A grant of $460,000 from central Government to expand a very successful Hastings District Council youth employment programme has been announced today, to the delight of Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst.

Council is one of four funding recipients for the He Poutama Rangatahi pilot programme.

The initiative is focused on tackling youth unemployment. It aims to support communities to develop pathways for rangatahi (aged 15-24) that are not currently in employment, education or training and take them through to sustained employment, underpinned by intensive pastoral care.

Hastings District Council has received $460,000 today to employ another Youth Connector as well as a new Whanau Connector and an Employer Connector for the next three years. It’s part of a total of $1.7million in funding announced by Minister of Employment Willie Jackson in Hastings this morning.

Mayor Hazlehurst says the Council’s Youth Connectors are already doing a lot of hard work in this area. “Since January 2017, our Youth Connectors have been supporting our young people into jobs and providing pastoral care for them and their whanau.”

“To date, we have engaged with 159 young people, and have placed 64 into employment and are continuing to work with the remainder.”

Sandra Hazlehurst says the He Poutama Rangatahi programme will add value to the work of the Youth Connectors by opening doors with employers in Hastings and providing specialised pastoral care to our young people and their whanau.

“We want to make sure every young person in our district has every opportunity to reach their full potential, and this programme will help do this.”

ENDS.

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