Monthly Archive for August, 2009

..and there have certainly been a fair few of them in the past few weeks.  Roll on summer! 

This month has been a busy one for me, and for all the Challenge crew.  We have had another two fundraisers.  The first of these was a BBQ outside Woolworths in Johnsonville.  This was a great team building experience and we certainly learnt a few cunning tricks for next time.   On Saturday 1 August our talented youth worker Jamie and his team put on a dress rehearsal of their show “He Reo Aroha” as a fundraiser, prior to taking off to show it to the rest of NZ (and the world)!  

The youth work training is going from strength to strength.   Last week five more trainees passed their first two assessments.  It has been amazing to hear them talking about the things they are learning, and how to apply it in their work.

Over the past few weeks I have also helped out with a few of our school group programmes.  This included organising a Friday afternoon ‘treasure hunt’ around the Wellington Waterfront with the Challenge College students.  It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone seemed to get right into the activity of finding all the clues.  The girls team definitely took the prize for strategy – with a little bit of assistance from the helpful lady at the Information Centre!!  

Last week I attended the Youth Mentoring conference in Auckland with Tina, one of our MASSiSS social workers.  It was a great opportunity to meet up with others from around the country who are involved in this work, to hear about other peoples programmes and to come back with some ideas about how to strengthen the mentoring service provided at Challenge 2000.

One of the memorable moments of this month was when Josh (WOD recipient @ Evolve) and I took a trip out to visit Billy Graham at his boxing academy in Naenae.  This place is amazing and I am really looking forward to taking some of our young people out to visit and learn a few things from Billy. 

As I write plans are afoot for an amazing youth leadership trip to Auckland to see (among other things) the Warriors play this weekend.  In addition to this, the young people going on this trip will have the opportunity to visit some people and places of significance and to experience some different types of leadership.

Planning for the 21^st birthday celebrations is stepping up.  Invitations are being sent out and the team are busy pulling everything together.  It is now just over seven weeks until the big event!  

Bridget 

Kiaora! The sun is finally starting to warm things up down in Dunedin, but even more enlightening (haha) was the awesome Youth Leadership training weekend we ran at the start of this month! There was a brilliant group of young people involved and the sessions covered everything from icebreakers and group development, to the legal rights of youth. The facilitators were wicked, including Jasmine, a youthworker from Nelson, Scott and co from Victory over Violence and the always fabulous Joshua Briggs from the Evolve youth service in Wellington. Lots of ideas and inspiration bubbled up throughout the weekend and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Having Josh in town was absolutely awesome – not only did he run some great sessions on leadership and create uncontrollable hilarity with his icebreakers, he also helped me get my teeth around the idea of a free youth health service in Dunedin – what that would look like and how it might run.  Now, after a couple of intense discussions and a few crazy road-trip missions to check out the service providers at Number 10 in Invercargill and 198 in Christchurch, we’re looking into opening a ‘suitcase’ drop-in clinic in town. What an energising project! Stay tuned…

Another highlight was “Eyes Wide Open” an event organised by 350.org as part of their climate change actions. A vanload of students headed down to George Street and, along with hundreds of other New Zealanders, we paused for five minutes with woolly hats over our eyes.  We then lifted our hats together, showing that we will not have the wool pulled over our eyes about climate change. Afterwards, we headed to Trade Aid for a fairly-traded hot chocolate and had a chat with Matt from Forest and Bird about the great work they’re doing to protect our bushland. It was a great opportunity for the students to create links with other non-profits, participate in a nation-wide event and get some feel-good vibes. Check out the video Eyes Wide Open

This month also saw me take another zippy trip to our nation’s capital for a meeting of the Generosity Hub. What a wonderful group and what an amazing priveledge to be a part of it! The hub has created a long list of initiatives to work on over the next few months and I have my work cut out for me looking into curriculum links with generosity and liasing with youth-based volunteer organisations all over the country! 

Plans for our first ever Diversity Dance are also going AMAZINGLY well. Wow! There’s been so much community support so far… but then again, who wouldn’t want to be involved in 12-hours of non-stop music and dancing? The event is shaping up to be massive, with lots of teams involved, some wonderful performers and good vibes all around.

Our second annual Dob in a Volunteer competiton closes this week too! So if you know any Otago volunteers who do amazing work in their community, let us know, cause great volunteers deserve to be celebrated!

