Located in the northern Sierra Nevada mountain region of California, the Roundhouse Council was a hub of Greenville’s Mountain Maidu community and formed part of a statewide network of California Indian Education Centers. In 2001, the Roundhouse Council hired a team of young people to design a new watershed education program and summer camp for the network. The youth team decided to create a survey to get input from indigenous youth from around the state. Neither the young people nor their coordinator had ever created a survey before, so they decided to test the survey in their community before sending it out to other Indian Education Centers.

Indian Days, the annual northern Sierra powwow, was the natural place to try out the survey. The youth looked forward to the event and felt comfortable testing their skills publicly because they were on familiar ground with a familiar audience. Everyone they asked filled out one of the questionnaires, and by the end of the day the team had collected over 100 surveys.

Following the powwow, the team reconvened to discuss which questions worked and which didn't and why. After revising the survey they sent it out to the Indian Education Centers throughout Northern California. The test run not only strengthened the survey but also helped the team feel more ownership and confidence over the project and their skills. By the end of the testing process, team members had a sophisticated understanding of how to develop questions, administer surveys, analyze data and make design recommendations.

Collaborating Organization: Youth In Focus

Photo Credit: "frazier02" by mlhradio is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0