The Creators' Game: A Conduit for Youth Development, Community Engagement, and American Indian Cultural Connections

• Published in: Social work in public health Vol. 36; no. 7-8; pp. 832 - 846
• Main Authors: Campbell, Michael, Cowser, James, Lucio, Robert, Irvine, Kelsey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 17.11.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Action research; Adolescent; Adolescent development; American Indian; American Indians; American Indians or Alaska Natives; community engagement; Feasibility studies; Humans; Indians, North American; lacrosse; Native North Americans; Nebraska; Public Health; Social Planning; Social workers; Youth; Nebraska; United States > US; American Indian; public health; community engagement; lacrosse
• ISSN: 1937-1918; 1937-190X
• DOI: 10.1080/19371918.2021.1965935

The Nebraska Panhandle Creators' Game event (CG) was a grassroots-driven community engagement project for the Nebraska Panhandle region, a largely rural region with a vibrant American Indian (AI) population. The CG event explored the role social workers can play in leveraging a youth sport (lacrosse) as a convening platform for public health messaging and to embrace the fundamental fact that the AI people live with an intimate connection to their community, the land, and their people. This connection is pivotal for self-directed change in communities that actively comingle with American Indian people. A feasibility study was done to explore respondents' perceptions of the impact of the event on youth development, community engagement, and cultural connections. The pilot data collected for this project supports the literature on participatory research as a key to engaging AI communities. Data trends are provided, and the implications of these findings are discussed.