The training and decolonization component of youth leadership development uses popular education tools to educate youth and families about decolonization and anti-oppression. Our people and our lands have a deep political history. We daily see the social impacts that result from the colonization and oppression of our people, yet we continue many of the same cycles of oppression in our communities today. This training program is designed to educate and empower youth to better understand the struggles we face today. By better understanding our political history as a people, we will understand how to change things for the future.

This program will begin with first contact with white settlers and move into the history of the theft of our lands. Youth will learn about the treaty-making era of our history, and how that impacts us today. Eventually we will take the participants on a journey to decolonize our minds so that we can fight for what we believe in.

This training program will cover the following areas:

• History before white settlers
• Contact with white settlers
• Wars and battles with U.S. government
• Treaties of 1851 and 1868, sovereignty issues
• The government’s illegal theft of Lakota lands
• Present day reservations (prisoner of war camps)
• Uniting our people together to fight for a common goal
• Community Organizing
• Direct Action
• Messaging
• Social change vs. Social service

This program is designed to give youth and families much-needed tools to understand issues in our community. Once we truly understand the issues that we face, we will learn how to take social action in changing them. This training also focuses on addressing the root causes of issues that we face. Popular education models will be our primary tool in this program.