The years of youth are years of capacity.

A generation of protagonists

The Bahá'í community has long held that young people, in the years between fifteen and twenty-five, are uniquely placed to undertake the work of community building. They have the energy, the time, the openness to new ideas, and the freedom from settled patterns that this work requires. They are also, in our experience, magnificently capable of carrying it.

In every Ontario neighbourhood where the Institute is flourishing, the texture of the work is held up by a cohort of young people in their late teens and early twenties — animators, tutors, children's class teachers — who have decided, quietly and consequentially, that the years before them will not be spent only in the pursuit of their own ends.

Accompaniment, not delegation

The Institute does not "delegate" the work to youth. It accompanies them. Each young person who arises to serve is supported by a more experienced friend, who walks alongside them through the institute courses and into the field of service. The accompanier studies what the young person studies; serves alongside them when they serve; reflects with them on what is being learned. Over time, the young person becomes an accompanier of others.

Education for a life of meaning

The Institute is committed not only to a young person's capacity for service, but to their broader education and to the unfolding of their life. We support young people in their studies and in their preparation for higher education; we help them think about a calling. We hold that the development of a noble character and the pursuit of useful knowledge are not separable.