Urban Indigenous Youth for Change, a project led out of NORDIK Institute, purpose is to engage Indigenous youth, ages 13 to 35, to empower them with the skills needed to become social entrepreneurs. By engaging the youth with the social economy we can encourage them to increase their capacity in social enterprise development. In simple terms, we recognize that as young change makers, we can be the ones to better our world and this program is focused on encouraging those capacity building skills needed to take something from a seedling of an idea and put it into action. Everything we do has a purpose and that is to engage and increase the knowledge/skills of our participants though youth-led workshops in a way that is culturally appropriate.
In the past, we have been guided by a youth-led steering committee who meets monthly to discuss the success and planning of events, as well as having elders to guide us and share their knowledge with us. This group’s purpose is to bring lived experience to the space and becomes the brain and heart of UIYFC. In essence, this youth circle becomes a peer network and mentoring opportunity for those youth who become involved—imagine being recruited to facilitate or co-facilitate workshops, bring others into UIYFC and meet/discuss opportunities for youth who want to make change in their community.
What we need to begin are participants who are willing to meet monthly and engage together to brainstorm, learn, teach and advise the rest of us in a way that will push this program into the right direction. This year the meetings will may be held outside of normal business hours to accommodate any youth who are in high school because we want to encourage them to become involved in the planning process as well as participate in the events.
If you would like to be a part of the UIYFC Advisory Circle please contact Samantha Kyle at email.
