Youth Initiative offfers chance to hear stories

Media Release

4YP Waitakere Youth Forum,

Mahitahi mai matou, ehara ki a matou Rangatahi.

“Do it with us, not to us.”

Youth Initiative provides Waitakere with an opportunity to hear their stories.

22 October 2010

Youth in Waitakere will spell out what they need in their community at 4YP (for Young People), a youth driven forum, on 28 October 28 2010 at the Corbans Art Centre in Henderson.

The forum is to raise awareness about the various factors which impact on young people’s lives such as poverty, literacy and numeracy, health care, homelessness, discrimination, drugs and alcohol and many Waitakere groups and organisations have been invited.

The 4YP Waitakere Youth Forum provides a unique and revolutionary opportunity to hear from a group of young people who are often excluded from our community says Paula Bold-Wilson, Manager of the Waitakere Community Law Services says.

“Often, as professionals, we talk about the underlying drivers of crime. This youth forum provides organisations and young people the opportunity to “walk the talk” and identify strategies to really address these issues,” she says.

“It is the aspiration of these young people that professionals and policy writers will hear their voices and work collaboratively to address these issues.”

The youth forum will be presented through the stories of seven brave young people aged between 15 and 19. Blair Torrance, 15, is really excited about his role as the Master of Ceremonies and contributing to this positive youth initiated project.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to listen,” says Blair who along with six young speakers will represent more than 90 young people in the community.

“Their stories are heart breaking and very powerful,” says Paula.

They will speak to five key themes:

• Help us reach our potential…..”Don’t judge a book by its cover”
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• West is Best..…”Our home, our place, our community”
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• What can we do…Tino Rangatiratanga/our contribution
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• Broken Pillars…. Don’t make decisions about us, without us
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• Our Space ….. “A one stop shop—A whanau centre”.
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“As a society, our perceptions of young people are informed by the significant emphasis placed in the media of unruly behaviour of Maori and Pasifika youth, especially in relation to crime, violence, public safety and illegal behaviour,” says Paula.

“And yet if you are willing to engage with these young people and enable them to share their knowledge and experiences they will provide you with valuable insight into their world. As one participant notes, ‘sometimes it’s easier to get my hands on marijuana then to get support in our community’.

“This bottom-up community development process leading has been an amazing journey for the young people. Through creating an opportunity to participate and contribute, this process has been extremely empowering for these young people about whom much is said, but ‘from’ whom little is heard.”

ENDS

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