YOLO Community

Program Tips

Are you interested in connecting youth in your Nation to on-the-land or on-the-water learning opportunities?

There are many ways to do this! Each community may have a different type of program to address the unique interests and needs of their youth. Whether you are interested in starting a program in your village, or connecting with one near you, the YOLO Community is here to support you.

Our Learnings

Thoughts from the YOLO Community Advisory Group…

Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about engaging youth and creating and sustaining programs. We hope sharing our experiences will help encourage others and inspire them to take their own approach. 

Getting started

Designing a youth on-the-land program may seem daunting, but remember, you don’t have to do everything at once, or at all! Start small and do what works for you and the youth in your community. 

Programs often start with a need, an enthusiastic individual, or by request from a Nation’s leadership. There is not one straightforward path to launching a successful land-based program where youth show up, there is available funding, and engaged adult mentors support youth to grow and develop. Really, it takes someone like you to say they want to get kids out on their lands and waters and remember this through the obstacles, successes and joys that will come up.

Some ideas to start with:

  • Write down the brainstorming you have already been doing. You might want to develop a 1 pager on your program (see sample headings here). Having things down on paper can give you some street cred and give you a tool to share your ideas with others and engage them. 
  • Make a list of other youth programming happening in your community and consider how what you are envisioning would fit in with that.
  • Brainstorm a list of people whose perspectives you want to include in your program design. Meet with them and add their thoughts to your one pager to design a program that is based on your community’s vision.
  • Brainstorm a list of people who can support you and what you think they can contribute (see the next section on who to talk to).
 

Everything starts with a first step. You might have already started and not even realize it! Our advice is to start small. If you have a group of 3 people who are interested in doing something, that’s a start. If you’re going for a walk in the woods with a couple of kids, you’ve started. There doesn’t have to be any money or program documents involved at this stage. Just start doing things that feel easy and build from there.

The more you talk about your ideas, the more support you will find for them. Mention what you are doing to all the people in your life. Ask for help and learn from others as much as you can. Even if someone can’t help you with what you asked for, they might suggest others who can. You don’t have to know everything or do everything yourself!

It helps to have a short speech (or a written 1 page document with your ideas) ready when you are talking to people. Sharing clearly about what you are doing and why you think it’s important can help get others on board. 

Consider connecting with people inside or outside of your community who:

  • Teach specific skills or knowledge to youth (e.g., fishing, carving, or language)
  • Already work with youth – they might be able to help you advertise your programming or maybe you can go into their space and facilitate something for youth (e.g., principals, teachers, health centre workers, youth workers, Jordan’s Principle coordinators, etc.)
  • Work for organizations that facilitate experiences for youth (e.g., run trainings)
  • Have funding to support what you are doing or can offer other things (e.g., lend you gear, donate canoe moorage, let you use their camp, lend you their vehicle, etc.)
  • Are doing what you want to be doing in other communities – learn about how they got to where they are and how they can support you (e.g., maybe they can share tips about how they overcame a challenge you are also having, or tell you where they found funding, or maybe they’ll be interested in planning an exchange with your youth in the future)

It might take a bit of time for youth to know about what you are offering and get excited about it. If you can talk to youth (and their parents or caregivers) and share what you are doing, everyone will be more excited and feel safer trusting you to take the youth out. Consider holding a parent/caregiver info session to help with this.

If you’re not already connected to youth, think about who you can partner with to get connected to youth. Maybe you know a teacher at the school who would love to have you come into their class to teach a lesson on your job as an Indigenous Guardian. Maybe the education or health department in your community is running a summer camp and you can plan a day of land-based activities for them. Maybe there’s something happening through Jordan’s Principle you can contribute to. If you want to run a separate program, these might still be places you can go into to invite youth to come check out the activities you are offering and tell them when they are happening.

 

Don’t give up if it’s hard to get kids out at first – this is normal! Youth may oversleep, forget an event is happening, have trouble disconnecting from their devices, have other things going on like work, school or family responsibilities, or struggle to be comfortable outside at first. In our experience, this changes over time and before you know it, everyone is asking when they will get to go out again.

