Kāpiti Coast Youth Council | Ngā Rangatahi O Kāpiti
We're a group of rangatahi aged 14–24 years from across the Kāpiti Coast, who act as a voice for the young people of Kāpiti to Council.
Role
Our role as a Youth Council is to:
- advocate for young people’s voices in Kāpiti
- support youth projects
- showcase young people and their achievements
- connect young people to their community
- educate young people on civic issues.
Work
The Kāpiti Coast Youth Council delivers a range of different projects and is involved in many different work areas including:
- running events and initiatives like Youth Week, Kāpiti Enviro Youth Summit, and social media campaigns to showcase and connect with young people and youth voting projects
- representing young people on things like the Creative Communities Funding Committee
- youth consultations at local colleges and in the community to keep us in the know
- partnering with college career departments to run the Kāpiti Careers Expo
- partnership activities with Zeal Kāpiti
- youth grant funding.
Kāpiti Enviro Youth Summit
Kāpiti Enviro Youth Summit founders, Maha Fier and Sophie Handford, have passed on the responsibility of running this annual summit to the Youth Council. This event is a free day of workshops, influential speakers, and interschool networking, aimed at inspiring young people to keep taking climate action.
Hearing youth voices
To keep us connected to what young people think, want and need we have held various consultations including 'Tell us your vision' using Live Illustrators, local 'Tell us what you think' consultations in Ōtaki and other communities, 'What's your idea' type consultations on specific places like parks.
We also do a districtwide survey every four years. Kāpiti Coast Youth Survey 2016 (Youth Survey) and information gathered from other engagement processes inform the goals and aims of the Action Plan. The survey captured the voices of over 15 percent of the youth population aged between 12-24 years. Most of the survey respondents were aged between 12-18 years of age.
Funding youth projects
The Kāpiti Coast Youth Council has provided funding to young people for many years. Each year we deliver a grant scheme for youth-led projects which have a positive impact on young people and the wider community in Kāpiti called Think Big.
Youth development centre – partnering with Zeal
Zeal Education Trust have been contracted by the Council to deliver the Youth Development Centre in Paraparaumu and satellite services out in other communities across Kāpiti. The journey started in 2010 when the Youth Council identified the need for a youth centre through a district-wide youth survey.
The Youth Council then used the Council's Long Term Plan consultation process to raise awareness in the community of youth needs, promote the youth centre concept and foster community support. We are thrilled to have Zeal in Kāpiti and look forward to continuing to work in partnership with them in the new Youth Development Centre and on various upcoming events.
Kōrero across generations: bridging the gap through photography
In an effort to bridge the generation gap, Kāpiti Coast Youth Council reached out to the Older Person's Council and Kaumatua, asking a series of questions, which are documented in a photo essay.
The project, which kicked off on July 31, was devised to spark a dialogue between generations and share understanding on a range of issues. The Youth Council photographed themselves with a written question, which was later answered in kind by the Older Person’s Council and Kaumatua.
The ‘call and response’ photographic series forms the basis of the new exhibitions across our libraries this month, launching on 1 October, the International Day for Older Persons.
But the conversation isn't over yet—we're inviting our community—young and old—to participate. Check out the questions across our libraries, write your response on a post-it, and add it to the kōrero.