Woven Peoples and Place: Skagway Development Corp.’s community partnership and holistic development

Shg̱agwéi (Skagway) is a small community located at the north end of the Lynn Canal with roughly 800 year-round residents. Located within a lush and vibrant mountainous valley, Shg̱agwéi was named “Place with solid core trees” by the Lingít. Shg̱agwéi has a long and rich history as the land of Lḵoot Ḵwáan, the Ancestral People of Chilkoot. Today, local partners are finding ways to balance a growing visitor industry with community priorities, building year-round prosperity.

Shg̱agwéi is one of the newest communities to host a community catalyst in the Sustainable Southeast Partnership (SSP), a collective impact network, at Skagway Development Corporation (SDC) in their Community Development Services program. Generally, SDC focuses on local business support and community development through initiatives like the Small Business Resource Center and the “Made in Skagway” program, but will take on other projects based on their community’s needs and interests.

Over the years, SDC-Community Development Services, where the community catalyst is hosted, has evolved to meet the unique needs of Shg̱agwéi. Some key areas include fostering cultural, ecological, and economic resilience through collaboration. Along with the Catalyst program, SDC-Community Development Services also provides fiscal sponsorship to several community groups.

This last summer, SSP Storytelling and Engagement Intern Addy Mallott sat down with outgoing Community Catalyst Jake Watson to learn about his work, his professional life in tourism before becoming a catalyst, and the role SDC plays in his community. Jake emphasized the importance of partnership, expressing gratitude to local partners such as the Skagway Traditional Council for their environmental work and support of the spring workforce orientation program “Welcome to Shg̱agwéi.” Over the years, SDC has also had support from regional SSP partners such as Spruce Root and Southeast Conference.

“I am lucky enough to work on a bunch of different projects with different partners with the goal of upholding our community in any way that we can — shared tenets of SSP in mind,” Watson said. “It comes down to respect for the environment, honoring Indigenous peoples, respect for each other, and finding a way to move forward that’s not only successful economically, but successful in a way that is environmentally conscious.”

Moving forward, SDC is hiring a new community catalyst to continue expanding these efforts and the projects that come with the role.

Economic Diversification and Workforce Development

“In Skagway, sustainability is especially crucial due to our seasonal economy. We need to promote growth that isn’t solely dependent on the summer months, but year-round,” Skagway Development Corporation Executive Director Eliza Russell said. “Sustainability encompasses environmental, social, and economic dimensions, focusing on building a community where people are supported, businesses thrive year-round, and natural resources are responsibly managed for the benefit of future generations.”

Eliza was once the Skagway community catalyst, but left Skagway due to lack of housing options. Missing Skagway deeply, she returned as soon as she was able to as Skagway Development Corporation’s executive director. As SDC’s executive director, she believes that sustainability is about thriving for long-term success, creating systems and communities that can adapt, grow and sustain themselves without depleting the resources on which we depend. This involves creating diverse economic opportunities, nurturing small business development, and fostering sustainable practices in tourism, energy and local development.

One of Eliza’s key aspirations is to help shift the narrative of Skagway as a town that “shuts down” in the winter. While it’s true that many businesses close during the off-season, Skagway is a year-round community with a vibrant landscape, history, culture and opportunities. Eliza has hopes of doing more research to identify other industries beyond tourism that can thrive in the community.

Initially, the Skagway community catalyst position focused on projects like watershed management, invasive species and teaching youth to build bat boxes back when Eliza sat in the role. Over time the role has expanded to include workforce orientation, small business assistance and promoting energy-efficient solutions.

Outside of her day job, Eliza also volunteers with the Skagway Child Care Council, a passion project which she believes is closely tied to supporting a resilient workforce.

“Accessible childcare is foundational for a stable workforce,” she said. “It creates balance in the lives of our community members.”

The efforts of the Skagway Child Care Council support early childhood education and provide quality child care, so that parents have the stability and resources they need to thrive in their careers. With her newborn daughter Sage in her lap, she expressed how grateful she is to be doing this work and to be able to have her daughter with her at work.

SDC is also focused on workforce growth with its eyes on developing an apprenticeship program, a spring job fair for Skagway youth, essential tech tool workshops for entrepreneurs and small business owners, and continuing to host business mixers to encourage networking.

