The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, a state corporation that seeks to improve health, awarded over $2 million to 24 organizations in the state this year. Three of them are on the Kenai Peninsula.
The Nikiski Shelter of Hope, just up the road from the North Peninsula Recreation Center, is one of the only homeless shelters on the Kenai Peninsula. Since opening in 2021, it’s served over 250 people and their pets. The former dormitory building can house up to 22 clients at a time.
It’s equipped with a kitchen, children’s outdoor play area and a new fire suppression system.
“Every improvement that we make is an improvement that our residents are able to enjoy,” said Leslie Rohr, executive director of Love in the Name of Christ, a Kenai Peninsula clearinghouse organization that runs the shelter. She says the fire suppression system was necessary to keep the shelter open
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority helped pay for the system and other improvements with grants, one from last year, plus a similar $50,000 one they just got.
The new grant will go toward roof and parking lot repairs, a fence installment and more.
“The whole purpose is to have this as home-like as possible, and to help people achieve the skills and the confidence to be self-sufficient and move into stable housing,” Rohr said.
The money will also help pay for a new septic and well system. Rohr says that could lead to an expansion, or let them shelter more people in a weather emergency.
Across the peninsula is the stomping grounds for The Seward Prevention Coalition, a nonprofit that works to reduce high risk behaviors in children, like drinking and drug use. They run a number of educational programs to help kids grow up to be successful and emotionally balanced adults.
The nonprofit was another grantee of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. They were awarded the same amount – $50,000 – to develop a youth mental health campaign. Its goal is to normalize seeking help.
“If you're under the age of 18 in Alaska, you can't get mental health services without parental support,” said Seward Prevention Coalition Executive Director Katie Cornwell. “That parental support piece was becoming a big barrier for our kids getting early help.”
Last year, the nonprofit surveyed the community to hash out priorities for the campaign. That includes teaching healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress or trauma.
Since the nonprofit works with mental health providers, the money will pay for training that’ll help remove stigma for seeking mental health. Those will be geared toward kids and their parents. The grant will also fund the development of educational resources, like videos and print materials, to destigmatize seeking help.
Cornwell, with the Seward Prevention Coalition, says the money is crucial to expanding the nonprofit’s scope.
“If we didn't have the funding, we just wouldn't be able to do it, and then we'd still be kind of looking at this as a barrier for our youth and our community," Cornwell said. "And so, in order to kind of create that change that we're looking for, we, the funding is instrumental.”
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority also awarded a $50,000 grant to the Seldovia Village Tribe for a community health care equipment upgrade project.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is managed in part by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation and the Department of Revenue Treasury Division.
