Help Stop the Violence
Against Indigenous People

Download the MMIP Service Delivery Guide to help recover from and prevent MMIP in your community.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Help Stop the Violence Against Indigenous People

Download the MMIP Service Delivery Guide to help recover from and prevent MMIP in your community.

DOWNLOAD MMIP GUIDE

Yuuyaraq/Yuuluaqallerkaq

Our Way of life, Living well: Life is very precious.

Everything continues as a cycle in our families and communities. We must strive to understand that taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally helps to maintain balance. When we stop taking care of one area of our well-being the others will be affected. This is important to practice continually throughout life, not just when hardship or trauma occurs. Our teachings are truly our medicine.

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Yuuyaraq/Yuuluaqallerkaq

Our Way of life, Living well: Life is very precious.

Everything continues as a cycle in our families and communities. We must strive to understand that taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally helps to maintain balance. When we stop taking care of one area of our well-being the others will be affected. This is important to practice continually throughout life, not just when hardship or trauma occurs. Our teachings are truly our medicine.

Learn More

“Our cultural values tell us that prevention of violence starts from a place of wholeness, of being well as a person in a healthy community.”

AVCP CEO

To request information from the public to help find a missing loved one in the AVCP Region, email us at:

AVCP takes a holistic approach not just to end the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) in our region, but to take claim for the wellness of all the people of our region.

Learn More

–

Inerqutet Aturluki Yuukumta Utumaurluta Yuuciqukut

When we respect others and follow the traditional teachings, our lives will be in harmony.

We envision a future with dramatically reduced statistics of violence against our people as we heal ourselves with our cultures and share our indigenous knowledge for solutions.

Visit Our Resources Page

JOIN US EVERY MARCH 12TH IN HONORING

Ashley Johnson-
Barr Day

March 12th is Ashley Johnson-Barr Day in Alaska, a time to remember the life and memory of a young girl taken too soon. Ashley went missing on September 8, 2018 in the Iñupiat town of Kotzebue, Alaska. Her body was found eight days later.

Offer tribute to Ashley’s memory by taking action to protect children like her. Children are our most precious resource and each of us has a part to play in ensuring they can live and grow in safe and healthy communities.

Put Into Practice

Wear purple on March 12th in Alaska to honor Ashley Johnson-Barr and the countless other Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Commit to doing what you can to create and maintain a safe and healthy home and community. Use traditional customs and values to guide you each day in practicing and teaching about living well.

MMIP-YK News & Events

AVCP Welcomes the Findings of the Not Invisible Act Commission Report and Calls for Action

November 3, 2023

Not One More is the recurring theme of the report from the Not Invisible Act (NIA) Commission’s new report issued after holding field hearings across the country, including in Alaska.

Read More Here

Indigenous women are disappearing and being murdered at disproportionately high rates throughout the United States and Canada.

The percentage of missing persons identified as American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) is more than three times their percentage of the population.¹

1 Congressional Research Service 2022

Yup’ik Spirit Mask

Umyuaqun (In Remembrance)

The mask is designed as a Yup’ik Spirit Mask.
The name of the mask is Umyuaqun or “In Remembrance”.

The mask itself represents the Earth.
The outer rings represent the Sun and the Moon.

The red hand represents our people who are either missing or murdered. The hand is designed with a hole in the palm and symbolizes a portal between the spirit
world and the present. The hole in the hand also symbolizes that our relatives still have a voice through dreams and through their namesakes who were named
after them. The hole is a portal between those that no longer have a presence on this earth and all of us who are left behind.

The outer rings or hoops around the mask
represent the universe we live in.

Spirit Masks are connections to
our relatives and all of our ancestors.

May 24, 2023

The circular shape of the mask depicts that
our world has a beginning and an end, and then a new beginning, where we are reborn through a naming process. This means that those that have gone before us will never be lost or forgotten.

The missing thumb symbolizes when spirits go
through the portal on the hand and come back to
the present, the spirits could not and will not hold
them back from coming to visit us. Because the
hand has no thumb, it can’t hold spirits from
coming back to visit during the times of celebrations.

The four white feathers represent the four
directions of the earth: North, South, West and East.

The four feathers also represent the four seasons:
Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

The three black dots on the feathers depict our connection with the Earth, Sun and the Moon.

Yup’ik Spirit Mask

Umyuaqun (In Remembrance)

Spirit Masks are connections to
our relatives and all of our ancestors.

May 24, 2023

Spirit Masks are connections to
our relatives and all of our ancestors.

May 24, 2023

The mask is designed as a Yup’ik Spirit Mask.
The name of the mask is Umyuaqun or “In Remembrance”.

The mask itself represents the Earth.
The outer rings represent the Sun and the Moon.

The red hand represents our people who are either missing or murdered. The hand is designed with a hole in the palm and symbolizes a portal between the spirit world and the present. The hole in the hand also symbolizes that our relatives still have a voice through dreams and through their namesakes who were named after them. The hole is a portal between those that no longer have a presence on this earth and all of us who are left behind.

The outer rings or hoops around the mask
represent the universe we live in.

The circular shape of the mask depicts that
our world has a beginning and an end, and then a new beginning, where we are reborn through a naming process. This means that those that have gone before us will never be lost or forgotten.

The missing thumb symbolizes when spirits go
through the portal on the hand and come back to
the present, the spirits could not and will not hold
them back from coming to visit us. Because the
hand has no thumb, it can’t hold spirits from
coming back to visit during the times of celebrations.

The four white feathers represent the four
directions of the earth: North, South, West and East.

The four feathers also represent the four seasons:
Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

The three black dots on the feathers depict our connection with the Earth, Sun and the Moon.

Get Involved

Here’s How
AVCP Can Help
Your Tribal Community

Download MMIP Guide

Public Safety Is Our Number One Priority

AVCP is on the forefront of advocacy for rural Public Safety.
Tune into our quarterly teleconferences for updates on our most recent advocacy efforts.

Learn More

Tribal Sovereignty Is Our Foundation

Contact our Tribal Justice Department under our Community Services Division at to register for our current series on Domestic Violence and Protection Orders for Tribal Courts. Learn more about how your tribe can protect the vulnerable in our communities.

Visit AVCP Tribal Justice

Our Culture Is Our Strength

Contact the Healthy Families Department under our Family Services Division at to learn how Healthy Families can be a resource to tribal members in your community. Through Elluarrluteng Ilakutellriit we can promote strong and healthy relationships.

Visit AVCP Healthy Families