Letter to Manukau

Botany CAB

I recently attended the opening of the newest Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in Manukau at Botany Town Centre. It has been opened under the guidance and support of the Pakuranga CAB which has provided an important service for our communities over the years. The CABs provide an awesome service.

They deal with hundreds of enquiries from residents through the year on all manner of issues and subjects from immigration to tree trimming, resource management applications and social events. They are a catalyst for helping people in our community, particularly new residents settle into their new community. This service is crucial to the continued development of Botany, a relatively new and diverse community.

Sir Barry Curtis fun run

I was also proud to be part of the recent Sir Barry Curtis 10km fun run, where this year I opted for the 5km walk, along with the youngsters! It was great to see our former mayor Sir Barry there to start everyone off at the 10km mark at Buckland's Beach.

The Howick/Pakuranga Athletics Club organised a brilliant event and it was great to see so many people turn out for the race and walk. Most of those going from the 5km mark were youngsters so it was fun to head off with a real mix of kids from St Kentigern College, Mellon's Bay Primary, Bucklands Beach Primary and Intermediate, Farm Cove Intermediate and Edgewater College.

Otorohanga and Manukau

The other week, I visited Otorohanga with representatives from the Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education, tertiary institutions and providers where we were given a presentation by mayor Dale Williams and those involved in the Connections Project in Otorohanga.

This project is based on a simple concept and has, with some different focuses in the past, been labelled the Youth Transition Service. It sets in place a structure for connecting young people when they leave school into a job, training or tertiary education.

Otorohanga has between 80 to 90 young people leaving its sole high school every year and their progress is tracked for anything up to five to six years to ensure they are well settled in their study or career options. The town has no unemployment and this is primarily due to the hard work of Dale as the advocate and all those involved from the tertiary training and employment sector.

It was an informative day and we all returned to Manukau convinced this was a concept we could in Manukau. We are however under no illusions that there are major differences between our city and the smaller town of Otorohanga, with something like 5000 students leaving Manukau schools annually.

It would probably, in all reality, only apply specifically and directly to 20 to 30 per cent of our students as most are on career or study paths once they leave school and are self motivated. The simple aim of this project would be to leave no child behind and to ensure that every single one of our kids was leaving school for some purpose and to some end that was positive and beneficial in their lives and for us all.

Have a good week

Len Brown

Mayor of Manukau

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