Aroha everybody!

Lani

With time flying by at the Yes Ability Achievement Centre the months of June and July have merged together to give you this report. As a ‘bullet pointed’ snapshot of the previous two months I am continually  gaining momentum to achieve 50 mentoring matches, the creation of operational tools, and sourcing funding for the future delivery of Carabiner.

The process for Carabiner to create opportunities for young people with disabilities to live their dream by linking potential with success has always been mentoring. Going forward we are excited to be offering our mentors and mentorees experience days, workshops and support meetings.

As I am focusing on the delivery of my communications plan (to build more mentor and mentoree matches) it was a timely opportunity to speak at the Prime Ministers Social Hero Awards on July 24^th.  This occasion recognized NZ businesses who lead the way when it comes to innovative thinking around social issues, it was awesome to speak there and raise the profile of Carabiner and Yes Ability. With thanks to the Robin Hood Foundation and Cannon, all 200 guests left with a Carabiner keyring as a constant reminder to the difference they can make in the lives of our youth through becoming a mentor.

With long days it is energizing to review what is achieved in a month. With Carabiner as my core focus I have found other activities to engage in that support my world of difference endeavor.

The following is a snap-shot of my past two months:

·         Vodafone Foundation: Through Vodafone’s internal community service program “Hands Up”, I have been linked with Richard Howarth. Richard is the head of sponsorship at Vodafone and previously was doing a similar role with the Warriors and sports teams across the U.K. Richard knows what sponsors look for in charities and is going to use his skills to assist me with promoting Carabiner to Mentors and funders. AWESOME!!! 

·         Contracting the right skills: I have been working very closely with Shona Ballinger. We have created; a business and marketing plan, a communications plan, tools for Carabiner to meet its objectives, application and information forms, and a detailed training program for mentors and mentorees.

·         Carabiner numbers: On top of the 5 matches who participated in the pilot, we have got a further 7 matches actively participating. We have a further 4 matches almost ready to go. In actively promoting Carabiner applications are continuing to flow in.

·         North Shore Disability Strategy: I am representing YES / Carabiner on the Disability strategy steering Committee. With monthly meetings we are currently preparing to short list the 10 applicants who submitted interest in creating the implementation plan for the strategy.

·         Hayes Knight: With Hayes Knight as our neighbors for the past 18 months I thought it was timely to now invite them over for a Friday drink. When the invitation went out I didn’t realize they had a staff list of 45 in contrast to our 8. As they swarmed over on the 17^th of July it was great to be putting names to faces as well as an opportunity to increase our profile. More drinks to come J

·         Add Campaign: On a bus shelter near you – currently this years WOD recipients and I am in an ad campaign promoting the Vodafone Foundations World of Difference program. This is a national campaign is being promoted through Vodafone offices, bus shelters, bill boards, papers, websites, and postcards. While the “lights, camera, action” type atmosphere was distant from our day to day work, it was an enjoyable experience and a buzz to be involved in promoting such a uniquely awesome opportunity.

·         Stepping Up Leadership Program: I am working with Minnie Baragwanath (Auckland City Council), Todd Fernie (AUT), Margaret Vanderkolk (Idea Services) and Lesley Slade in developing a forum which will create a leadership program within the disability sector. As a 3 forum series our first was on the 29^th of July which looked at the current structure of our sector, how it is changing, and what we need to be ready for. We had over 100 people RSVP to the invitation and the attendees are a real snapshot of the sector – including everyone from service providers, students, activists, entrepreneurs, and M.P’s. I’ve being asked to be the final keynote speaker on the 25^th of August speaking to the topic – what can be achieved if we cultivate leadership.

·         Dynamics and Facilitation of Group Leadership: I have recently completed part 1 of a 3 part course on group leadership. This is in preparation for the increase of group work that I will be doing with Carabiner. Upon completing part 3 I will have a certificate in group facilitation which will be a skill I can offer other organizations / groups.

·         Supper City Submission: I recently spoke at the hearings for the super city in support of the North Shore Disability Strategy being able to be implemented by the greater city.

Despite the broad spectrum of my work, wherever I go I represent Carabiner and Yes Ability. In focusing on ability not disability the mission of Carabiner is to give young people with disabilities the support and guidance they need to achieve their dreams and goals, have a sense of belonging and increase independence. Thank you to the Vodafone Foundation for the part you play in this venture