Spring into a brighter future with Spruce Root
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Spring is a great reminder to take care of yourself, whether that’s through growing your business through workshops or lending, developing your career skills or increasing financial wellness understanding.
In this edition of the Spruce Root newsletter, learn more about our Resilience Circles program for Indigenous entrepreneurs, how to make personal finances less complicated and how young people are discovering climate-resilient jobs.
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Resilience Circles Physical Wellness Practitioner Chris Bryant, left, leads participants through a series of outdoor activities and exercises during an in-person gathering. (Photo courtesy of Scott Burton)
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Resilience Circles helps Indigenous entrepreneurs scale their business up
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Seeking an opportunity to scale Native business and well-being in Alaska, in 2023, Spruce Root and Jump/Scale launched Alaska Native Resilience Circles, a year-long, cohort-based program to support Indigenous entrepreneurs.
This initiative strengthens the capacities of Alaska Native enterprises for ecosystem guardianship, long-term economic resilience, comprehensive well-being and community mental health.
Resilience Circles takes a holistic approach to entrepreneurship, recognizing that healthy communities rely on strong local businesses, and business success is deeply connected to personal and cultural well-being.
Participants engage in a series of in-person and virtual workshops that cover a wide range of topics: personal and business financial planning, marketing and branding, physical health and nutrition, mental health, and Indigenous culture and values.
By integrating financial knowledge with cultural grounding and wellness practices, the program fosters sustainable growth for both individuals and their businesses.
By the end of the year, Resilience Circles participants emerge with enhanced business skills and a stronger support network of fellow Indigenous entrepreneurs. This program is more than business training — it is a movement to reclaim and sustain Indigenous knowledge, wellness and economic sovereignty across Alaska.
Spruce Root and Jump/Scale are honored to cultivate this space, empowering Native entrepreneurs to thrive in a way that reflects their values, strengthens their communities and ensures long-term resilience.
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Take control of your financial future
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Join us for a virtual Financial Wellness workshop March 27-28 and gain the knowledge and tools to build a brighter financial future, whether you dream of buying a home, saving for retirement or just making everyday finances easier.
This workshop is designed for Southeast Alaskans and Sealaska shareholders anywhere, especially those in rural areas.
Personal financial empowerment is the first step to controlling one's financial future. Financial Wellness is a virtual two-day workshop that will cover a range of strategies to improve your relationship with money.
You will learn:
- Financial Goal Setting
- How to Create a Spending Plan
- Money Management Strategies
- How to Understand Credit
- Wealth Building Strategies
Registration closes 11:59 p.m. AK Time, March 17th — so don't miss out!
For more information and to apply go to spruceroot.org/financialwellness
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Michael Mausbach, left, and Haley Armstrong share career development and financial wellness tips during the Angoon Career Fair. (Photo by Emma Hamilton/Renewable Energy Alaska Project)
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Second annual Angoon Career Fair focuses on climate resilience
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Spruce Root staff recently traveled to the community of Angoon to participate in a two-day career fair at Angoon High School.
Held alongside the second annual Kookesh Basketball Invitational, the event provided an opportunity to connect with students, community members, and local partners in meaningful ways.
During the fair, Workforce Development Program Manager Michael Mausbach and Financial Wellness Program Manager Haley Armstrong led a session for high school juniors and seniors on making any job climate-resilient and strengthening financial stability.
In Southeast Alaska, where livelihoods are deeply tied to the land and sea, climate resilience is both an environmental and economic necessity.
“The way we work, commute to and engage in our workplaces and communities shapes our collective ability to adapt,” Michael said. “Even in the face of uncertainty, we have control over how we contribute to a more climate-resilient future through our daily choices and professional practices.”
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Upcoming small business grants & opportunities
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Spruce Root is hiring for two key positions:
- Program Manager for Small Business, Technical Assistance
- Strategic Communications Fellow (Alaska Fellows Program)
To learn more about these career opportunities at Spruce Root, go to www.spruceroot.org/careers.
Decarbonizing the Tongass request for proposals
- Spruce Root is seeking a supply-install contractor to furnish equipment and provide labor with an apprenticeship component to install approximately 240 air source heat pumps (ASHPs) on Prince of Wales Island during the 2025, 2026, and 2027 construction seasons.
- Spruce Root is also seeking an outreach contractor to perform a property assessment to help rural Alaska households determine if a heat pump is right for them, facilitate the program application process and conduct consumer education to foster understanding of heat pump technology for heating homes and how to use them to derive maximum benefit.
Deadline to apply is March 15.
To learn more or to submit a proposal, please visit https://www.spruceroot.org/heatpumprfp
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Thank you to all our partners, supporters, donors and communities for continuing to share in our vision for the region!
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Spruce Root is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Our services for small businesses include coaching, training and lending for startup enterprises, working capital, business expansion, leasehold improvements and other business capital needs. We are a driver of a regenerative economy across Southeast Alaska so communities can forge futures grounded in this uniquely Indigenous place.
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