“Made in Skagway”

Today, if you walk the streets of Shg̱agwéi, you will see window shops proudly adorned with a block print logo of a mountainous valley with the boldened words “Made in Skagway.” This marks that that business is participating in the “Made in Skagway” program, selling or creating local products.

“Made in Skagway” started in 2015 with a goal to promote local artists, creators and their products and — after being stunted during COVID — is regaining traction within the community.

“We’re revamping the program to get more artists involved and widen our scope so that visitors can look for our ‘Made in Skagway’ symbol on items and know that it is locally made and quality,” Jake said. “It gives visitors some really unique options.” ‘Made in Skagway’ is creating diverse economic opportunities, nurturing small business development, and fostering sustainable practices in tourism and local development.”

Remembering his days in tourism, Jake highlights why he believes this program will continue to succeed “You don’t want to go on vacation and see the same things at all the different ports. People really want to experience the uniqueness of each location that they’re going to, so we’re doing our part in that.”

“Welcome To Shg̱agwéi”

For the first time in a long time, Shg̱agwéi is reexamining its past through a new lens. Ten years ago, discussions about Shgagwéi’s history often began with the arrival of Westerners in the 1880s. Today, the opening pages of the Skagway Visitors Guide present a land acknowledgement and incorporate traditional languages. More inclusive histories are programmatically being incorporated across the community, and Skagway’s Shoreline Park Facility is adorned with a Lingít formline double-eagle art piece by lifelong Skagway resident Néechxwúduyaa Beau Dennis.

“It’s really been great to see that history changing and the knowledge base expanding,” Eliza said. “Right now in Skagway, we have the tourism director Jamie Bricker, who is also the president of Skagway Traditional Council leading the effort and teaches the cultural host class. She’s helped with quite a bit of these events for the ‘Welcome to Shg̱agwéi’ program, which was launched in 2023.”

The “Welcome to Shg̱agwéi” program is a spring training to educate and provide valuable training resources to seasonal workers about the culture and history of Shg̱agwéi. The program had about 20 different events in 2024 with a variety of local partners offering their time, space and resources. These partners include Skagway Traditional Council, the National Park Service, AWARE, Skagway Recreation Center, Skagway Bird Club, local historian and author Jeff Brady, and many local businesses.

“Shg̱agwéi gets over a million visitors a year so we have many seasonal workers coming here, just like I did 10 years ago. We wanted to come up with a way to get them acclimated to the community and educate them, so we do ‘Welcome to Skagway’. If tour guides don’t know enough about the history of this place, we give them free narration courses by Skagway Traditional Council,” Eliza said. Shg̱agwéi has always been an Indigenous place, and is moving toward recognizing and honoring this more fully.

Bringing the Community Together

One of Eliza’s personal passions is planning community events to bring people together, reinforcing the idea that Skagway is a vibrant, year-round community. For example, SDC recently hosted a housing stakeholder meeting focused on establishing a community land trust to address the housing crisis in Skagway. Events like “Trunk or Treat” for local businesses and the “Elf on the Shelf Hunt” on Small Business Saturday help keep the community engaged, particularly during quieter months.

“One of my key aspirations is to strengthen community engagement by creating more opportunities for residents to connect, share ideas, and collaborate on local projects. I believe that fostering these connections will help make Skagway a more resilient, inclusive place to live and work” Eliza said.

In addition to the events they host, SDC-Community Development Services a subsidiary of SDC runs a fiscal sponsorship program which supports several other community events throughout the year including PRIDE, Skagway Youth Athletics, the North Words Writers Symposium, Skagway Softball Association, and the Skagway Marathon — a list that continues to grow.

Looking Ahead

Looking to the future, a key goal for SDC will be to strengthen connections between Shg̱agwéi and the larger region, which is why being an SSP partner and hosting a community catalyst to engage with the region is so important to them.

“As a community situated far north on the fjord, we often find ourselves somewhat isolated—not just from the rest of Southeast Alaska, but also from the Golden Circle region extending into the Yukon” Eliza said. “Bridging that gap and fostering greater regional collaboration will be essential for the growth and sustainability of Skagway and its surrounding areas.”

Skagway locals who are interested in joining Skagway Development Corporation and the Sustainable Southeast Partnership can find the Skagway Community Catalyst job description and application on SDC’s website and social media pages.

• Shaelene Grace Moler and Eliza Russell contributed to this story.