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Alejandro Mayoral Baños, Executive Director of the Indigenous Friends Group, created the Indigenous Friends Mobile App in 2015 after realizing the need to develop a safe digital space for that community.

Founded in 2015, the Indigenous Friends Association (IFA) is a non-profit Indigenous organization that was born out of the need for Indigenous youth in an urban and post-secondary setting to have a safe digital space, and for them to be able to connect with fellow Indigenous peers in order to rekindle their relationship with traditional Indigenous values.

The creators of an Indigenous networking app will launch a new initiative designed to further connect and support Indigenous youth at an event this Thursday, August 1.

Ruth Koleszar-Green’s conversation crackles with energy, reflecting her passion for Indigenous education and Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

The Indigenous Friends App is a mobile application and social network that was created by an indigenous community at York University.

The Indigenous Friends App is a safe space for indigenous youth and students within the educational institutions. Indigenous Friends App has 3 main forms of action which are; 1) providing information on indigenous resources, events and maps, 2) creating and supporting indigenous social networks and 3) providing access to indigenous knowledge and peer support counselling.

Ruth Koleszar-Green likes to remind those on the York University campus how far Indigenous people have come in academia within a generation.

Koleszar-Green, an assistant professor in York’s school of social work, who is Haudenosaunee, recounts how her mother started at York in 1969, but the experience was so “horribly violent” that she did not complete her degree. “But now, one generation later, I’m chairing the Indigenous Council and am sitting at dinner with the [university] president, as I sometimes challenge her belief and understandings of Indigeneity,” she said.

When Alejandro Mayoral-Banos set out to build Indigenous Friends, a social network application to connect First Nations, Métis and Inuit with resources, he realized the biggest hurdle was likely to be the divide in the way these communities share knowledge.

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day and in anticipation of this special day of recognition, we'd like to highlight the achievements of Indigenous Friends. The group is working on a mobile application where students can connect to their Indigenous identity.

A social networking tool aimed at connecting and supporting post-secondary Indigenous youth has received an Ontario Trillium grant to expand its network capacity.

The Indigenous Friends Association, creators of the Indigenous Friends application, will receive $210,000 to expand over the next three years to universities and colleges across Ontario.

An app designed by York University students to connect and support Indigenous youth will be deployed in several colleges and universities over the next three years through a Youth Opportunities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

IN THE LAST DECADE, the search for tangible and practical solutions to challenges of inclusive and sustainable development using science, technology, and innovation (STI) has been at the forefront of policies and programs by international and local agencies.

York University is often praised for its multicultural community and interdisciplinary approach to academics. It was those two critical factors that drew Alejandro Mayoral Baños (MA ‘16) here from his home country of Mexico.

York University will further its commitment to equity and social justice with the launch of its Indigenous Framework and the appointment of a special advisor to the president on Indigenous initiatives.

It can be lonely moving from small First Nations to big cities for school. That's why one York University student created a social media app for Indigenous people.

Imagine being thousands of kilometres from home, in a place where few people understand who you are or where you come from.

You turn to social media, hoping to find a community, and instead you’re inundated with ignorant or hateful comments about your people and your home. What do you do?

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York University student Alejandro Mayoral Baños, a second-year master’s student in interdisciplinary studies, is spearheading the development of an app to help First Nations, Métis and Inuit students network with other members of York's aboriginal community.

“There are apps available that focus on aboriginal languages, but for networking there isn’t anything yet,” says Mayoral Baños. “We’re tapping into the digital generation.”