Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska

Thanks for tuning in! In this episode, YAHA member Star continues her conversation with Amanda Metivier, Executive Director of the non-profit Facing Foster Care In Alaska. After growing up in the foster care system, Amanda has become a champion for change.  Star and Amanda discuss how youth can advocate for themselves in and out of the foster care system, how the community can help, and what gives...

Thanks for tuning in!  In this episode, YAHA member Star interviews Amanda Metivier, Executive Director of the non-profit Facing Foster Care In Alaska. After growing up in the foster care system, Amanda has become a champion for change.  Star and Amanda sat down to discuss Amanda’s personal experience growing up in foster care, and the work she and other advocates are doing to better the child pro...

Welcome to YAHA Yaps, a youth-led podcast that explores health, well-being, and community as seen through the eyes of Alaska youth. YAHA stands for Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska. We’re a public health group from different parts of Alaska, working to bring awareness toward big issues in our state, such as youth mental health, houselessness, reproductive and sexual health, relationship and h...

In this episode, we look at Covid-19 from the perspective of two political figures in Alaska: Mike Dunleavy, Governor of Alaska, and Edna DeVries, mayor of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. We sat down and interviewed Governor Dunleavy and Mayor DeVries in separate conversations, but both were in-depth discussions about how COVID-19 has both directly and indirectly affected Alaska's population as wel...

In this episode, we look at Covid from the perspective of two Matanuska-Susitna School District officials: Dr. Randy Trainy, who is the Superintendent of the Mat-Su school district, and Dr. Justin Ainsworth, who is one of the school districts’ Associate Superintendents.  In this joint interview, Dr. Trainy and Dr. Ainsworth discuss Covid-19 mitigation in Mat-Su schools, the mental health impacts o...

In this episode, we look at Covid from the perspective of Youth in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. In the first conversation, we hear from a group of four upperclassmen; in the second conversation, we'll hear from a group of three underclassmen. We recorded these roundtable discussions during Spring Break and, while most teenagers were hanging out with friends, these youth took time out of their wel...

In this episode, hosts Ben Kolendo and Avery Palenske have two conversations, one with Elizabeth Ripley and another with Dr. Anne Zink. Ripley sits on the Board of Directors of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and discusses COVID mitigation in Mat-Su schools, the mental health impacts of the pandemic, and how the cancellation of the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey impacted our ability to review...

Real Talk with Real Youth is hosted by Ben Kolendo and Avery Palenske. Follow along as they facilitate youth-mediated conversations on different sides of the COVID-19 debate to help the audience form their own opinions.