"Initiatives that have been dreamed up within our own environment have more credibility as you know the people involved and you know it's very much worthwhile because they have the interests of our students and Hawke's Bay employers at heart," she said.
These efforts were additionally effective because they attracted people into industry right from the grassroots, she said.
"They're [run by] people that have a commitment to the area so when students qualify they have the opportunity to resettle back in Hawke's Bay, which will help us with the problem that provincial areas often have with attracting staff."
It was difficult to know the exact benefits of Youth Futures as it was still relatively new but tracking students once they left school could only be an advantage, Ms Travers said.
The school had also begun checking whether leavers were studying or working six months after they had left school.
Nationally, there were 24,640 in the 18 to 24 years age group on Jobseeker support benefits at the end of September. This was almost 300 more than in June, but 133 fewer than at the same time a year ago.
Dale Williams, former chairman of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs - a nationwide network of mayors dedicated to getting young people into education and jobs - said youth employment was an issue of our time.
"Communities all around the world are realising that, as their older people retire, there's just not the numbers of young people coming through to take those jobs, so the race is on," he said.
"At the moment there's no shortage of young people in communities and there's no shortage of jobs but there is a big gap between employers' expectations for entry-level staff and young people's ability to match those expectations.
"It's nobody's fault, it's just a historical gap that needs to be closed."
Mr Williams, also a former Otorohanga mayor, said money was not an issue.
"Youth employment is probably the greatest opportunity that communities have to really create their own point of difference.
"All it takes is a small group of people who understand education, training and employment to close the gaps."
Governments were not the best bodies to solve the issue, Mr Williams said.
"If you're serious about breaking intergenerational patterns around employment, training and education it can't be done in one, two or three years.
"Every government does their best but the reality is, they're too remote and too bureaucratic. What works in local communities are creative and flexible initiatives that are owned and driven by local people."
NZME.
