Breaking The Cycle of Poverty and Desperation of Indigenous and Other Marginalized Youth... 

For over 30 years the Inner City Youth Engagement Program and Inner City High School under the umbrella of the Inner City Youth Development Association have successfully provided opportunities for Edmonton’s most vulnerable marginalized Indigenous and other urban youth to leave the desperation of the street behind and begin building productive lives.

The population in our programs is made up of between 85% to 90% Indigenous youth. Most have a history of and are fighting the damages of dysfunctional socialization, a dysfunctional school history, contact with the justice system and extreme poverty.

Our social workers and youth workers meet with students regularly to deal with emotional crises, often rooted in intergenerational trauma that manifests in family violence, sexual and physical abuse, addictions, homelessness, suicidal thoughts, and lack of essential resources.

Our court worker advocates for students by acting as a navigator; guiding students through the bureaucracy of the justice system, supporting them in court, and negotiating and supervising community service hours as an alternative to youth going to jail.

Helping Youth Help Themselves

• We base our daily practice on the values of trust, respect, cooperation and non-violence.

• We respect the individuality of all students and treat all students equally, and respect their inherent dignity and intelligence.

• We believe that everyone in our programs have the right to access the resources that provide for their basic necessities and create the conditions for an education that responds to their needs.

• We offer every youth in our programs the opportunities, skills and resources to become contributing members of society.

• We function on a basis of cooperation - that means that youth have a voice, wherever possible, in the creation, structure, and operation of our programs.