©Jose Azel Aurora/IPNSTOCK

First Alaskans Institute will be issuing a Call for Presentations for those individuals and organizations interested in presenting and/or speaking during the 2006 Conference.

54 high school students made up the first AFN Youth Conference in 1984, which was created in response to a resolution passed by delegates at the AFN Convention in 1983.

Later in the decade, AFN created a Native Elders Conference to the AFN Convention week. Before long the youth and grandparents came together to create the Elders and Youth Conference.

Since those early days, participation has grown to nearly 1000 elder and youth, with representation from the five main Alaska Native Cultural Groups.

2005 was the second year that First Alaskans Institute supported and managed the event. For additional information on the Alaskans Elders and Youth Conference, please visit www.FirstAlaskans.org