Helping young people realise their potential

We know that young people are most successful when they are engaged in education, training, work or other worthwhile activities. We provide opportunities for young people to participate in activities that will help them become successful adults.

We also work with youth at risk of entering the youth justice system who need support and guidance to quickly get back on the right track. More intensive programmes are available for those who are already in the youth justice system.

Youth Employment

We help young people connect with jobs. Looking for work can be an especially discouraging process for some young people. This is a time when their work skills and work experience are still being developed.

We want to ensure young people who need extra help finding a job have access to the resources available. Young people can participate in our Straight 2 Work programmes, available through most of our national industry/employer partnerships. Straight 2 Work provides employers with workers who are specifically trained to the employer's entry-level requirements and enables jobseekers to get and keep jobs that turn into careers.

In the coming year we will be delivering the Government's new Youth Opportunities package. This package is about us working together with employers and communities to provide opportunities for young people, aged 16 to 24 years, to work, train or stay in education. Employers can receive subsidies for helping young people gain job experience. We will offer Jobs Ops - a subsidy to help employers struggling to employ staff in entry-level positions and to help young people get valuable work experience for later work opportunities. We will also offer Community Max - a wage subsidy for six months for young people helping complete community-based projects. This initiative provides an opportunity for young people to build skills and work experience while contributing to the community.

In the 12 months ending June 2009, there were 14,814 work exits for youth (18 to 24 years).

Youth Transition Services

Youth Transition Services (YTS) supports at-risk young people (aged 15 to 17 years) into further education, training, or employment. The purpose is to help them achieve long-term economic independence and wellbeing. Paid work or training is essential for young people, particularly those who leave school early or those who need help staying on the right path.

These services provide practical interventions for young people by following up with school leavers at risk of falling through the cracks. We also run programmes that will help build self-esteem, leadership and decision-making skills in our young leaders.

Student Job placement activity

We contract Student Job Search (SJS) to provide help to tertiary students looking for holiday and in-term employment, and to assist in the administration of the Unemployment Benefit Student Hardship. Eighty-four per cent of students indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall service provided by SJS (compared with 83 per cent in 2007/2008 and a target of 80-85 per cent).

SJS connected students to 32,992 job placements, compared with 29,853 in 2007/2008.

Youth Development Partnership Fund

The Youth Development Partnership Fund provides funding to territorial authorities (city and district councils) so they can provide opportunities for young people in their communities.

Projects funded this year included youth crime and gang membership prevention initiatives, entrepreneurship opportunities, initiatives for the development of employment-related skills and projects for the development of young people's leadership skills.

We entered into contracts with 30 territorial authorities during the year, benefiting some 8,000 people.

Youth Week

We helped to promote youth connectedness and youth work, through funding Youth Week 2009. The event was launched in Wellington and took place in the week of 23 to 31 May 2009. The theme was Making Time for Youth. The focus was on parents and caregivers spending more time with young people, as well as on encouraging young people to make time for their elders.

This year Youth Week took another significant step in its development. A record number of events took place, with 50,000-100,000 people attending them; there was a huge amount of positive media coverage; new sponsorship relationships were developed; and there was funding to support more than 40 projects.

As part of Youth Week we released a web-based youth statistics resource. The resource consolidates into one place a range of social and economic statistics on young people aged 12 to 24 years at national, regional and district/city levels.

Youth engagement

We held six major consultations with young people on behalf of government agencies. These gave 2,000 young people the opportunity to have a say on matters such as the National Alcohol Plan, the Graffiti STOP Strategy, and employment support for Auckland youth.

Regional Youth Council Forums

During the year we ran 74 regional Youth Council Forums across the country in partnership with local district or city councils. These were attended by over 1,000 youth councillors and adult youth co-ordinators. The forums were held to enhance young people's leadership and advocacy skills and their ability to affect change at the local government level. Young people commented that the forums allowed their voices to be heard and provided them with information and skills to really help them make a difference in their communities.

On Course programme

Between March and November each year we deliver a programme called On Course to senior high school students. The programme informs students about options for financing their studies and the importance of making good decisions about the options they choose.

Youth Residential Services

Youth Residential Services provide both care and protection and youth justice programmes for children and young people aged 8 to 16 years. Youth residences are used when there is no other practical alternative, or when the child's continued presence in the community is a threat to their own safety or to the safety of others. There are seven residences around New Zealand.

Since 2008 when we started working with the SPCA pet therapy programmes, residences have reported a 30 per cent reduction in violence, a 30 per cent reduction in secure unit admissions and a 40 per cent reduction in physical restraints on young people.

Reducing Youth Offenders programme

A small percentage of young people become youth offenders. We know we can change their behaviour pattern with lasting results when the whole community works together. Connecting young people to education, training or work is often part of the solution.

Our youth justice team covers 25 communities throughout the country.

This year we've implemented plans to reduce the rate of youth re-offending in each of these areas. This will help us to develop practices that further improve our work with local communities, and to reduce youth offending in these areas.

Over the last year we worked closely with local councils in Counties Manukau and Otahuhu where:

• over 60 per cent of youth had current gang involvement

• 23 youth workers provided activities and programmes and individual support - over 10,500 youth were reached through over 800 events or activities

• six integrated case managers dealt with individual issues for 499 youth and their families, 81 of whom have exited the programme

• 1,292 parents of at-risk youth in Otara and Manurewa received parenting programmes

16 full-time Social Workers in Schools contracted to NGOs, delivered services to 13 secondary schools in Counties Manukau.

Improving Outcomes for Young People

In June, in partnership with Youthline, the Mäori Women's Welfare League and II Much Trust, we hosted a provider forum at the Manurewa Marae on behalf of the Auckland Youth Support Network. The forum targeted community-based workers involved in the delivery of the Improving Outcomes for Young People Plan of Action 2006. The various services presented how they engaged with young people, including their process for working with youth gangs or young people at risk of associating with gangs.

Fresh Start for Young Offenders

The Government has announced a range of new initiatives to help serious and recidivist young offenders. These initiatives include longer, more intensive residential and community-based sentences as well as military-style activity programmes. New programmes including mentoring, drug and alcohol counselling, and compulsory parenting courses will be available as sentencing and rehabilitation options for young people. Another programme that will be offered is the Break-Away package. This package will deliver fun and meaningful programmes to develop new skills and provide challenges for disadvantaged children and young people during their school holidays.

Action on Youth Gangs programme

We want to ensure young people who might become involved in or who are already involved in youth gang activity have a way out. Youth Gang action plans have been implemented in Northland (primarily in Whangarei) and Counties Manukau. Action plans are also under development for the wider Auckland area, the Bay of Plenty (Kawerau, Rotorua, and then staggered to other parts of the region), Waikato (Hamilton City only) and the East Coast.

We are providing assistance for a range of programmes and services in Counties Manukau to improve the outcomes for young people and their parents. This assistance includes funding for integrated case managers to co-ordinate wrap-around family services, specialist youth workers to provide one-on-one mentoring, and parenting support programmes to teach targeted parenting skills.