New skills to tap potential

Deputy mayor Tania McInnes (seated second left) and coach Harko Brown with Far North Future Leaders participants Aroha Puru (standing), Blair Kapa-Peters, Nina Griffiths and Renee Walters-Price. Photo / FNDC

Youth leaders in the Far North will gain new skills so they can help others of their generation reach their potential thanks to the Far North District Council and Far North Youth Council.

So said deputy mayor Tania McInnes after news of a $24,000 grant from the Ministry of Youth Development's Local Government Youth Partnership Fund.

Youth Council members would use the money to access New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network training, and would have opportunities to put their skills into practice at a series of youth engagement events.

District council staff developed the grant application in collaboration with the Youth Council's Future Leaders participants, who had spent this year working with the Inspiring Stories Trust to research and develop a Far North youth project focusing on peer mentoring.

"We are facilitating a mentoring programme here in Te Tai Tokerau, because, after recent events involving youth, we have seen the need to lift, support and encourage our rangatahi," Future Leader and Okaihau College deputy head girl Aroha Puru said.

The mentoring programme would address social issues, including mental health, education, employment and youth crime, through the use of a traditional tuakana-teina approach (a model of mentoring involving an older or more experienced youth who assists or guides the younger or less experienced).

The Youth Council will launch the project with a community hui later in the year, but people can follow the Youth Council at https://www.facebook.com/FarNorthYouthCouncil/.

- The Far North Youth Council was formed by the Far North District Council last year to give young people a greater say in district affairs. It has three chapters, one based in each council wards.