Coordinating with Tribes, cities and corporations, Kawerak is celebrating as construction is nearly complete on new multipurpose buildings in five Bering Strait region communities after this summer’s building season. The buildings in Teller, Elim, Shaktoolik, Gambell, and Shishmaref are funded by $12 million dollars obtained from federal Covid-19 CARES grant funding, providing 1000 sq ft for three offices, a mechanical room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen at each location.
Cheri McConnell is Senior Vice President of the new Infrastructure Division at Kawerak and inherited this project as she stepped into her new role in spring of 2025. Cheri said the projects really came together over a short timeline, thanks to the cooperation of the city, Tribe, and Native corporations in each community. Tri-org communication helped to ensure smooth operation and cooperation at each location.
“I really wanted all the organizations involved. It helped when everyone has all the information equally. With that kind of comprehensive communication, things really got done!” Cheri said.
The modular buildings, Cheri said, are built with the possibility and intention for expansion, with each including built-in infrastructure to accommodate increasing the square footage. Additional funding, however, will be required to support this development for each of the community locations.
“We wanted to keep the door open to add additional space. So, they’re specifically designed with the idea of expansion with potential future funding. An additional side could be added for a bigger gathering space,” Cheri said.
The two halves of Teller’s Multipurpose Building rolled down the Nome-Teller Highway earlier this summer where they were “married” together and joined to power, heat, a 2000-gallon fuel tank, a sewage treatment system, and three insulated 2500-gallon water tanks.
In addition to tri-org coordination on the ground in each community, the projects’ successes are also credited to the team of professional partners that helped to see the multipurpose buildings to the finish. Partners included Bore Tide Construction, ECI / Hyer, Inc. for architecture and design, project planning by Arcadis, and Q Trucking for ground transportation support to Teller.
Kawerak’s Transportation and Housing team made trips over the summer to see the buildings progress in the communities, with a recent trip marathon tour day this fall, stopping in Shaktoolik, Elim, and Shishmaref. They were excited to set eyes on the nearly complete multipurpose buildings at each site.
The Multipurpose Building project in Gambell, nearly finalized as of early October. The building sits next to the Presbyterian Church and up the road from the school.
After a tour alongside Cheri McConnell a little earlier this fall, Gambell Tribal Coordinator Cheryl Lowery said she was glad to see this project coming together. Gambell is excited to have new spaces to support the community’s needs, providing offices for the Tribe. Cheryl said the building process moved forward pretty quickly, with paperwork going through at the end of 2025 and construction taking place this summer. She also expressed hope for future funding to expand the building, which would open up more opportunities to utilize the new space for larger community gatherings and celebrations.
“And maybe once, if that funding goes through and it’s able to expand, at that point, it would be a little easier to have a large group of people in there,” Cheryl explained.
A Background on Funding
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the federal government made funding available through the Coronavirus Relief Fund. From this, the CARES Act provided payments to state, local, and tribal governments navigating the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Coordinating with Alaska state representatives Neal Foster and Donny Olson, Kawerak consulted regional communities’ LEDPs and planning documents to develop a grant, soliciting a portion of the CARES funding to support the multipurpose building project. Teller, Elim, Shaktoolik, Gambell, and Shishmaref will now have a central location to house and coordinate pandemic relief, if the need were to arise again in the future.
As the window for use of the available funding is nearing completion, Cheri says she is happy to see the projects moving forward with final details going into place.
“It’s been a bit of a pressure cooker. I’m glad to see this come to fruition. I’m excited about the buildings getting out,” Cheri said.
Back in Gambell, Cheryl said the community is happy to see the project coming to a close.
“We want to thank Kawerak and everybody that’s taken part in getting this done,” Cheryl said.
Each of the communities will coordinate a date for an opening celebration for their multipurpose building in the coming months.