Getting to work

As your ideas grow and opportunities for youth expand, you might realize you want to have more people involved and formalize some aspects of your program. Here are some steps to consider as you keep planning and engaging others.

Many programs start with enthusiastic and dedicated people trying to organize opportunities for youth outside of the responsibilities of their regular job. This can be a good way to start, but as things grow, it can be really helpful to hire someone whose job is focused on coordinating the activities and programming you are trying to offer to youth.

Think about who might be a good fit for this work within your community and encourage them to apply. Finding the right person for the job is so important!

You will likely want to create a job posting, advertise it, and receive applications. You may hold interviews with your top choices. Think about who will help you with hiring and how, as well as who will oversee the Coordinator’s work once they are hired. Check out the hiring tools available on the YOLO website for some samples to build from.

It’s a good idea to chat with Elders, leaders, and others in your community to make sure what you are teaching youth is reflective of what the larger community wants youth to be learning. You can also talk to teachers if you want to time your activities to match what kids are learning at school. Check out the activity brainstorming list tool here. Finally, talk to the youth and ask them what they want to lean about – they’ll be more engaged if you are facilitating experiences they are asking for. The Warrior programs in BC have shared the skills survey they use to ask youth about what they want to learn – check it out here.

It helps to start with a list of all the people you can think of and what they can offer. Then, contact the person you are interested in hiring, discuss what you’d like them to do, and find a date and time that works for everyone. It might help to remind the person a few days before they are coming in to make sure it still works or to text them the morning of the event to remind them, depending on who you are working with.

Depending on where you work, you might set up a contract with the person or their organization or you might be able to recognize them with an honorarium without contracting them. Payment might be done a variety of different ways – you might have access to a “petty cash” supply, or you may need to pay the person out of your own pocket first and then claim a reimbursement from your program. You might also consider a non-cash payment (e.g., if a knowledge holder feels uncomfortable taking cash, but would gladly receive a gift such as a basket, special mug, or harvested item like jarred fish, medicine, or something else).

You might also need to decide if a criminal record check is needed for everyone who interacts with the youth in your program or not. Many of these decisions will likely depend on the rules at your specific organization or the context in your specific community.

Some sample job postings for skippers and other support staff are posted in the hiring resources section of the website.

Sometimes you might also be hiring youth as part of your program (e.g., for an internship program). If you are, you’ll need to build in time to advertise the program, receive applications, review applications, and interview youth.

Tools: Check out the sample job descriptions for youth internship programs others have created. Feel free to use these to start your own posting and change anything that makes sense for your context. You can also check out the sample interview questions others have used to hire youth for internship programs. Remember, you can use any that work for you and ignore the rest! Everything is listed in the hiring resources section of the resource library.

It can be awesome for youth to get credits toward graduation for what they are doing on the land. See if there is a course already running that you can contribute to or see if the school will give students credit for that course for participating in your program. If a suitable course doesn’t already exist, you could consider creating a new one with your local education authority. There might also be a land-based coordinator at the school working with teachers to build land-based learning into their lesson plans while meeting learning outcomes for different subjects like science and math. For example, the BC curriculum leaves lots of room for teachers (or those working with them – possibly you!) to engage students in land-based learning through English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and other subjects. Browse through the different subjects and grades and see what might fit.

Tools: Check out the curriculum resources section of the resource library on the YOLO website.

Getting out on the land with youth does take some planning and logistics. Having a schedule written down of what you’re doing, who you’re doing it with and when you’re doing it can be helpful in staying organized and not feeling overwhelmed. These work planning templates might be helpful to you in this process.

If you’re in a school, you might be working with multiple classes or grades and you could share your schedule with teachers so they also know what is happening, when they need to get the students where, and how they can support you (e.g., supervision, buying food, etc.).

If you’re going to hire people to come in to teach and share with youth, you’ll want to make sure you book time in their schedules early.

Try to make the order of things make sense as much as you can (this might not always be possible depending on other people’s schedules). For example, schedule PAL/gun training before your hunting trip, or do salmon activities when the salmon are running. Planning things out ahead of time can help make sure you have enough time to get permission forms, boats, knowledge keepers, and other things in place and don’t miss time sensitive opportunities (e.g., it would be sad if you missed the herring egg harvest because you didn’t think to organize the trip until the day you saw the spawn happening and nobody was available to help, the boats were booked, and the field trip forms couldn’t get approved in time).

