This month has been focussed mainly on collaboration with other youth agencies in Porirua. We have brokered a deal with Pacific Health Services here in Porirua and a similar youth agency known as Hope City that have a group of 50 young people that they service. This is significant in Porirua as I believe it to be a first as the agencies can be quite competitive at times.

Apart from being invited to present I have been busy refining the project and looking at alternatives to deliver the best service we can for our young people. I am hopeful that we will have an awesome model that can be rolled out in other communities in the near future. We already have a huge interest from all over the nation that consistently ask us to develop the programme nationally.
Our young people have now stayed away from joining gangs and the reduction in youth offending from the young people we work with has decreased in a huge way. This is due to the people we have committed to the Streets Ahead 237 initiative.
The tailor made course required for our young people has now been discussed with our local tertiary institution and will begin in February 2009.

This is also a huge development as young people are now looking to educate themselves in youth work that will eventually see them involved in a higher level of leadership roles within the programme.
I hope you are all well and look forward to seeing you all at Involve 08 Relate

This month has really kicked into gear because we are anticipating the next school holidays which means “PASSION (Performing Arts Success Stories in Our Neighbourhoods) holiday program”. I’ve also felt the affects of winter and the flu has fast come upon me, but I’m pressing on. One of the highlights this month was our Otara Network Meeting.

Because the CANOPY Trust youth committee have been very involved with these meetings as well as within the community over the last couple months the community advisor has given us as well as other young people in the community the opportunity to facilitate the next up coming Otara Network monthly meetings!

I love that those involved in organising these important monthly community meetings are taking the initiative to allow our young people to have the opportunity to learn and grow their skills by being able to facilitate this, so I’m really anticipating this up and coming opportunity for our youth committee. As well I have been busily working to support the core youth leadership team to prepare for the up and coming holiday program.

The first one they held in term 1 holidays was a great success and that were pleased that there feedback and suggestions for improvements from their planning camp early this year were implemented. All the elements of the show were planned, prepared and delievered by the young people and once again this next will be no different. They have already decided that they want an element of fashion as well as other arts involved in their program this time around and I will certainly support them to make it happen.

This month has been ticking along nicely – some of my work this month has involved hosting a Teen Parent Agency Network, completing my Family Partnership facilitation training, writting a funding application and we have had two new staff members join our team.

To be honest at the start of the month I was a bit worried how I was going to fit everything in. After chatting to my manager and Annette form the Vodafone Foundation I’ve now changed to full time for the rest of my WoD year. This has been a tremendous move taking the pressure off trying to do a fulltime workload in 35 hours. Thanks to the Foundation and the AWC for your flexibility around this.

So, what’s my top three things from June:

1. A big welcome to Gabby and Amelia who both joined the team this month.

Gabby is coordinating our new Teenage Antenatal Programme Pilotrunning from August – September. Gabby also works for Rape Prevention Education – she brings her understanding of cultural diversity, her extensive experience and knowledge of working with young people and her passion for prevention work.

Amelia is joining the team after working at the Centre for 18 months coordinating our Information, Advice and Referral service. Amelia is now coordinating our Young Mothers Support Programme and our Teen Parent Focus Groups which inform our Teen Parent Project initiatives and other key stakeholders. Amelia brings her experience of working at the Centre, her friendly and calm nature, along with her experience and knowledge of working with young women from her earlier work as part of an Inner city youth project in England. I now feel like we can run at full capacity as a team!

2. Definitely, the Teen Parent Agency Network Hui was fantastic.

We had a really rich and productive community forum with 25 professionals from the local community. We discussed the need to expand the Women’s Centre Teen Parent Project and how we might go about this; together we identified key principles important to the community. From there we have applied for funding to undertake a community collaborative research project to scope the new initiative.

3. The Family Partnership facilitation training was amazing and very intense.

Shelley and I spent six full days learning about the components of the course, co-facilitating some of the sessions and working alongside a group of amazing women from Plunket. Vodafone and SKIP have support Shelley’s and my training, from this we can now work together to facilitate training for Women’s Centre staff and others involved in the youth and community sector.

From next month I’ll start my last six month of my WoD year. In no way do I plan on slowing down – I’m going to enjoy my time, use it wisely and hopefully continue to make things happen.

WAVES continues to Rock!!! The Youth development team continue to amaze me with their passion and commitment to their peers. This month saw our first Annual General Meeting, and for me a first time at writing the 1st annual report and balance sheet. I’m glad we have 2 friendly accountants that support us, as some of the language was very foreign to me. Vodafone NZ Foundation continues to be the largest supporter that WAVES has had. We continue to thank them for the amazing support and direction that they continue to provide us. You ROCK as well.

