Youth Councils in Action
Helping youth councils build a foundation meant several different kinds of work for Marla Mesarina in December 2023: securing donations, facilitating introductions, supporting bylaws, and helping young people bring their council’s future before tribal leadership.
Mesarina, who identifies as Leech Lake Ojibwe and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, served as Midwest Representative in UNITY’s 2023–2024 National UNITY Council Executive Committee cohort. The cohort connects regional councils and individual members, represents Native youth perspectives, and develops leadership through cooperation and service.
On December 3, she helped Leech Lake Youth Council with its first fundraiser, selling hot cocoa and candy canes outside Leech Lake Market. Later that month, she supported TrekNorth Native Youth Council’s wild rice soup starter-kit fundraiser by making calls and securing wild rice donations.
Her support also extended to the organizational work behind a council. At Leech Lake’s first youth gathering on December 16 in Bena, she hosted icebreakers and helped with bylaws. On December 19, she and fellow youth presented a proposed resolution to the Leech Lake Tribal Council seeking official recognition for their youth council.
“Assisting the newly founded Leech Lake Youth Council to becoming an official youth council means a lot to me because I have always dreamed of being a part of something like that growing up,” Mesarina wrote.
“I am thankful that I am in a position where I can make that happen for other youth of the Leech Lake Reservation,” she shared. Her reflection connects the practical tasks with a personal commitment to opportunities she had wanted as a younger person.
On December 21, Mesarina co-hosted a fundraising webinar with UNITY Executive Director Mary Kim Titla. She also supported the Earth Ambassadors’ Healing the Earth webinar, connecting local service with learning opportunities across UNITY.
Another collaboration looked toward inclusion. Working with Unified ambassador Myron Braveheart, she began planning an Indigenous Games event in Minnesota for Indigenous participants on the autism spectrum.
Together, these responsibilities show youth leadership growing through both relationships and structure: resources to support activities, bylaws to guide a council, introductions that build belonging, and plans that consider who can participate. Mesarina’s report places that foundation-building at the center of her service to Midwest youth.
