Free software enthusiasts are eager for the day to come when digital sovereignty is the norm. However, how do we get there from where we are now?

While installing GNU/Linux onto your own computer and avoiding proprietary software may be helpful for your personal freedom, these actions fail to persuade others to change their deep-seeded habits. Informing friends and family about software freedom is certainly important, but folks have an understandably hard time transitioning. So what are we to do about it?

Mentoring youth interested in technology to be contributing members of the free software projects can have a lasting impact. Youth are more amenable to change, and they have more time to learn and try new things. Moreover, youth who are able to not only understand the philosophy of software freedom -- but to exercise those freedoms -- stand ready to make a significant and lasting impact, both for themselves and those around them.

At Sugar Labs, we create tools for learning. The tools are FOSS. The source code published, even during development. We invite youth to contribute to our software, solving issues under community mentorship and developing their skills. Plus, many of our tools help students to learn programming, which helps our youngest learners prepare for their next steps (at Sugar Labs or elsewhere). As a result, we have some repositories with over two-hundred contributors, many of whom are in high school or college. Moreover, students who have stayed with us for a sustained period have reported their successes in later FOSS endeavors.

This talk will examine education and mentorship as a strategy to bring free software into the mainstream, both because it helps give youth the experience they need to better understand the implications of software freedom as well as helps to guide youth into free software communities where they can continue to make a lasting positive impact.