RainbowYOUTH WELCOMES IT’S FIRST REGIONAL STAFF MEMBER

RainbowYOUTH has focuses on the Bay of Plenty region by employing a part-time Regional Coordinator to focus on building a support system for queer and gender diverse youth.

Twenty-five year old Elly is based in Tauranga with a background in Health Care, Fitness and Health Science.

The focus of Elly’s role as Regional Coordinator for Bay of Plenty and Hauraki is across several key areas:

· Building the region’s capacity to support their local queer and gender diverse community

· Establishing peer-support groups in the region and supporting RainbowYOUTH’s existing Tauranga-based peer-support group, TaurangaPryde.

· Coordinate training huis for peer-support group facilitators

· Distribute queer and gender diverse resources to schools and community organisations

· Work with existing community organisations and schools to build their capacity to support queer and gender diverse young people

Elly, already into her first month as Regional Coordinator says she is “honored” to be working at RainbowYOUTH.

“I think that people should be whoever they want to be, and the fact that I get to encourage that, watch young people grow and help provide services that will support this growth is beyond rewarding”.

The role of Regional Coordinator in Bay of Plenty and Hauraki comes off the back of government funding to support RainbowYOUTH’s work in rural areas.

RainbowYOUTH’s rural outreach efforts are headed by RainbowYOUTH’s I’m Local Project which has driven over 20,000 queer and gender diverse resources into rural communities since 2014.

Executive Director Duncan Matthews says that employment of a Regional Coordinator is far from the end of the story. “Elly’s recruitment is the result of almost three years of work targeting the wider Bay of Plenty region,” he explains. “A permanent presence in Tauranga City is just be beginning of the work we believe needs to happen across the country.”

“We are very lucky to Elly on board with the RainbowYOUTH team, who has already shown themselves to be highly competent and passionate about the kaupapa”.

Matthews says that RainbowYOUTH’s regional work is a key part of the organisations strategy.

“With a successful pilot and evidence base from B.O.P., we are hoping to work with community partners to repeat this model in other regions across Aotearoa.”

ENDS.

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