The History of Alaska PYLI

In 1995, the Prudential Insurance Company started the National Sprit of Community Initiative and selected the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro North Carolina to develop a world class creative curriculum focused on community service for high school-aged youth. The Prudential/Points of Light Youth Leadership Institute (PYLI) community leadership training was created using tested adult organizational management and leadership development activities and principles to offer a truly transformational training.

In 1996, PYLI training began in 10 states, and sites were competitively selected and adults trained. The following year, Robert “Beau” Bassett was selected to receive a grant that allowed him to attend a national PYLI Train-The-Trainer Seminar, and upon completion, organized and conducted a PYLI training for 60 students in Washington.

Following that summer, Beau introduced PYLI to Anchorage, Alaska and formed a PYLI Community Advisory Committee to plan and organize the first Alaska PYLI student training in 1998. Jack White Real Estate became a lead local PYLI partner and sponsor along with several local businesses. By the end of the year, Friends of Alaska PYLI was formed and PYLI has been conducted in 14 states around the U.S.

The following year, Beau started the PYLI Graduate Assistant program to allow returning PYLI students to assist in the next Alaska PYLI. The PYLI Graduate Assistant Program went on to be one of the most impactful youth empowerment components of the program. Graduate Assistants would plan and organize the curriculum activities, lead and debrief students, and supervise social activities.

Concerned about sustaining Alaska PYLI youth training, Beau created the Alaska Youth Development Fund at the Alaska Community Foundation in honor of his parents, Betta Ann and Charles H. Bassett. He has donated several thousand dollars to get the fund established and it was one of the earliest funds at the new Alaska Community Foundation.

Beau received a $91,000 two-year grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to expand and sustain PYLI in Alaskan Communities. Alaska PYLI pioneered a Learn and Serve America Program in service-learning for Wendler Middle School students and conducted the first PYLI outside of Southcentral Alaska, located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 2009, Alaska PYLI was conducted in Barrow for North Slope Borough Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee (MYAC) members.

As Alaska PYLI began to grow, develop, and mature, it began to receive more small youth volunteer grants and national award recognition. In 2011, the Anchorage Municipal Assembly began to formally recognize each new class of Alaska PYLI graduates before the community at the assembly meeting following the Spring Break PYLI training. By 2012, PYLI trainers were in 48 States and Territories and in 10 Countries and had trained more than 15,000 young people.

With strong local Anchorage partners and a growing group of enthusiastic graduates, Alaska PYLI got even stronger, one year at a time. In 2017, Beau trained more adults to assist with future Alaska PYLI trainings, including the 20th annual Alaska PYLI student training. The Alaska PYLI Class of 2017 consisted of 38 middle and high school students. During the municipal assembly meeting, these students were recognized for their attendance, and Naomi Louvier and Jack White Real Estate were recognized for their 20 years of committed support to the PYLI youth leadership program. Beau Bassett was presented with a State of Alaska Legislature Resolution honoring him for his work with Alaska youth since coming to the state in 1976 and specifically for his leadership and service instituting and sustaining the Alaska Points of Light Youth Leadership Program and mentoring the program’s more than 1,000 youth and adult graduates. As of March 2017, PYLI is no longer a national program due to the national leadership halting their support for the program since 2013. PYLI is now only in one state - Alaska - and in one community, Anchorage.

We are the “Points of Light”.