In response to these challenges, an innovative community-institution initiative (Faubert 2009), the Promoting Life-skills in Aboriginal Youth (PLAY) program, initiated and partly funded by the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs of Ontario and designed, implemented and managed by Right To Play (RTP) is launching at least eight four-year programs with different FNMI communities using sport and recreation activities to promote and enhance youth development. This proposal is an interdisciplinary combination of 3 interrelated studies in the two first participating communities: Study 1 will analyze community mobilization and engagement with the PLAY program throughout implementation to understand and guide its sustainability. Study 2 will focus on the youth in the community and evaluate the acquisition of life-skills and their impact on development using the RE-AIM framework (Glasgow et al., 2004) . Study 3 will review the perceptions of the diverse institutions involved in the PLAY program at the conclusion of the initiative through a relevant program evaluation and concept mapping process (Trochim 1989a). The integrated results will identify critical success factors (CSF) related to the overall program’s sustainability and transferability to FNMI context and capacity to efficiently promote life-skills. Community mobilization for youth development is a primary concern for all research partners.