It’s been over a month, and I’m glad to be back!

Firstly, thank you for not unsubscribing in my absence. Honestly, I was just burnt out and needed to take a break.

When I started Frayed Feathers (FF) a year ago, I experimented a lot with software and engagement methodologies, attended trainings, in-person events, and more.

Now I’ve figured out what works for me, and my goal is to improve that system. One part of that system is this newsletter, as I feel it’s a nice complement to the FF podcast.

Moving forward, I will write a weekly newsletter, releasing on Mondays at 10 am PST.

I want to make the FF newsletter more valuable than ever; more on that next week!

This has been a mantra for me lately. When I’m asked how to engage Indigenous youth in one’s community, I try to ask about the leadership opportunities they have available to them.

My philosophy is that by creating irresistible offers to take on a leadership role in one’s community, we will attract passionate young people who are committed to learning.

I believe it’s a sector’s role to mentor young leaders so that those same leaders will recruit more of their peers into that sector. This working relationship will establish a stream of young people entering the sector.

The goal here is to ensure young leaders understand our businesses, team structure, funding models, relevant legislation, and the greater sector ecosystem.

The thing about young Indigenous leaders is that when we bring them into our circles like this, they will want to change the environment for the better; that’s the nature of a high-performing Indigenous employee.

A part of this transformation is creating a clear pathway for their peers to take the journey they did at an accelerated rate.

To illustrate what I mean about craving leadership opportunities, let me show you some stats from the Indigenous Youth Roots 2024 Barometer that engaged 1,125 Indigenous youth across Canada.

What makes Indigenous youth feel empowered?

• 78% said being a Role Model.

• 78% said seeing the impact of a community-led project.

What supports do Indigenous youth need to feel empowered?

• 36% said youth councils and other opportunities to be a role model.

What does success in education and work mean to Indigenous youth?

• 52% being a role model to family or community members.

Top community strength identified by youth:

• Active youth engagement and leadership.

What barriers are in the way of Indigenous youth achieving their goals?

• Lack of or limited representation of Indigenous peoples in leadership roles.

A role model is a person looked up to by others as an example to be imitated. They are everywhere, from trades, research, politics, and reconciliation!

When I try to read deeper into these stats, I think about all the young people who are very problem-aware, meaning they see the need for solutions in their community, but they do not know what those solutions may look like.

Our role as people who want youth reconciliation is to present the potential solutions to Indigenous youth and give them a streamlined pathway to securing entry-level positions in our field.

We need to give young leaders the stage to shine and mentor them behind the curtain until they are ready for the spotlight!

If we’re successful in creating this pathway, we can work with these young leaders long term to ensure we create For Indigenous Youth, By Indigenous Youth solutions.

I encourage all readers to reflect on the typical pathways into one’s sector right now. For example, in policy, we typically expect a Master’s degree to become a policy analyst.

This is rather ironic when we consider that policy is a strong driver of reconciliation. Yet, we force Indigenous people to go through colonial school systems to enter the conversation.

Creating a high-quality leadership opportunity circumvents the need for a colonial post-secondary institution to act as pre-employment training. It puts the onus on us to support our young leaders from a holistic community-based approach.

While that means we need to spend time, money, and resources on creating these opportunities, that’s youth reconciliation. It’s simple, but it’s not easy!

Four Frayed Reflections:

1. Young Indigenous people crave leadership opportunities.

2. Young leaders are problem-aware, and we need to make them solution-aware.

3. It’s up to us to create streamlined pathways into entry-level positions in our respective fields.

4. Youth reconciliation is simple, but it’s not easy!

See you next week! 😎🪶