MMIW Resources
Indigenous women are disappearing and being murdered at alarming rates throughout the United States and Canada. Alaska continues to have one of the highest rates which is devastating for our communities and our families.
This Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) Resource page is meant to provide current information on this national crisis, answer questions and provide resources as to what you and your community can do to help or how to become involved in the national movement to stop the abduction and murder of our Indigenous sisters, mothers and daughters.
Please return periodically to this resource page as the AKNWRC will continue to add links, resources and action items.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women: An Action Plan for Alaska Native Communities
Alaskan Indigenous communities are encouraged to use this Toolkit as a guide for developing a plan of action that will include awareness, prevention, and intervention strategies. This toolkit can also be used as a guide for community organizing when someone goes missing. The suggestions in this Toolkit are not a checklist but rather a collection of ideas, tasks and suggestions of what can be done within a community to support a family facing crisis — and ways to respond in an organized manner when one of our mothers, aunties, sisters or children have gone missing or is found murdered. This Toolkit will be continuously updated and will evolve as new resources are found and strategies are developed.
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Presentation by FEMA
In our communities, far too often someone goes missing and we have no tribally controlled way to alert the community other than word of mouth, social media. The Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center wants to share with tribes and communities, effective alert systems that are available to Tribal governments and funding possibilities for start-up costs.
Please enjoy this presentation on the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) which is a free internet-based tool that tribal officials can use to issue public alerts and warnings, such as Missing Person alerts, health safety alerts related to COVID, or other priorities, to your village. IPAWS allows tribes the capability to deliver a single alert simultaneously through multiple communication pathways, reaching as many people as possible to save lives and protect property. These communication pathways include:
- Wireless Emergency Alerts (cell phones)
- Emergency Alert System (radio and television)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Weather Radio
- Unique Alerting systems (sirens, digital road signs, etc.)
