The Construction Foundation of BC’s (CFBC) Indigenous Skills: Skills Link program is breaking the mould of CFBC’s traditional youth programming and shifting what the definition of “success” is to program participants. In collaboration with Social Research and Demonstration Corporation’s (SRDC) ‘Skills for Success’, the Indigenous Skills: Skills Link program is using an innovative approach to connect with youth.
Historically, participant success is evaluated and determined by the facilitators and funders of a given program. Skills Link shifts that component of programming to participating youth, empowering them to direct their own definition of success that is later measured against benchmarks provided by the SRDC.
Through this model, Skills Link hopes to connect, work with and support specific youth identified through their community, school, or participating network as particularly disengaged. Approximately 30 youth have participated in the workshops since launch in May of this year.
“Certain participants may only have the capacity to participate in one day of the workshops,” explained CFBC Community Manager, Allison Ainsley. “Some participants may say: I can do all five days. It’s really self-guided.”
Skills Link’s weeklong workshops feature carving instruction and teachings from Artist in Residence, Dean Heron. Heron and participants work on a number of traditional First Nations carving projects that include bentwood boxes and feast spoons. Additional projects requiring shorter timeframes are also available if participants feel more comfortable tackling a less complex and lengthy project.
The carving components of the weeklong workshops are interspersed and developed to coincide and complement sessions built around personal growth, led by CFBC Career Catalyst Justin Young. Young and Heron collaborate closely to ensure a collective delivery to participants.
“The work Justin does is really cool,” said Heron. “The students work with him a lot and he encourages them to speak their mind…It’s a pretty awesome collaboration. It gives the youth a sense of belonging by allowing them to tell us the direction and way they want to go throughout the week.”
Each workshop to date has received support from the local community, school or related groups in their location.
“We want to really encourage these youth, help them understand that they have skills and capacities to succeed whether they believe it or not,” added Ainsley. “Working at their pace and helping them to look at themselves, communicating that the knowledge that they have is valuable, and that they are good enough where they are right now. They may not have all the skills at the moment, but they have the capacity to learn and in many cases, they have more ability than they give themselves credit for.”
Heron and the team are already preparing for their next workshops this fall. Following the workshops, focus will shift towards reconnecting with past participants and supporting them in their personal journeys moving forward.
For more information on the work being done by the Construction Foundation of BC and to donate, please visit constructionfoundation.ca.
