Earlier this week we celebrated the opening of our new space in Pember house in Porirua. We were grateful for the community support which was reflected in the guest list! This included a number of community leaders – Mayor Mike Tana, the Kapiti Mana Police area commander, Tracey Thompson and the police district iwi co-ordinator, Te Roera Puna. We were also thrilled to have Julie Nevett a business partner who sponsored the project attend along with a number of College representatives and our staff members. 

Steve O’Connor and Mayor Mike Tana.

Steve O’Connor, our director opened the event. We were honoured to have Mayor Mike Tana speak, he shared his excitement of having the hub up and running in Porirua as well as reflecting on his past work with youth. There was an excited buzz in the air, which is an indication of the many great things to come from this new, central space in the heart of the Porirua CBD. 

Our Challenge space is located on the 4th floor of Pember House, just around the corner from the Porirua City Council. The office had been freshly painted and re-furnished with brightly coloured rugs and couches, photos and posters on the walls and pot plants nestled in the corners. The office is bright and cozy, and it is clear that it will be an important hub for the amazing work that we do, as well as a welcoming place for Porirua youth, their whanau and our community partners. 

The office in Porirua will be used as a base for the work that we deliver in the community. We have had involvement with young people in Porirua for over 25 years.

The new hub is open!

We have provided youth justice services, youth and social workers for all the Porirua Colleges, holiday programmes, provided community service opportunities and lots more! Being based here physically will make us more visible and accessible for the community and those accessing our many programmes. 

Our staff, young people and volunteers at last have a place to call home and we look forward to strengthening our relationships in the Porirua community. 

Tina May Wilkins is the senior social worker running the hub – we asked her about the vision of the hub and here is what she said…

“Tena Koutou Katoa, Tālofa, Fakaalofa atu, Malo e lelei, Ni Sa Bula Vinaka, Kia Orana

Today we welcomed our new Gap year participants to the Challenge 2000 whanau. We are pleased to welcome eight young people who are full of energy, have a diverse range of skills and ready to make a difference in our community! We’ve changed things up this year in our Gap programme – the programme is made up of Gap students and interns who are recent University graduates.

We are lucky to have such a talented group on board who are passionate about working in our community and really making a difference. Watch this space to see how our programme progresses throughout the year – we have lots of exciting opportunities lined up for our fresh 2018 group and you won’t want to miss out on seeing what they get up to!

Want to help our young people in College?

School is back!  We have been racing around with last minute enrolments, settling in the young people to the youth houses, buying uniform kits, sorting out stationery and attending Powhiri…!

Challenge 2000 has relationships with many of the Colleges in the Wellington region. We have social workers and youth workers in Nae Nae College, Taita College, Mana College, Aotea College and Bishop Viard College. We also have students at Newlands College, Onslow College, Rongotai College, St Patrick’s Town and St Patrick’s Silverstream, St Mary’s College and St Catherine’s College and some students in Alternative education centres. Many of our young people in our youth houses attend Colleges and we are responsible for ALL their needs – including school uniforms, sports gear, stationery, extra curricular activities… the list is endless!

Many students we support also come from families that live in poverty. Who do they call? Challenge 2000! You might think WINZ can help, only problem is if families have taken out a loan before they can’t get another one….or if they haven’t they have to pay it back. It’s hard to pay even $2.00 per week back when you already can’t afford to live……so once again Challenge steps up and steps in…..we buy the items that are necessary for our young people to succeed. Lots of people talk about what they can do to help those in need, want to help but don’t know how and want their donation to GO DIRECTLY to those who need it most. Well Challenge 2000 has significant caring, positive relationships with hundreds of young people and their families AND we do make a difference.

So PLEASE have a think and you can help sponsor a young person by donating so we are able to purchase the items required for schooling and sporting! OR if you have sports gear or old school uniforms from any of the above Colleges that are in good condition let us know. Contact us directly on 04 477 6827 and speak to Megan or Bridget, or email us – meganratuki@challenge2000.org.nz or bridgetpoutasi@challenge2000.org.nz

Our Todd Employment Unit is funded by the Todd Foundation. The unit is made up of young people seeking employment who need support and guidance to move into the work force. We develop an individualised plan with each young person and coordinate counselling, mentoring, confidence building, health changes, up-skilling and work experience as needed. Our staff who facilitate this unit have a range of diverse skills and experiences to ensure the holistic needs of the young people are addressed.

We have many young people come to us who are seeking employment but need help to get them going in the right direction, sometimes they have a few ideas but aren’t sure which direction to take and other times they need support to explore the opportunities to see what appeals to them. Sometimes literacy and numeracy barriers are identified so we take steps to ensure these needs are met, this will look different depending on the individual.

We currently have ten young people in the unit each undertaking their individualised plans. Take James* for example, he is tossing up whether to pursue a career as a musician or a builder. We developed a plan for James so he is able to gain experience in both these industries. Throughout the process we also provide one on one mentoring and support to enable James to make a decision about what pathway he wants to take. Another example is Susan*, she came to us seeking employment but unsure where to start. One on one mentoring helped Susan explore what was important to her and what she was interested in. After a couple of sessions Susan realised a career in the NZDF was something she wanted to pursue. To support this decision, we work closely with Susan to develop a plan to ensure she is ready in every way possible to achieve this goal. The plan includes; supporting Susan to obtain her full drivers licence – including driving lessons and practice with a timeline to sitting her full licence, developing a fitness and well-being plan – including eating, exercise and rest. We are also working with another young man Jon* who just missed out on University entrance this year. We are working one on one with him so hopefully with additional academic support he will achieve the level required and attend University in the second semester.

A recent project was undertaken with Parry Builders. Our young people worked alongside an experienced builder to complete jobs in the wider Wellington region. We were pleased to receive such great feedback “The boys have been a pleasure to work with. Hardworking, polite and willing to learn. Having extra sets of hands through the fencing installation process has made my life so much easier and I would not hesitate to get them on board to work with me again. Thanks so much Challenge 2000 for providing some real champions to help me out” – Kelvyn Parry, Director of Parry Homes. Check out the photos below, great work by our young people!

We are fortunate enough to have significant partnership relationships with a diverse number of employers/businesses who are willing to take on our young people and provide work experience and part or full-time employment. These connections allow our young people to gain relevant work stills and to try out jobs in an adult way – an essential part of the transition to employment and adulthood.

A huge thanks to the Todd Foundation for supporting us to help our young people to gain the necessary skills, attitude and experience to build their aspirations and obtain fulfilling employment.

*Not their real names