The People Awakening Project was created by a group of Alaska Native community members and University of Alaska researchers in response to the Anchorage Daily News "People in Peril" series. Many people in Native communities no longer wanted to hear only of lives in peril. They wanted to hear stories of hope and success. This project looks at sobriety, not just alcohol abuse. The aim was to study the life stories of Alaska Natives living a life of sobriety to discover what protected people from alcohol abuse and what helped others recover. The People Awakening Project collected over 100 life stories throughout the state.