Update on ICA's Youth Program

At the end of February, I put out the call to support the launch of the ICA Youth Program, with a goal of raising $50,000. As of today, we have raised just over $5000 and I believe we can make it to our overarching goal with your support.

Initially, I planned to kick off the program by bringing together Indigenous youth at a gathering this summer. However, due to the covid19 pandemic, I have decided to shift gears and focus on a strategy that uses online engagement that supports our relationships with youth organizers engaged in climate justice and Indigenous rights advocacy work. By creating new and innovative online tools and processes we hope to continue to find ways to gain direction and offer resources and opportunities for Indigenous youth.

The money raised with this call will go towards an online needs assessment, the coordination of online forums, hosting of webinars, and building out meaningful reciprocity for Indigenous youth. These new and innovative online tools will help us to understand Indigenous youth needs and challenges in the movement and support a strategy to effectively respond with meaningful offerings of resources and opportunities.

In short, I am hoping that we can make this time of pandemic an opportunity to strengthen our community connections, and support three critical outcomes that are essential for ICA to build youth programing in a good and kind way:

• Establish the knowledge base of our community

• Identify and address barriers to youth engaging in the climate justice movement.

• Determine where Indigenous Climate Action can help educate and empower

Now more than ever, leadership from our youth is needed to support the transformations that we, as humanity, need for the future.

If you're an Indigenous Youth and would like to join us on this journey, please sign up here!

“Empowering people is the most important thing. To give people that power to make decisions on their own. And that can come from experience or just common sense. But that’s the main thing, is not to hold on to power but to give it away. Don’t hold on to it. And when you empower people you give them more of a purpose. There is a power amongst the weak. There is a power. It’s there. People know it’s there.”

- Brian Grandbois, Movement Elder, Dene Nation

Join us in this journey to empower the youths! I hope we can continue to work together in our path towards shared liberation.

See nee en chew,

Nigel Henri Robinson, Youth Engagement Lead

Indigenous Climate Action