YOUTH-LED COUNCIL
Indigenous youth are exploring leadership, culture-based education, land, water, and climate resilience across Monterey Bay.
This youth-led council is part of the Monterey Bay Climate Adaptation Action Network (MBCAAN).
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Seventh Generation Rising works alongside Collaborative for Right Relations and Four Directions Consulting to support the MBCAAN Indigenous Youth Council. This council is youth-led.
SGR’s role is to help hold structure, support recruitment, and create space for Indigenous youth to explore leadership, culture-based education, land, water, and climate resilience.
Current focus areas:
- Developing the framework for the youth council with core partners.
- Beginning youth outreach and recruitment across tribal communities.
- Participating in regional planning to keep Indigenous engagement present.
- Preparing spaces where youth can step into decision-making roles.
How Youth Lead
The youth council is part of a larger regional effort to address climate risks in the Monterey Bay area. Youth help shape the direction of the council through their interests, questions, and lived experience.
Youth may explore ocean health, flooding, fire, land use, community resilience, culture-based education, or other issues connected to land and water. They may choose to share their ideas through story, art, media, discussion, planning, or other forms of expression rooted in their own perspectives.
SGR supports this process by helping remove barriers, holding structure, and staying behind youth leadership.
ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS
Snapshot Day 2026 gave Indigenous Youth Council participants a hands-on opportunity to learn about water, land, and climate resilience in the field. Youth and community partners monitored sites across the Carmel River and Garzas Creek watershed, collected water samples, recorded field observations, and reflected on the relationship between science, cultural responsibility, and care for the living world.
Hands-on Water Testing
Orientation and Training
Hands-on Water Testing
Youth participants review field testing equipment during Snapshot Day 2026.
Recording the Data
Orientation and Training
Hands-on Water Testing
Participants collect water measurements and field observations to support a broader understanding of watershed health.
Relationship to Place
Orientation and Training
Orientation and Training
Youth, tribal leaders, and community partners observe habitat conditions and learn together in the field.
Orientation and Training
Orientation and Training
Orientation and Training
Participants gathering before heading into the field for water monitoring across the Carmel River and Garzas Creek watershed.
Indigenous Engagement That Lasts
We support Indigenous engagement that is ongoing, respectful, and connected to regional planning. This means staying involved beyond one meeting, one survey, or one event.
Through this work, we help:
- Keep Indigenous youth and community perspectives present in MBCAAN planning.
- Support communication between youth, families, and partners.
- Connect youth engagement with land, water, climate resilience, and culture-based education.
- Stay connected to the work as regional plans continue to develop.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AGES 14 TO 18
Participation is designed to spark curiosity and introduce students to environmental, cultural, and community leadership. Students ages 14 to 18 can explore how local climate work happens, who is involved, and how Indigenous youth voices can help shape regional conversations.
Possible benefits include
- Hands-on experience with climate, land, water, and community projects.
- Practice with communication, teamwork, and decision-making.
- Connections to local organizations, educators, and environmental professionals.
- Exposure to different roles in land, water, culture-based education, and climate resilience work.
Service hours, school credit, and internships
Participation may support community service hours, senior projects, college applications, or experiential learning credit when it meets the requirements of the student’s school or program.
SGR can provide attendance logs and verification letters when appropriate.
Transparency about compensation
This opportunity is unpaid at this stage. As SGR and the network grow, our goal is to build toward future paid youth leadership pathways.
Experience that supports future paths
This council can help youth build awareness, confidence, and early exposure. Youth may leave with:
- A better understanding of local climate and environmental work.
- More insight into how their voice and perspective fit within regional efforts.
- Experiences they can share in school, applications, future internships, or future community projects.
Where This Fits
The MBCAAN Indigenous Youth Council connects Indigenous youth voice to regional climate adaptation work across Monterey Bay.
MBCAAN focuses on shared regional priorities, including:
- Flood and storm risk reduction
- Fire planning and land management
- Coastal and watershed resilience
- Workforce development for a climate-ready future
Through the youth council, students can learn how regional climate planning is carried out, who is involved, and how Indigenous knowledge, culture-based education, and youth perspectives can help shape the work.
Core Collaborators
The MBCAAN Indigenous Youth Council is connected to a group of core collaborators supporting regional climate adaptation, Indigenous engagement, youth participation, and community resilience.
- California Marine Sanctuary Foundation
- Central Coast Climate Collaborative
- Collaborative for Right Relations
- Community Foundation Santa Cruz County
- Ecology Action
- Four Directions Consulting
- Monterey Bay Area Climate Justice Collaborative
- Regeneración
We are connected to a wider network working on land, water, and climate resilience in Monterey Bay.
Regional Network Partners
Big Sur Land Trust
California State Parks
California State University Monterey Bay
Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association
Central Coast Wetlands Group
City of Santa Cruz
City of Watsonville
Coastal Conservation & Research
Elkhorn Slough Foundation
Groundswell Coastal Ecology
Hartnell College
Land Trust Santa Cruz County
Monterey Bay Climate Project Working Group
Monterey County Water Resources Agency
Pajaro Regional Flood
Management Agency
Pajaro Storm Drain Maintenance District
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Resource Conservation District of Monterey County
Santa Lucia Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
University of California Santa Cruz
Watsonville Wetlands Watch
Stay Connected
Students, parents, educators, and community members can follow this work, learn about upcoming opportunities, and stay connected as the MBCAAN Indigenous Youth Council develops.
Seventh Generation Rising works with families, elders, and youth to restore Indigenous lifeways.
Seventh Generation Rising Inc is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. EIN: 30-0720472
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