Strong Support for Kaikohe Youth

Strong Support for Kaikohe Youth

The new Kaikohe Youth Centre Te Uma o Te Kona has brought together a collaboration of agencies and organisations to support the aspirations of local youth.

The youth centre will open on Monday (14 August) with the support of Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi O Ngāpuhi, the Northland Social Wellbeing Governance Group Placed Based Initiative, Kāinga Ora, and the government’s Regional Growth Programme.

Together these groups are prioritising the welfare of Kaikohe youth by providing funding for cultural, educational, social wellbeing, and employment opportunities.

Paul Knight, CEO of Ngāpuhi Asset Holding Company, that operates Ngāpuhi Mobil (Kaikohe) Service Station is pleased to make a significant financial contribution to this community-driven initiative, on behalf of Ngāpuhi, and its local retail operations. “Investing in, and supporting the Kaikohe youth centre shows how a community can work together and support positive pathways and opportunities for young people" says Mr Knight.

Kāinga Ora chair, Harry Burkhardt, sees the opportunity for a community youth voice to play a lead role in establishing the activities of the centre and developing opportunities for young people. “It’s clear that the young people of Kaikohe want a safe, creative and fun space, where they can socialise in constructive ways. They have called for a youth centre like this for a long time, and it is pleasing that Kāinga Ora is now in a position to make this kind of social investment in the Kaikohe community for them.”

Ben Dalton, the government’s Senior Regional Official for Northland said the new youth centre is more than just a place for young people to meet, it will be a place where local youth can get help with education and training.

“Kaikohe has a large primary sector where future job growth in the region will come from. The key to sustaining young people in work and training placements is to ensure the right support is in place for them and employers. The demand in the primary sector is for skilled labour and employees with specialist skills and the ability to work with digital technologies and automation on farms. We’re working with local schools, young people and employers to make them aware of the wide range of diverse and skilled career opportunities in primary industries.

“If we want our young people to succeed the solution needs to be a combination of social, community and economic influences coming together which is embodied in the new youth centre.”

Ngāpuhi Rūnanga Chair Sonny Tau said that Hone Heke’s mother Te Kona, reflects the nuturing and caring objectives that the new youth centre in Kaikohe should aspire to. “Supporting youth development is a high priority for Ngāpuhi. We as a Rūnanga see this intiative as a great opportunity to work collaboratively to achieve this outcome together.”

“Kōtahi te kākaho ka whati, ina kapuia, e kore e whati”

A lone reed will waver and break, if combined with others, will never break. Alone we can be broken. Standing together, we are invincible.

ENDS

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