Southeast Conference (SEC) is a regional strengthening partner within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (OneUSDA) Southeast Alaska Sustainable Strategy (SASS) initiative. We are incredibly grateful to be working with our partners at OneUSDA, Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and Spruce Root on our shared mission to undertake and support activities that promote strong economies, sustainable communities, and a healthy environment in Southeast Alaska.

What makes the SASS initiative so unique, and impactful, is the focus on locally driven projects. SASS empowers its regional strengthening partners to lead and coordinate projects that sustain and strengthen local economies.

We are excited to be a part of this game-changing shift represented by SASS and its innovative, flexible approach to sustainable economic development and building community capacity. Together we are seizing the moment when priorities are more aligned than ever to create a model that we hope becomes the “new norm” and overcomes long-standing barriers to equity and prosperity.

SEC’s activities as a SASS regional strengthening partner are described in this report.  These investments build on the foundation of the state and federally recognized regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), which prioritizes the most impactful initiatives to strengthen Southeast Alaska’s economy and communities.

Our SASS efforts help inform place-based models of collaborative regional economic diversification and make it easier to assess progress, build the capacity of local organizations, and support sustainable economic growth.

These on-going efforts include convening key partners, conducting targeted research, developing application and award materials for sub-awardees, conducting final due diligence on sub-awardee projects, making sub-awardee decisions, and collecting annual sub-awardee reports and monitoring progress.