The New Plymouth District council continue to support our youth development programmes and have committed 20k a year for three years for us to run art and creative programmes during the school holidays. These workshops are aimed at the more vulnerable youth. This was also Youth week and the Youth Fest run by the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust. A great month for us to promote and engage with young people.We provided transport and lunch and they had a brilliant time. The graffiti workshops are always popular and it gives them a sense of pride in the street art, plus a place that they can legally show their talent. The council has noticed a significant drop in tagging and illegal graffiti since the implementation of our programmes.
The WAVES team are regularly asked to speak to community groups. This is often womens’ church groups, and there are always amazing morning teas provided. These older women have great attitudes and often call in with food for some of our hungry youth that live very transient lives, or on the streets.
We almost have an entirely new board. We have great strength from many sectors, including law, finance, education and health. A lot of work having meetings and explaining the philosophy and values around youth health and development. We have 11 members and we are hoping that they will lobby for WAVES and assist in the long term sustainability of the service.
Pukeariki library and museum became 5 years old on the 14th June. WAVES youth peers and committee maned a space all day. This was a lot of fun and had sing stars, hip hop and crumping. We also met up with a Swiss teacher on holiday. He jammed along with our young musicians and guitarists with his swiss horn!!
We have travelled to Inglewood and spoken to this community about WAVES and our set up. They are planning to do the same in their community. We continue to support ETown, the youth service that is setting up in Eltham.
Ricky Malcolm, youth worker, and I spoke to the National party and had a visit from John Key. Rick got him on camera saying, “WAVES ROCKS”
Our numbers continue to increase each week. Next month we are really going to get into the fund raising side of things. The youth themselves are palnning to set up youth events and Ricky wants to make 10K. I’m consistently blown away by the amazing talent so many young people have. They just need the opportunity to give to their communities and they get right into it.

Next month is the Vodafone day in Wellington, then the INVOLVE conference, which we are all really looking forward to.

Kia ora ano whanau ) Another AWESOME month just gone but so much cool stuff happened I’m worried this report is gonna be more erratic than usual lol, I’ll start with the local, we kicked off three projects last month;

RAW was in partnership with Ruapotaka Marae, Youthtown and Auckland City Council and facilitated by the artist, Mr. John Ioane – this project ran over one week during the holidays and youth involved were challenged to produce a contemporary visual art piece using Tikanga Maori as their inspiration. The results were phenomenal and though it was meant to be a ‘one-off’ we’re now exploring ways to continue with this group to get them exhibited as well as finding other art forms to explore… stay tuned…

In So Many Words is a larger process, again using arts to stimulate development but this time the medium used was theatre. We co-ordinated a series of scriptwriting workshops and were lucky to have the skills of Mr. Ali Foa’i to work alongside the young people. The results were outstanding and we are looking forward to seeing the piece performed in early August.

The Eastside Youth Map project is third in line and still a work in progress but I can tell you all is going well so far and you’ll have to come back in October for the final results

Nationally, Smokefree Pacifica Beats is charging ahead, we’re halfway through at the moment and it’s crazy busy but everything is working so I won’t complain!! One of the most exciting things so far has been catching up with our ‘06 winners; Jicky Chan from Kawerau College. O.M.G. They have taken their music to another level and EVERYONE should watch out for them, and on that note…

Vivah, our ‘07 winners were part of the WoD launch this month out at Mt. Smart Stadium!!! What a buzz it was for them, they haven’t stopped talking about it and even managed to pick up another gig while they were there ) Rock on Vodafone NZ Foundation, you guys are awesome and we wish you all the best in going through the applications for this year.

YPT itself? This month has been about consolidation; we’ve got our 3yr strategic plan now and are starting to look at how our business plan will fall out of it, relevant training is slowly revealing itself and I’m resigned to the fact that I need some form of upskilling in business management [please insert groan here]. Meantime, lots of new opportunities are presenting themselves but I’m aware we must move forward carefully to ensure we retain focus… getting distracted now would be fatal so we’re keen to get that business plan going asap!Oh, I also managed to slip in a week down at Involve, a WoD hui, a rebranding korero and a holiday to the Sunshine Coast, phew, life is busy but good ) Catch you’s up next month!! And GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE THAT’S SUBMITTING FOR WoD THIS YEAR!!!