In 1998, Bringing Youth Towards Equality (B.Y.T.E.) began to surface out of Yukon’s need to have a youth organization that is generated out of youth ideas, plans, and initiatives.

Supported by the PAYY Coalition (Positive Action with Yukon Youth), a group of energetic youth decided to put together the first Yukon Youth Conference. It was a success, so the group reassembled later in the spring to formally form B.Y.T.E. Since day one, B.Y.T.E.’s been involving youth in every step of the decision making process and has grown into a national program.

Over the years, we have hired on energetic, enthusiastic youth who have shaped and directed the organization. We have been extremely lucky to have so many talented and passionate individuals work for byte. New teams our created annually, this has enabled us to keep our work current and vibrant. Each team brings with it a new set of skills and abilities allowing us to reach out and connect with a larger number of youth here in our Territory.

BYTE uses a ‘for youth by youth’ organizational model. We regularly poll Yukon youth on what issues they face, want to learn more about and take action on, and then we create programming surrounding these outcomes. Our most popular program is our Community Outreach: on-call youth created and run workshops. In recent years, the B.Y.T.E. staff team has created experiential lesson plans on the issues outlined by Yukon youth to encourage healthy choices. We have recruited and trained an on-call facilitation team of over 20 youth to offer workshops in schools, rural youth centres and winter and summer camps.