News

New project in Rotorua to connect youth & community

The Rotorua Youth Centre is trying out a new ‘‘virtual space’’ that will allow young people to obtain information about careers, job opportunities and other services they need. The digital platform is called YouthHub, and has been two years in development, thanks to funds and assistance from Lotteries and Rotorua Trust. Rotorua Youth Centre Manager Steve Holmes said YouthHub would be a portal to engage and learn about what is available to them in Rotorua. He said they had recently showed YouthHub to more than 40 people from various services around Rotorua to show them how to connect better with each other and to meet all the needs of young people. ‘‘There was a keen interest,’’ he said. YouthHub was being used by a small group of youth for the initial trial. ‘‘Anyone else wishing to help with trials it would be great to have you on board and we would welcome your feedback,’’ Holmes said.

He said a there had been a lot of research and reports at a high level about what doesn’t work for youth, like services working in ‘‘silos’’ (separately), young people being uninformed and falling through gaps as they are passed from one service to another. Decisions were being made for young people instead of by them. ‘‘The YouthHub will aim to overcome these barriers by creating collective leadership, connected clusters of youth activity and monitoring, quality information and young people being informed and having choices at their fingertips.’’ He said young people would be connected through networks and have access to pastoral care and support. ‘‘For youth-friendly employers it is a recruitment tool and a portal to engage in meaningful conversation with young people about career pathways.’’ ‘‘For our community it puts Rotorua youth at the core of everything we have to offer in the way of services, information, events and opportunities.’’ For more information on the YouthHub contact the Rotorua Youth Centre on (07) 3431012