History & Partners
Following the success of the Girls on the Run pilot program in Juneau in 2008, AWARE, Inc. and Sitkans Against Family Violence (SAFV) came together to explore the potential for an equivalent program for boys. The organizations found community support for a program to teach healthy lifestyle values and communication skills to boys. Engaging men and boys in such a program was, and continues to be, a priority for both AWARE and SAFV, with their ongoing efforts supported by prevention plans developed by the Juneau Violence Prevention Coalition and Pathways to a Safer Sitka.
In 2010, SAFV piloted a boys running program for Sitka, led by Prevention Specialist Nick Campolettano and based off of a program out of North Carolina. Despite the initial success of the program, it failed to meet all of the community and regional needs. After the pilot, SAFV and AWARE worked together to identify gaps in the program related to rural communities.
Specifically, they found that it lacked in violence prevention skills as well as compatibility with local tribal culture, history, and traditional values. The difficulty of adapting the program’s curriculum to meet these needs led SAFV and AWARE to explore another option based out of Michigan in 2011.
AWARE staff Mark Calvert and Ati Nasiah began work with several partners in Juneau at this time, including Edy Rodewald, Health Educator at Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), and Southeast Roadrunners, which was under the direction of Tristan Knutson-Lombardo at the time. In 2012, SAFV staff Julia Smith and Brian Sparks joined AWARE, SEARHC, and Southeast Roadrunners to create the Boys Run Southeast Alaska Collaborative. The early groundwork accomplished by these partnerships in recognizing the need for boys to develop healthy relationship skills, interact with positive male role models, and connect with Southeast Alaskan traditional tribal values has been a guiding light throughout the development of Boys Run I toowú klatseen.
In 2012, SEARHC provided funding and staff to the Collaborative to work toward their goal of connecting Alaska Native youth with physical health-focused programming. Edy Rodewald reached out to Native Alaskan partners, and in November of that year Della Cheney (Juneau) gave the Collaborative permission to use the phrase “I toowú klatseen,” which means “strengthen your spirit” as part of the program name. The phrase encompasses the goals of the program to engage physical, mental, and spiritual health. Ati Nasiah reached out to Ricky Tagaban (Juneau), who gave the Collaborative its logo.
At this time the Collaborative continued its attempt to adapt the Michigan pilot program with the help of Mary Folleti (Juneau). By the summer of 2013, the Collaborative recognized that even their adaptation of the program still failed to meet the previously identified needs.
Additionally, several partners stepped back due to changes in funding capacity. AWARE and SAFV still recognized the importance of the initiative, sensing the continued demand and need for a program to promote respect and nonviolence among boys through physical activity. They maintained the Collaborative’s title, logo, and goals, but decided to develop the curriculum from the ground up. Anne Brice and Elena Gustafson of SAFV provided a clear vision and mission to provide to curriculum developer Lauren Havens (Sitka).
In order to make the new curriculum culturally inclusive from its inception, SAFV partnered with the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and met with a group of local Native Alaskan men to gather ideas and guidance. This group included Herman K. Davis, Jeremy Strong, Gerry Hope, Mike Baines, Bob Sam, Brian James, John Young, and facilitator Chuck Miller, who provided valuable input during the community meeting in Sitka.
Curriculum development began at the start of 2014. SAFV and AWARE staff, including Richard Radford, continued to work together to provide ideas, feedback, and guidance to ensure that the groundwork of the Collaborative and the input of cultural advisors was honored. Chuck Miller (Sitka) from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Sitka Native Education Program worked with SAFV staff to provide feedback on the curriculum. AWARE consulted with Lance Twitchell (Juneau) on language inclusion and education. The final draft of the pilot curriculum was reviewed by Chris Bryner (Sitka School District), Victoria D’Amico (SAFV), Kristine Hole (Sitka School District), Heather Powell (Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Sitka Native Education Program), and Saralyn Tabachnick (AWARE).
In fall of 2014, Boys Run I toowú klatseen: Strengthen Your Spirit piloted its first season in Juneau and Sitka with great success. In spring of 2015, the Collaborative conducted extensive evaluation with the help of coaches in both communities to guide a comprehensive revision process, with help from Melissa Johnson and Cecelia Westman of AWARE, curriculum developer Emily Clark (Sitka), and cultural advisor Sorrell Goodwin (Juneau).
Since these early days, Boys Run I toowú klatseen has continued to work tirelessly to establish a legacy of helping young boys in Southeast Alaska “strengthen their spirits” as they build skills for promoting respect and nonviolence. AWARE and SAFV are incredibly grateful for all of the Collaborative’s partners’ enthusiasm and support throughout the development of the program.
Boys Run Collaborative Process
The establishment of Boys Run I toowú klatseen was undertaken with an intentional and unique process of development. Arriving at the pilot program was a multi-year process, supported by many partners, and the Collaborative strived to be nonhierarchical—to recognize individual strengths, create space for all voices to be heard, and ensure that everyone had a clear role to play. The Collaborative is not driven by any one person or agency; it has developed its own independent momentum that has yielded expansive impact and sustainability. Because the program curriculum is grounded in Southeast Alaskan traditional tribal values, the development process recognized and tried to honor an inclusive way of working together, listening, thinking, and communicating. Where the other pilot programs failed to address Southeast Alaska’s specific needs, the final version of the Collaborative’s curriculum was developed via group discussion and consensus, and maintained integrity to the holistic picture of where Boys Run I toowú klatseen fits into the communities and region.
In creating a program that teaches the values of respect and nonviolence, the Collaborative had to develop an internal operation that also modeled these values. The Collaboration’s decision making process aims to emulate violence prevention practices and leadership styles that allow for greater potential to redefine and reimagine our world. This model aims to re-establish a method of collaboration that does not mirror oppressive societal systems that employ unilateral and exclusionary decision making. The process led to a program with a depth and comprehensiveness that reflects the Collaborative’s own values. While the prevention coalitions in Juneau and Sitka were already practicing this approach in some areas, the Boys Run Southeast Alaska Collaborative helped to solidify the path and demonstrate that the process works.
The Collaborative envisions a world in which boys are equipped with the skills to help create and maintain a culture of respect and nonviolence. Boys Run I toowú klatseen encourages boys to question social norms, to reimagine what it means to be respectful peers, and to become men with strength of spirit. The Collaborative expects this of the boys, as it has expected the same of itself during the development of the program and curriculum. The Collaborative hopes that its inclusive and collaborative process can be a model for future violence prevention programs, and that the Boys Runs community continues to carry the sentiment and practice of consensus-based decision making.
