KEY POINTS:
Youngsters in South Auckland are fed up with having their neighbourhood associated with bad news and are making moves to change it.
Following the fatal shooting of Manurewa liquor store owner Navtej Singh on Saturday night, local youth workers have rallied to get more prevention programmes running and to refocus at-risk youth on doing good.
The 274 Youth Core programme in Otara has been helping youngsters for more than 20 years - in some cases taking them off the streets and introducing them to another world, says team leader Tia Suemai.
"These days people are getting beaten up by 20 people - they're trying to make a name for themselves, to be famous on the street.
"At the end of the day it doesn't lead to anything.
"But when these kids who come through to 274 go back out on the street, they don't have to wear a colour or a rag to identify themselves, because they now know who they are."
The programme, a voluntary scheme, includes mentoring programmes at local schools such as Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate and Tangaroa College in Otara.
Other programmes include youth-focused "street clubs", where participants are taught discipline and resilience through sports, dance and character-building activities.
Mr Suemai said: "Otara's not all about gangs. We teach kids that you have to do your homework, do your chores and make cups of tea at home, before you come here - working hard to get a good reward."
A health promoter for the Youth Non-Violence project in South Auckland, Ala'imalo Lua Maynard, says stopping violence and crime requires better prevention programmes to be put in place.
Manurewa councillor Colleen Brown says there are many things that people can do to assist in the prevention of crime.
"People can form neighbourhood watches, join crimewatch, adopt a spot where there is always graffiti and paint it out."
