ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Alaska Native Heritage Center healing garden will expand over the next five years, roughly doubling in size, thanks to grant funding.
The center was awarded $3.5 million from the Mellon Foundation and several thousands of dollars more from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which will be used to build an additional nine moments at the center’s healing garden.
“For me to work in this position and to work in the community is very rewarding,” said Marilyn Balluta, the senior manager for the community healing garden and monuments. “The project name Ngíisdla is a Haida name that means to heal, to recover from the traumas of our people that has happened through either boarding school, generational trauma … I could go on with the list.”
Each monument will be created by an Alaska Native artist, the center said. The artist and type of monument to be built has yet to be decided…