After six and half years, Mike Hoffman said that he can finally leave his cell phone back home on the nightstand when he goes out in Bethel.
"I'm just hoping that I make it through hunting season, through October," Hoffman said.
Hoffman said that he’s determined to make his departure as executive director of the nonprofit vocational center Yuut Elitnaurviat stick. It’s his third attempt at retirement.
"It's been, it's been a real joy this last run," Hoffman said.
For Hoffman, Yuut Elitnaurviat and its sprawling 10-acre campus in Bethel are a jewel of the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta.
"If you haven't been over to Yuut [Elitnaurviat], you need to get over there because I think that's the best kept secret of the whole region," Hoffman said.
During his tenure at the vocational center, Hoffman said that he spent most of his time chasing down funding for wide-ranging programs from construction trades and adult education to aircraft maintenance, nursing, and village public safety. Those programs have made Yuut Elitnaurviat a job creator for the region.
Hoffman said that some of the highest-paying among those jobs are in aircraft maintenance. As a third-generation pilot with more than 50 years flying in the Y-K Delta, aviation is in his blood.
"There are 56 villages surrounding Bethel, no roads connecting any of them. Aviation is going to be here for quite a while. There's a lot of airplanes that need to have their maintenance worked on," Hoffman said. "Good thing about that is once you get that license you can work anywhere in the world."
Hoffman came to Yuut Elitnaurviat following a decade working for one of the center’s core partners, regional tribal nonprofit the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP). He brought not only his knack for capturing funding, but also the seeds of an aviation mechanic school that had failed to get off the ground at AVCP.
AVCP ultimately gave Yuut Elitnaurviat its airplane hangar to be used for what would become an intensive 18-month aircraft maintenance program. As Hoffman clocked out for the last time in May, the program had produced a dozen licensed aircraft mechanics from the region, a number he said that he hopes continues to grow.
Hoffman has passed the executive director torch at Yuut Elitnaurviat to another person with a can-do attitude – a household name in her hometown of Bethel where she recently returned to live full-time – Valerie Davidson.
"My Yupik names are Nurr'araaluk Amillamarnan, and my English name is Valerie Davidson," Davidson said.
In 2024, Davidson passed a torch of her own when she unexpectedly stepped down as president and CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), the largest tribal health organization in the state. Davidson said that the move came because the consortium’s board wanted to go “in a different direction,” but that the change was amicable.
"Small, but absolutely mighty"
If it were possible to be overqualified for the job at Yuut Elitnaurviat, Davidson’s resume might quickly be flagged. She brings 25 years of experience in healthcare administration, multiple stints in public office, and numerous achievements empowering underserved communities. She holds the titles of the first female president of Alaska Pacific University (APU) and the first female Alaska Native lieutenant governor. Under Gov. Bill Walker she served as the commissioner of the State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, a role in which she achieved a milestone in Medicaid expansion for the state.
Only a couple days into her new job, Davidson said she was thrilled to return to Bethel permanently and take the helm at Yuut Elitnaurviat.
"At the end of every day my face hurts because I can't stop smiling. It's just an incredible, incredible organization, and the team is small, but absolutely mighty," Davidson said.
The longest-standing member of this team, Director of Operations Tiffany Tony, said that she was hesitant when she reached out directly to Davidson about the job in 2024. But as the deadline loomed, Davidson had a change of heart.
"This spring, when she called, I about fell out of my chair," Tony said.
Yuut Elitnaurviat faces historic uncertainty when it comes to federal funding, but Tony said that the organization could not be in better hands. On top of her professional experience and connections, Tony said that Davidson’s connections to the community are hard to ignore.
"If [Davidson] walks into a room there's, like, a hug line. She must have the immune system to end all immune systems because people hug her nonstop," Tony said.
Davidson said that Bethel is where she feels her true self.
"When I'm here, I'm who I really am as a person and not what I do for a job," Davidson said.
Davidson said that there will inevitably be challenges ahead for Yuut Elitnaurviat, but she said that she has seen the ways that adversity can lead to creative solutions. She cites as an example the way that limited funding led to the creation of health aide programs in the Y-K Delta, which have both provided greater access to healthcare and a pathway for people to stay in and care for their own communities.
With hundreds of people from across the region gaining new skills through Yuut Elitnaurviat’s programs each year, Davidson said that she’s proud to continue this mission.
"Yuut [Elitnaurviat] really tailors programs to meet the needs of employers who have job openings right now. So it's not like, 'I'm going to learn how to do this and maybe I'll get a job.' There will be a job waiting for you if you complete a program here," Davidson said.
And unless you’re Mike Hoffman, having a job waiting for you in the region you call home is probably pretty good news.
