Are Our Salt Spring Youth Engaged?

While the group of participants welcoming Janine Fernandes Hayden, Executive Director of The Circle Education, to this ASK Salt Spring gathering was small, it included a rich array of individuals with decades of experience managing youth programs as well as a 13-year-old participant. The session began with an overview of The Circle Education before moving into a broader discussion on youth engagement.

Janine spoke to the well-known three Rs of education (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic), noting that the work of The Circle Education is grounded in two additional and necessary Rs: Respect and Relationships, the cornerstones of the programs they offer.

These programs include in-school offerings: The Friendship Project (K–2), The Empathy Project (Grades 3–5), The Respect Project (Grades 6–7), and The Trust Project (Grades 8+, currently on Pender Island) as well as the Pass It On after-school programs.

All programs are designed in lockstep, following a developmental progression so that young people receive consistent messages and learning throughout their academic lives. Within this framework, youth build skills managing emotions, navigating conflict, appreciating differences, setting boundaries, showing empathy, and examining assumptions and stereotypes.

After this foundational information about The Circle Education programs, the conversation shifted to the central theme of the gathering: youth engagement. Janine began by suggesting that youth engagement is often defined too narrowly, used interchangeably with youth leadership. This framing can be limiting. Leadership is frequently associated with voice, authority, and a particular personality style that often privileges those who are most outspoken. A more inclusive understanding of leadership would, instead, focus on action, influence, and service, creating space for quieter forms of leadership and allowing all youth to contribute in their own ways.

A second limitation discussed was the tendency toward tokenism. While phrases such as “nothing about us without us” reflect an important value, they are often reduced in practice to symbolic gestures, such as placing youth on boards. While well-intentioned, this is not always the most effective or appropriate way to engage young people, as governance roles require experience and carry real responsibility and risk.

More meaningful engagement comes from giving youth genuine opportunities to contribute, along with the resources and decision-making power to do so. At The Circle Education, youth sit on hiring committees for facilitators and play a pivotal role in selecting candidates to whom they feel they can relate. Similarly, the Salt Spring Island Foundation’s Foundation of Youth (https://ssifoundation.ca/foundation-of-youth/) entrusts young people with funding decisions, allowing them to allocate grants to community initiatives while developing critical skills and deepening their understanding of local needs. (This innovative program will be spotlighted at ASK Salt Spring Friday, October 23, 11-1, in the SIMS classroom). 

The conversation about youth engagement touched on incentives to encourage involvement. Opinions in this gathering were split about offering credit, a graduation requirement of “service hours,” and other motivators like “It looks good on your resume.” While some felt strongly that this drive to offer service to community should come from within, others theorized that such external motivators may just be what spurs, ignites, and flips the motivation to become internally-driven. One participant commented, “As Salt Spring needs volunteers so drastically, wouldn’t it be great if our youth could support non-profits while also benefiting from invaluable mentoring opportunities?” 

This led to a broader recognition that youth engagement cannot happen without adult mentorship. It takes adults to see and believe in young people and to help draw out the potential they may not yet recognize in themselves. The Search Institute’s Developmental Assets framework identifies “Other Adult Relationships” as one of 40 key assets for healthy development, emphasizing the importance of strong connections with multiple non-parent adults for youth (https://searchinstitute.org/resources-hub/developmental-assets-framework).

With youth, it is about finding an entry point for connection. Programs such as Salt Spring Literacy’s one-to-one reading program illustrate this well (https://saltspringliteracy.org/one2one.html). While the focus may be on building reading skills, equally important is the relationship itself – young people being known by name by an adult who is consistently present and paying attention. Being seen in this way is often the first step in helping youth recognize their own value and potential.

On Salt Spring Island, this is not limited to those in formal roles such as teachers, coaches, or care providers but is a shared responsibility across the entire community. Meaningful mentorship begins with something simple: seeing youth through a greeting, a conversation, or a moment of acknowledgment, including with the many young people working in our local businesses.

Early in our conversation, a participant noted that the low attendance at this ASK Salt Spring gathering could indicate a lack of community interest in our youth. It was agreed that, despite all the other pressing issues buffeting our community, we need to make a Salt Spring-wide commitment to support our youth. Despite this agreement, there was not agreement about the form of this support. 

From there, the conversation expanded to other important elements of youth engagement. Spaces emerged as a key theme: places where youth can gather, connect, and feel a sense of acceptance. These spaces offer youth a place where they feel belonging, not judged, where they can speak out (or not), be listened to and understood, and be seen. Spaces such as these are the precursors towards meaningful youth engagement. The programs offered by The Circle Education are examples of the creation of these spaces. 

In terms of physical spaces, we agreed that PARC recreational programs (https://www.ssiparc.ca/) are amazing and keep many of our youth busy (some possibly even too busy!) with organized sports and recreational activities. There was acknowledgment of welcome changes at the Core Inn (https://saltspringcommunityservices.ca/youth-centre/) enjoying a resurgence with a variety of great programs and increasing youth participation. 

Participants questioned whether there are enough accessible, youth-centered, spaces that meet diverse and evolving youth needs. Complicating this is the needed awareness of barriers that prevent many of our youth from becoming engaged in already available spaces, due to financial challenges as well as the significant issue of transportation.It was agreed that more youth-focused spaces are needed. . . .


While some participantssuggested thatgood things happen whencommunity leaders with knowledge and ideas partner with local government to take a new initiative to fruition, others reminded us that it was not the responsibility of individuals but the responsibility of the entire community to see and support our youth. Further complicating the issue of increased support for youth is the recognition that youth needs shift every 3-5 years and that, like all demographics, the needs of youth vary dramatically. 

It was agreed by all, though, that we need to do all possible to offer alternatives to the pervasive social media capturing many of our youth, remembering that our future depends upon them. Participants recognized that seeing them, learning from them, and mentoring them must be one of our most important community imperatives. 

Our time together over for this week, we applauded Janine. We gratefully acknowledged her energy, optimism, tenacity, and patience developing programs that meet our youth where they are, allowing them to get to know themselves and others while also benefitting from adult mentorship. (Heartfelt thanks to Janine and her Team!) 

Just in case you are interested. . . .This report has been written by Gayle Baker, founder of ASK Salt Spring, currently also a Salt Spring Local Community Commissioner. It has also been reviewed by Janine.