Native Youth L.E.A.D. Lock-In and Youth Leadership Training Event
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On a recent Friday night in October, 22 local Indian youth gathered at Youth Services of Tulsa to participate in the Native Youth L.E.A.D. (Native Youth Leading their communities through Education, Advocacy, and Dreams for tomorrow) lock-in and training. This event was sponsored by the Circles of Care initiative at Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa and was organized by the Circles of Care staff and youth. Youth arrived Friday evening, October 19, and stayed overnight with IHCRC staff, volunteers and youth leadership facilitators.
Indian Health Care is most appreciative of the generosity of Youth Services of Tulsa to provide the use of their facility to host the lock-in and youth training event. Located just three blocks from IHCRC, the Youth Services facility is the regular meeting location for the Circles of Care youth drumming group.
On Friday evening, youth were entertained by Marcus Guinn aka Emcee One, one of Oklahoma's Native hip hop artists. Marcus provided youth with entertainment and a message of the importance of positive living. Following Emcee One?s performance, Rezology 101 facilitator, Chance Rush and youth trainer, Cortney Yarholar began the youth leadership training. Youth were taken through a two-day training that included Rezology 101 and, Healing a Native Perspective.
Rezology 101 is a manualized curriculum designed to build leadership skills in American Indian youth. The curriculum is organized into four major components: Development, Knowledge, Action, and Evaluation.
In the Development stage, youth were encouraged to begin to develop their potential by increasing awareness of their talents and beliefs, learning to find their confidence to share with others, understanding how to communicate their ideas and beliefs, and motivating towards a willingness to take action.
In the Knowledge stage youth worked to identify their value system and recognize the ways in which their value system impacts their lives and stays with them. In the Knowledge stage, the youth were encouraged to consider the benefits of setting an agenda for their life course, to define their identity, and to find ways to take control of their lives. During the lesson on control, youth were exposed to the concept of moving from the story of a victim to the story of a victor, teaching youth to control their perspective on life.
In the Action stage, youth were encouraged to act upon their development and knowledge by finding an example to follow and being an example that other youth may follow, setting the priorities for their life, and motivating to start providing service to family and community.
The fourth and final stage of the curriculum, Evaluate, focused on thinking outside the box to encourage youth to push their comfort zone and think about ways to join in the work of others. Youth also learned the meaning of acceptance and understanding the value of accepting others and accepting the current reality of society.
Finally youth had the opportunity to examine their own internal strengths for external pressures and learn skills with role playing for examining consequences of their actions and diffusing peer pressure.
Healing a Native Perspective, allowed youth to build coping skills and promote wellness through education of the medicine wheel. As a part of this training youth learned about the impact of perspective on their experiences in life and how they can change their perspective to promote health and wellness. Youth were taught the significance of clans and the medicine wheel in maintaining their place in society and in the Tulsa Indian community. Youth also had the opportunity to begin an examination of their strengths and abilities and how to apply this introspection process to the medicine wheel and to their own health.
The two-day leadership training event was well-received by all the participating Indian youth. Circles of Care would like to send out a special thanks to all of the volunteers who helped plan and participate in the event. Circles of Care hopes to provide more community training to help build Native youth leaders for the Tulsa Indian community.