Supporting at-risk youth into education and employment

Education and Police Minister Chris Hipkins says Better Pathways is about a second chance for those that merit it; “it's not a free pass.”

Education and Police Minister Chris Hipkins and Social Development and Employment  Minister Carmel Sepuloni say the Better Pathways package supports more children and young people back into education, training, or employment.

“Frequent disruption has prevented some children and young people accessing an education. Others still struggle with the impacts of the COVID-19 on them and their families. Serious impacts include family harm, loss of employment, few or no qualifications, poor job prospects, and ongoing health issues.”

Minister Hipkins said the package was in part a response to a spike in youth crime such as the recent spate of ram raids.

"Part of this package is designed to help keep young people out of the justice system where police and partner agencies believe this approach is warranted. We’ve got a much more intensive level of support for them to try and get them back onto the straight and narrow, because ultimately what we don't want to do with those young people is write them off and push them into a pathway that leads to more serious future offending. We actually want to get them straightened out so that they're not getting into trouble.

"But I want to be clear, young offenders committing serious crimes will continue to be dealt with seriously. This is about a second chance for those that merit it; it's not a free pass.”

Minister Sepuloni said collaboration between agencies was key. “Today’s announcement is about those educational opportunities, the opportunities to access to work, and access to therapies. It is a whānau-centric approach and we know that it works.”

Andrea Thumath, director of Under 25 Success at Unitec, says the funding will allow more students in the Youth Guarantee scheme to succeed. 

“The age extension (of Youth Guarantee to 24) and the part-time option will better support those who are reliant on part-time work and/or are young or single parents for whom full-time study is difficult to undertake. Historically one of the common reasons young people have exited the programme before completing is because they needed to work or had others reliant on them for care.”

Youth Guarantee Fees Free students at Unitec receive additional pastoral and personal support as well as travel funding.

“Our team works with young people transitioning into Unitec to study full-time no matter where they are currently situated across our communities so we have a very broad reach, which gives us a very broad understanding of our young people. We connect the young person to where they need to be.

“For some it’s about getting them out of bed and into some sort of routine, and for others it’s about building relationships, and getting the right opportunities, tools and resources we need to work with them.”

Where does the money go?

Included in the package is: 

• Extension of the Kotahi te Whakaaro response to include West Auckland. Children in Counties Manukau caught in ram raids and other serious crime are already being referred to the Social Wellbeing Board, a cross agency team including police, Oranga Tamariki and Te Iwi o Ngāti Kahu.
• Expansion of the Youth Guarantee Programme. Currently, participation is limited to 16-19-year-olds but from January 2023 the upper age limit will be extended to 24. As well as funding education provision, the programme includes funding for wellbeing and pathways support for learners, and for transport assistance.
• He Poutama Rangatahi youth employment scheme extended to support around 1400 more rangatahi who are at risk of, or already engaged in crime.
• Ākonga Fund extended to the end of 2023 to support up to 2750 additional young people, 12-24, and their whānau.
• Scaling up of the Family Functional Therapy (FFT) programme to support 232 families through intensive mentoring and community-led youth inclusion programmes.

Creating hope for at-risk youth

One of the community-led organisations working with at-risk youth is Mā Te Huruhuru, a charitable trust in Manukau delivering education, employment, suicide prevention and Covid-19 community outreach programmes.

Māhera Maihi grew up in the shadows of gang life. Now she supports vulnerable young people into education and employment programmes through a charitable trust, Mā Te Huruhuru.

The work readiness programme runs three days a week for 12 weeks, and graduates are further supported with 12 months pastoral care to help them stay in training or work.

The Trust was established in 2018 by Māhera Maihi to create hope and support for young people of South Auckland.

Māhera knows what it’s like to struggle: she was born into a gang family in Otara, one of 11 siblings who endured poverty and family violence.

“I believe that because I was the eighth child, I was neglected and that conditioned me to try to stand out. And my dad didn’t have the sorts of conversations with me that he did with my brothers. He groomed them to be gang members, he taught them how to break into cars, to beat someone up, to kill someone.”

During the past year, 46 young people have engaged with the trust.

“We have 23 still on the programme and we’ve seen 23 gain employment,” says Māhera. “Some of the barriers we face is the mindset; some have a poverty mindset; some have a gang mindset. We focus on healing through a te ao Māori lens.”