Think about whether you need to invest in gear from the get-go, or whether you can borrow things from other organizations as you get up and running and build your inventory over time.

Gear comes with responsibilities around storage and maintenance – for example, if you’re in the north you have to make sure your sleds are not frozen when you want to take the kids out. If you live on the west coast, you will likely need to think about storing materials out of the rain. No matter where you are, you might need a locked shed if you think your gear might get broken into. You’ll also need to make sure you’re checking gear for safety reasons (including watching the wear and tear over time) and washing it.

Remember again – it’s ok to start small! Sometimes programs start with gear being stored in their families’ yards and basements before sheds or racks are built. Over time, it can be helpful to build storage spaces, but you don’t have to start there.

Tools: It can really help to have a checklist to keep track of what gear you have and what condition it is in. The Warrior programs packing list might be a place to start your brainstorming.

It’s important to have robust safety plans in place. Taking kids out on the land can come with risks and people are sometimes really scared about letting you do that if they are worried about kids not being safe.

Think about what makes sense for your context in terms of rules around activities, driving kids, boating, water activities, and snow activities. Consider the risks, how you will plan for them, and how you will communicate your plans to others like parents/caregivers, school administration, or your boss.

 

We can’t provide legal advice around safety planning, but we want to emphasize the importance of putting attention to creating a good safety, liability and risk management plan. The organization that you work for might already have policies and procedures around safety, so make sure you check there first.

Don’t let the risks stop you from taking youth out on the land, as we know that this also has so many benefits for them. Just make sure you take them out in a way that maximizes their safety to the fullest extent possible. Things may still happen that are out of your control, despite your best efforts to keep kids safe. Make sure you also have processes in place for if something goes wrong (e.g., incident forms, evacuation plans, and other important documents). Planning is key!

Dealing with money

At some point you’re probably going to need money to do what you want to do. You’ll need funds to pay for all the activities you want to do with youth and to pay the people who are facilitating them. Here are some things it can be helpful to know when managing your budget.

One of the best ways to find funding is to talk to people – they will want to help! The more folks you connect with, the higher the chances of finding people who can help you. Sometimes you have to write a big application to get funding and sometimes all it takes is building a relationship with a funder. Some organizations, individuals, or businesses may not take applications but may be inspired about what you are doing and want to fund your project. Regardless of how you connect with them, make sure you feel good about working with the funders you choose to take money from.

Often many different funding sources are needed to raise enough money to run a program. It is normal to just get a little bit from each organization that contributes to your overall budget. Organizations sometimes get excited about partnerships where a few funders are all pitching in a little to make a project or program happen, so getting some funding can help you get more funding. Make sure you let those you are asking for money know about others who have already contributed to your program!

Tip: Be clear about who on your team is responsible for applying for funding and managing the program budget so things don’t get dropped. This might be the program Coordinator, or it might be someone else (e.g., school admin).

Tip: When looking for funding, it really helps to have your ideas written down on paper about what you want to do and why (often this is called a work plan) and how much it is going to cost (a budget) to do that for one year. Usually, this is written as a document, but you could also create a video to share about your program if that makes sense for you at this stage. Once your program is up and running, collecting information about the impact it is having (numbers, quotes from youth, pictures, etc.). can also help you get more money.

Tool: Check out this one-year work plan template (tool under development). There may be a time when you want to create a workplan for 3 years or 5 years and you can always modify this if you want to do that.

Tool: Check out this one-year budget template. There may be a time when you want to create a budget for 3 years or 5 years and you can always modify this if you want to do that.

Brainstorm all the places you can look inside your community (e.g., Guardian program or stewardship office, Jordan’s Principle funding, health centre, schools, band office, criminal justice funding, etc.) and outside (e.g., government, charities, etc.).

Sometimes there’s deadlines for applying for certain grants so make sure you’re taking that into account so you don’t miss an opportunity to get money. We publish the opportunities we know about on this website, so check out the news and events page for the latest opportunities.

