Senator Stedman (middle) addresses the Southeast Conference with Representative Peggy Wilson (right) and Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (left).
The annual Southeast Conference Mid-Session Summit was held last week in Juneau. Southeast Conference was formed in 1958 as an association of communities joined to advocate for the establishment of the Alaska Marine Highway System. Since its inception, Southeast Conference has expanded both its membership base and its overall mission. Today, Southeast Conference is a regional, nonprofit corporation that advances the collective interests of the people, communities, and businesses in Southeast Alaska.
Southeast Conference is the State-designated Alaska Regional Development Organization, and the federally-designated Economic Development District, for Southeast Alaska. Each of these designations requires Southeast Conference to take an active role in regional resource management and economic development planning.
During last week’s Mid-Session Summit, Southeast leaders were in town to discuss issues vital to our region including energy, resource development, transportation, and economic development. The Summit also provides members a chance to meet with lawmakers. I had the opportunity to speak at the Conference’s Legislative Panel, along with State Representatives from Southeast. I’d like to thank the Southeast Conference staff and board of directors for organizing another great Mid-Session Summit.
This fall, the Southeast Conference annual meeting will be held September 17-19 in Sitka. I’m looking forward to that meeting because we plan to talk about a stronger and more unified voice for Southeast Alaska. We need to have all communities both large and small working together as a cohesive group to push for economic development and energy expansion in our region.
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