enrollment

Open enrollment season is here! If you don't have healthcare or want to change your Medicare or Medicaid plan, now is the time to do so. Medicaid open enrollment runs from November 1st to January 15th, while Medicare open enrollment is from October 15th to December 7th. The enrollment window for health insurance offered through an employer is set by the employer, but is typically in the fall.

To learn more, sign up for a plan, or change your existing plan, visit

Medicaid: https://www.healthcare.gov/

Medicare: https://www.medicare.gov/

→ 2025 State Park Annual Parking Pass

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that they launched a brand-new 2025 Alaska State Parks Day-Use Parking Pass on November 18th.

Parking passes are $60 and boat launch passes will also be available for $150. Please visit DNR's website for more information or to purchase. Click here for more details.

Community Events

2024 Turkey Trot

When: Thursday, November 28th at 10:30 AM

Where: Skinny Raven Sports (800 H St)

Join us for the biggest running and walking day in North America! Trot with us in Downtown Anchorage or virtually from anywhere!

The Turkey Trot is one of our favorite events and is our largest event! Add this tradition to your family's holiday plan and help support Food Bank of Alaska!

2024 goal: $20,000 and 1,000 pounds of food!

For more information or to buy tickets, click here.

Building Skills for Policy Change

When: December 2nd and 3rd from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM

Where: BP Energy Center (1014 Energy Court)

Do you want to help build community while getting ideas about how to impact policy in an effective way? Join for a FREE event, Building Skills for Policy Change.

Depending on funding, this hybrid event will be at BP Energy Center in Anchorage, Alaska, as well as online. Join us for some amazing skill building and community gathering!

Policy doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so first we will offer space to build skills to connect and communicate. Then it will be time to delve into experiences navigating policy spaces and hear from youth working on timely issues. Reignite your spark, expand your network of connections, and learn new skills that you can take with you anywhere - including policy spaces where you belong.

All are welcome!

This event is being planned by Empowering Education in partnership with Choosing Our Roots, Fairbanks Queer Collective, Tundra Women’s Coalition, and Youth Alaskan Action Board on Housing and Homelessness

Thank you to organization sponsors: Choosing Our Roots, Youth Alaskan Action Board on Housing and Homelessness, and Access Alaska.

**Event details subject to change based on funding.

For more information, click here.