Tool: Check out the funding resources on the YOLO website and the funding page where we post upcoming grant deadlines.

You’ll need to figure out who funds will get transferred to when someone donates to your program or awards you a grant. This will also be where your expenses come out of like employee costs, food, boats, and other things. Sometimes this is called the “fiscal host” or “administrative home” for a program. Land-and-water-based learning programs can be built into school structures, after school clubs, health programming, summer internships within stewardship offices, and Guardian programs (to name a few!) – figure out what makes the most sense for your community and approach that organization to ask if they will “host” your program.

Budgeting helps make sure you don’t run out of money! Track what you’re spending and what you have left. Make sure you are keeping track of your receipts, invoices, etc. If you run out of money without realizing it, this might mean missing out on something you really wanted to do at the end of the season or year.

Don’t forget you’ll often need to report back to funders on how much money was spent (sometimes called a financial report) and what it was spent on (sometimes called a program report). This will be much easier to do if you’ve been tracking your spending all along. The financial report doesn’t have to be complicated – you just have to tell the funder how much money you’ve spent in each category of your budget and how much is still left over.

Know that sometimes funders won’t let you save money for next year if you don’t use it all this year, or they won’t give you as much next year if you don’t use it all this year. It’s a good idea to make sure you spend all your money within the timeline of the grant (this shouldn’t be a problem if your program is taking off), but if you are having trouble getting things going, have a chat with your funders to let them know what is going on and see what the best path forward is. They might let you shift the budget to put the money toward something else (for example, focusing on youth engagement if you aren’t getting kids coming out as much as you thought you would) or they might be able to extend the timeline of your grant if you chat with them before it expires.

Tool: Check out this sample financial report template.

As you move forward, make sure you’re keeping your relationships in good order by sharing what you are doing (e.g., pictures of the kids out on the land, trip reports and stories of where you’ve been going and what you’ve been doing, videos about your program, etc.) with those who are supporting you. This can include funders, people in your community, parents/caregivers, and others. The more people hear, the more excited they’ll get and the more they’ll want to support you instead of putting up blocks to you doing what you want to do.

Don’t be shy to reach out to funders as your program evolves to let them know what you have been doing and what you are planning in the future (including what you anticipate you will need money for). They might want to keep supporting you in the future, but they might forget to check in and ask. Sometimes it can be helpful for you to prompt them by reaching out – don’t worry, you won’t be pestering them – this is part of their business!

Growing

Things are always changing. Know that you will do things, reflect on them, adjust what you are doing, and do more things (likely slightly differently than how you did them the first time) for as long as your program is running.

At some point, you might realize you want to reach out to more youth or a different group of youth. You might want to plan more activities for the youth you are already engaging. Maybe you want to do more trips or go from doing day trips to overnight trips. Maybe you want to bring in more partners to facilitate activities or trainings/certifications for your youth. Maybe you want to connect with the school so youth can get more course credits for their participation or connect what you are doing with them on the land to what they are learning in the classroom. Maybe you want to build a mentorship component into your program so that older youth are supporting younger youth in your community.

Mentorship Webinar: Here is a link to a webinar that might give you some ideas on increasing mentorship opportunities in your program.

School Credit Webinar: Here is a link to a webinar that might give you some ideas on increasing connections to curriculum in your programming.

We’ve tried to share as much information as we can here without overwhelming you. You likely still have questions though! If you’re looking for more support, consider:

Connecting to the YOLO CoP: You can sign up for the monthly newsletter or join some of the webinars and virtual coffee hours to connect with others doing similar work.

Don’t be shy about reaching out – it’s what we’re here for! We call ourselves a community of practice because we want to help each other do the good work we want to do in our communities, whether it is through a school, land or water Guardians program, family services centre, health centre, or somewhere else. We have more resources and information available than what you see on this website, so check in with us if you need something else. We might have just what you need, or we might be able to connect you with someone who does.  

Connecting with individual programs: If you’re particularly inspired by the work another program is doing, you can reach out directly to them and see if they’d be willing to chat with you. If we have a relationship with them through the YOLO Community of Practice, we might also be able to facilitate an introduction, so feel free to ask us for that if you’re having trouble getting in touch.