A Different Approach to Tribal Youth Education

The program director for A Different Approach has been organizing to create a dynamic network across different demographic groups for an asset-based community development project to reach elementary and middle school age tribal youth in the community of McNary Arizona.    The project's objective is to mentor High School age youth to model positive living and planning skills for their pre-adolescent peers. 

Over the last two months, staff at Blue Ridge Highschool have been consulted to secure meeting space, support, and resources for outreach to tribal youth to provide relevant guidance services from tribal community elders.  Blue Ridge is a public school with a predominantly Anglo American population being tracked for college admission and academic success.  There is no tribal staff in the high school with the cultural or sociological understanding of the tribal community context.

The project aims to provide mentoring services to the tribal adolescent population attending the public school through a structure of training them to be peer mentors for junior community members.   A key aspect of the program is the development by the students of micro-community projects to resolve problems or take advantage of opportunities that they self identify utilizing community-based assets.  

A second innovative feature of the program is the development of collaboration and partnerships with non-tribal groups from Pheonix, Santa Fe, and Washington DC.   The design is to simultaneously assist tribal youth with communication skills for collaboration with the dominant society as well as challenge prejudices and ignorance towards tribal communities through a process of servant leadership. 

The Spring program will culminate in a week-long youth camp and service week in June 2019.   We invite donors and individuals seeking partnerships with innovative tribal programs to join us in the White Mountains of Arizona for a week of transformation.