Introducing the teams of Indigenous youth leaders who are advancing clean energy projects grounded in kinship, mentorship, and a shared energy future.
Sun of Labrador requires mentorship expertise & services in the following areas of clean energy: Budgeting, Networking, Research & Development. If you are interested in supporting this project, please submit an Expression of Interest form here.
This project will identify a sustainable restoration plan for the Cayuga Nation Sour Springs Longhouse. Serena hopes to achieve sustainability by a Haudenosaunee standard through an energy efficiency audit, the implementation of a Solar PV system, and the creation of a seed storage facility for food security. Serena hopes that this project will include education and training for Sour Springs Longhouse community members.
The Longhouse Energy Audit requires mentorship expertise & services in the following areas of clean energy: Technical Specifics. If you are interested in supporting this project, please submit an Expression of Interest form here.
Serena Mendizabal (she/her) is a Cayuga Wolf Clan-Panamanian woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Serena is a community-based researcher, grassroots organizer, and environmental advocate. Serena began her journey in climate justice and clean energy when she was 18. After noticing gaps in consent for community energy plans, she wanted to explore what Climate Justice and a Just-Transition could look like for her community of over 28,000 members. From then on, Serena has dedicated her life to Indigenous self-determination, climate justice, environmental health impacts, and clean energy transitions through studies, work and extracurriculars. Serena is passionate about self-determined community development, action and futures led by sovereign, healthy nations. Serena is the Just Transition Manager at Sacred Earth Solar, Co-Chair at SevenGen National Indigenous Youth Energy Council, Climate Action Strategy Co-Lead at Protect the Tract, and Course Collaborator for Connecting for Climate Change Action.
This youth team aims to bring an off-grid emergency shelter to Frog Lake First Nation in Alberta. They aim to design a space to shelter community members during extreme cold/heat, fire, drought, or other climate events. The space will be designed using clean energy systems and will help the nation with its emergency management plan and goals for self-sustainability.
The Frog Lake team requires mentorship expertise & services in the following areas of clean energy: Project Management, Technical Specifics, Budgeting, and Research & Development. If you are interested in supporting the Frog lake Emergency Power project, please submit an Expression of Interest form here.
Samuel Marty, (age 21) is a Frog Lake First Nations member. He works in his community as a Clean Energy Coordinator and team member of L.E.A.P ( Legacy, Energy and Alternative Power), while simultaneously keeping up his role as an Oskapous (ceremonial helper). He believes through the collective efforts of his community, his team, and the experience gained that it is possible to create a green sovereignt nation that is not reliant on fossil fuels. He hopes to inspire the neighboring nations to join the transition to a clean, greener future. Through the program, Samuel intends to refine his knowledge, capacity build, network, make lifelong connections, and also have fun with the process. He believes that Imagination will help him achieve and accelerate his plan for an Indigenous Clean Energy future, for the next seven generations to come. “We only get one shot at this life, so take care of yourself and the world we walk on. Aho!”
Ay’Den Abraham (age 24) is an active member of his home community of Ayîk Sâkâhikan (FrogLake). With a background in carpentry being a family generational trade, he and his family have helped build the community. Working as a summer student through to supervisor is where he became more passionate about sustainability for the environment for the future population. He took training to become a Volunteer with his Fire Department in the Summer of 2023. During this time in August of 2023 upon request, he co-coordinated a Plains Cree cultural camp with the scope of environmental monitoring. The camp was very successful and with encouragement from his colleagues he began to build relationships and his skills with Indigenous Clean Energy and Legacy Energy and Alternative Power (LEAP) projects. He applied through the programming through ICE and was accepted into Generation Power 2023/24, and again for 2024/25, he still volunteers as a firefighter. Ay’Den believes in leaving a great world behind for his son and his future generations, friends and family and everyone to live as one with the environment.
Michael Marty (age 22) Is a young ambitious Father working for his nation as a Community Energy Coordinator and Clean Energy Champion. He is driven to help make his nation become a better place for the next seven generations. The way he is doing that is with the implementation of clean energy, food sovereignty, energy efficient homes, Clean building materials, environmental monitoring, and by protecting our land. Michael has been working on clean energy projects/ Land based projects for almost two years under his nation and is also a 20/20 Catalyst in 2023, and a Generation Power participant. With the implementation and help of all these projects, programs, and capacity building, he hopes to mitigate the use of fossil fuels in his community and begin the transition to clean energy use in all of Alberta to help protect and preserve our land for the next seven generations. Protecting the land is most important to him because if we have no more trees, plants, bugs, water, Et cetera we won’t be able to continue practicing and maintaining our culture and the identity of our people. “I am not an activist, I am a Land protector and projects like this will help protect our sacred mother earth for generations to come.”
This First Nations team hopes to develop an electric vehicle shuttle to help break the transportation barrier when gathering in ceremony with kin. The EV Shuttle Feasibility Study will target the Urban Indigenous population in the Tri-Cities area of Kitchener, Waterloo & Cambridge, Ontario.
The EV Shuttle Feasibility Study requires mentorship expertise & services in the following areas of clean energy: Research & Development, Project Management, Budgeting, Leadership, Indigenous Governance, and Fundraising. If you are interested in supporting this project, please submit an Expression of Interest form here.
Madison is Mohawk with matrilineal connections rooted in the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve. She is a recent graduate from Conestoga College and is working to bring Indigenous voices to the forefront of conversations that often lack Indigenous perspectives. In 2022, Madison started education in engineering where she first garnered an interest in sustainable building, with a focus on utilizing traditional knowledge. Madison ultimately stepped away from school and joined the Generation Power program which led her to her current role as a Project and Research Assistant at RFS Energy where she continues to expand her knowledge in the clean energy sector. Through her life experiences, Madison has come to know that Indigenous youth carry a unique and important life-perspective. And when given the opportunity, they have the power to change the world. In everything Madison does, she does her best to uplift their voices and hopes to continue doing so.