Catching up with the M'Chigeeng Lil'Sisters Empowerment Project

Aanii Boozhoo OIYPP Community!
 
Thea here! We have a lot of exciting news coming in the next month but I recently had the opportunity to catch up with a past OIYPP participant and I just had to share a bit of their story and the most recent (and might I say INCREDIBLY exciting) news on their grant from the Youth Opportunities Fund from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The M'Chigeeng Lil'Sisters Empowerment Project on Manitoulin Island, was a participant for the first two years of OIYPP’s life and we couldn’t be more grateful to share in their journey, their learnings and to call them our friends. Keep reading if you want to learn more about this amazing program run by even more amazing women.  ​

---

Lets just get this out of the way… What has it been like to be a participant of OIYPP?
​
Enh, aabdek sa go! OIYPP helped us launch the M'Chigeeng Lil'Sisters Empowerment Project. It was like we were building a fire, we had gathered all the materials, but the ignition was not working. With the $5000 grant from OIYPP, we were than able to light our fire and provide a safe, girls-only space and programming for the girls. OIYPP was also like a supportive big sister or auntie. They were there for support and guidance if needed, and encouraged us to reach out to not only them, but to the others whom received grants. The networking and grantee meetings were greatly appreciated and connected us with others passionately working towards positive changes within our communities. The second $5000 grant from OIYPP really encouraged us to keep going with our work and it inspired our community to continue supporting us within our partnerships with M'Chigeeng Health Services, Ojibwe Cultural Foundation and Noojmowin Teg Health Centre. 
 
 What obstacles have you run into and how have you over come them?

 In my experience, obstacles can be looked at as problems or opportunities to try something different. There's always another way to do things. Whenever any difficulty came up in our project, we were blessed to have a great support team within the M'Chigeeng Health Center. For example when the Mental Health Worker we'd been partnered with in the first year, moved on to work with another organization, the Community Health Nurse came on board our team to help manage the administration and budget for us. And we invited the new Mental Health Worker to join our team when she started. There can be a lot of turnover and we learned we need to be flexible and adaptable to changes out of our control.
Another challenge that I'm still navigating is teaching and sharing with the girls the importance of supporting each other vs. bringing each other down via cyber bullying. It is a huge issue in many communities and I've yet to navigate it just yet. We were able to reach out the OIYPP and they connected us with others whom have experience dealing with the same issue. There is training and youth-led programming that I want to bring to our Empowerment Initiative in the very near future. 
 

 
What does the program look like now?
 
We cook and eat together at every session. We smudge and have a circle at the end of each session. A teaching on the 7 grandfather/grandmother teachings is shared once per month. The senior girls have sleepover retreats. We do many physical activities to encourage being active. And we invite other women role models to visit us to learn from their journeys. We will be continuing with year 4 of programming beginning September 2017 and there will be a boys, Young Warriors, program as well, because of the YOF funding from Ontario Trillium Foundation.
 
What advice would you give other youth like you in their journey?
Some advice I'd give youth who have an idea, a dream or a wish for their community... find an older youth/adult ally, like an auntie, uncle, cousin or someone you look up to and share your idea with them. They will have experience and thoughts on how to assist you in making your thought a reality. They can point you towards funding opportunities, like OIYPP, or they can assist you with grant writing 101.
 
And don't ever give up! If you believe in something and can't stop thinking about it, it's meant to be. Just go for it! In the end it may not look exactly like you'd imagined, so be prepared for changes, additions and eliminations. These ideas, projects or dreams tend to grow into their own, especially when the young people's gifts and energy are included. ​