This September, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center will host Working Across Systems for Alaska Communities as part of the official Climate Week NYC 2026 Events Program.
Climate Week NYC brings together events, discussions, organizations, and leaders from across sectors to exchange ideas, build partnerships, and turn climate ambition into action.
Alaska presents a unique landscape for advocacy and public policy. Tribal, local, state, and federal governments often overlap, and decisions made at one level can have significant consequences for communities, public participation, land and water, and long-term environmental decision-making.
This panel will explore how nonprofit organizations, community advocates, Tribal leaders, and government representatives navigate these overlapping systems to share information, strengthen public participation, and advance community priorities.
Panelists will discuss both the opportunities and challenges of working across governmental and community structures, including how organizations can build effective partnerships while respecting Tribal sovereignty, local leadership, and the distinct roles and responsibilities of different institutions.
The conversation will also look at how collaboration works in practice: how information moves between communities and agencies, how public participation can be strengthened, where institutional barriers arise, and how relationships across systems can lead to more durable and responsive outcomes.
While the discussion is grounded in Alaska, the lessons extend well beyond the state. Communities across the country are navigating increasingly complex regulatory, governmental, and civic systems, and Alaska offers important examples of what it takes to work across jurisdictions while keeping community priorities at the center.
Event Details
Working Across Systems for Alaska Communities
Friday, September 25, 2026
10:00–11:30 a.m. ET
Hybrid event
Participants may attend in person in New York City or join virtually.
Registration is free and required.
Register for the event
As an official Climate Week NYC event host, NAEC is joining organizations from around the world in conversations focused on collaboration, resilience, partnership, and action. The Climate Week NYC host toolkit encourages official events to bring together perspectives from government, communities, civil society, business, academia, and other sectors to help move ideas toward meaningful progress.
