Strengthening the Youth Sector Project Inter Agency Group
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday 1st April 2015
12 Hazeldean Road, Canterbury Community Trust
Present: John Harrington (Canterbury Youth Workers Collective), Jill Borland (Sport Canterbury),
Trevor McIntyre (Ministry of Education), Kevin Grimwood (Ministry of Youth Development), Matt
Pratt (CERA), Pete Young (Careers NZ), Hamish Flynn (Papanui Youth Development), Jono Campbell
(Te Ora Hou), Chris Martin (Selwyn District Council), Tayla Reece (Canterbury Youth Workers
Collective), Anni Watkin (Youth & Cultural Development), Wayne Turp (Canterbury District Health
Board), Hannah Dunlop (Red Cross).
Apologies: Nick Scott (Department of Corrections), Diane Fenika (Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs),
Courtenay Blakeway (Ministry of Social Development), Sue Bagshaw (Korowai Trust 298 Youth
Health Centre), Laura Hatwell (Christchurch Youth Council), Tina Curry (Waimakariri District Council),
Karyn McLeod (Canterbury Community Trust), Melissa McCreanor and Gayle Lauder (Pegasus
Health), Leanne McTear (Ministry of Youth Development), Stacey Holbrough (Christchurch City
Council)
Apologies: Accepted.
Minutes: Accepted – moved by Anni and second by Chris.
Continued discussion from last month’s meeting on the forming of a Strategic Steering Group –
what the role of this group would be and who should be on the group:
Kevin and Matt worked on a number of structure proposals for the Inter Agency Group and put them
together in a document that the group then went through and commented on.
Thoughts from the Inter Agency Group on the proposed structures:
 Good – great research has been done
 There is a need to chart specifically each of the work streams strategic needs
 The structure should be youth friendly and easy to navigate for a youth who might like a seat
here
 Options D and E are the favourites which present an exciting opportunity for collective
impact
 Trevor highlighted that there are three things we need: strategy people, ‘doing’ people, and
connecting person (project manager). Ecosystems (like in option E) need to be very
structured and it’s important to have someone who sits apart from the work who can ask
the hard questions.
Kevin asked: would we be best to set up a strategic support group (interim group) who can carry on
this conversation? A small group could come together in the next month to answer questions from
today’s meeting and possibly draft a terms of reference for a strategic group and the SYS reference
group. – Action Point: bring a group together to have this conversation (send expressions of interest
to John).
Discussion on the purpose and expected outcomes from Inter Agency Group meetings – each
member bring their answer to the question asked at last month’s meeting: What is the one thing
we want to come out of attending Strengthening the Youth Sector Inter Agency meetings?
Anni Watkin: That we can address the lack of coordination of approaches to youth issues. For
example, accommodation for young people – lots of groups are trying to address it but there is a lack
of coordination. From attending various meeting Anni has been able to pass on different trends and
information.
Chris Martin: Keen to be here for the collaboration.
Jono Campbell: Similar to Anni – organisation is confronted with issues on a daily basis and it is
about bringing is back to what young people need. This requires a good degree of flexibility from us.
Hamish Flynn: Would like to see a strategic element to support frontline workers.
Pete Young: From a membership organisation point of view – about how the NGO Sector can
support education to employment. Personal view – to support this collective to be the go to place
for youth issues.
Courtenay Blakeway: Firstly, that the purpose is clarified and we have appropriate people involved
at each group – is this about strengthening the sector or are we about making a difference to young
people directly i.e. youth employment etc. I think we could be clearer. That the work streams are
effectively supported to do their work i.e. when work streams need help in facilitation or planning
etc. that the wider group can actually support them. That the group continues to offer backbone
support to the sector and the work streams as required. That people are more informed as a result
of attending. Members have a better understanding of what a collective impact is and how we can
make a bigger difference to young people in Christchurch if we take this approach
Matt Pratt: Providing leadership and coordination for the youth sector, building the capacity of the
youth sector, and developing collective solutions to emerging issues.
Trevor McIntyre: Strategic alignment of all the big players in the youth sector to work together to
address issues with what little resources we have.
Jill Borland: Interested in keeping youth engaged in sport which is essentially linked in with
community.
Hannah Dunlop: Being involved in the recovery space, supporting what’s going on and not
duplicating work.
Wayne Turp: To enable us to have a shared vision and to develop ways of working collaboratively to
achieve agreed outcomes.
Sue Bagshaw: The opportunity to plan projects with others (not necessarily the whole group but
those who are interested in similar things), the opportunity to advocate on issues that affect young
people again with those interested, and the opportunity to learn what everyone is doing to avoid
duplication and to understand gaps and opportunities to fill them.
Diane Fenika: Aside to hearing the updates and connecting Pacific youth voice to the discussions
... to hear what other organisations are doing for youth, and for the Ministry its around how do we
connect Pacific youth to your programmes etc. So it could mean a 10min slot for an organisation at
each meeting as a suggestion? This could be linked to the 'pop-up' idea for further discussions.
John Harrington: This all aligns with the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective’s purpose – bringing
together the youth sector and create opportunities for agencies to work together.
Work Stream updates:
Youth Voice Canterbury (YVC)
YVC had a Youth Connect meeting last night during which young people: toured the YMCA Spectrum
Street Art Show, Don Miskell, the Planning and Design Manager from CERA came which saw good
outcomes, website consultation, Hannah Dunlop presented the YVC rules for engagement, Stacey
Holbrough, Strengthening Communities Children and Youth Advisor ran consultation on the CCC LTP,
and young people present shared what they really enjoyed about the Youth Connects.
There is an idea in the pipelines called the ‘3 series conversation’ where we put out a notice to say
we are going to have 3 conversations about “……” – no commitment, just structured/facilitated
conversation.
Nick Scott from the Department of Corrections also attended the last YVC meeting to discuss how to
go about consultation with the young people they work with in the Department of Corrections.
Youth Charter:
The Youth Charter work stream are currently looking at Sport Canterbury’s ClubMark and how we
might be able to apply a similar model to the Charter’s YESS Standards. Tayla and John have recently
met with Jon Derry from Sports Canterbury about ClubMark who is also attending the next Youth
Charter meeting.
Youth Employment:
The Youth Employment team got the snap shot back that Michelle Becks of Work and Income had
been commissioned to do for the group and is currently going back and clarifying the purpose of the
snap shot and where to from here. Courtenay has also done more work on the RBA.
Youth Friendly Places and Spaces:
This work stream has set a meeting for the end of this month – they are currently at a standstill and
need funding.
It was discussed that there is a balance of funds available from CERA left over from Winter Chill that
has the potential to go towards the Youth Friendly Places and Spaces work stream.
They are also looking at joining with Youth Voice Canterbury after their next meeting.
Building the Capacity of the Youth Sector
This work stream has continued to fund more youth workers to get supervision. They are just
waiting to have the new promised $220,000 from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust signed
off. Another funding round for retreats is going to be released and they are also going to provide
more training for volunteers in the youth sector. Recent training topics were youth mentoring and
adolescent brain development which had a great turn out.
Around the table updates:
Matt Pratt asked: would documents like the long term plan be an opportunity for the group to
submit on? Action Point – ask Stacey/someone from CCC to do a special presentation on what’s in
the LTP and maybe a follow up workshop.
Anni Watkin: Met with person from CERA re Winter Chill and gave feedback on the process and
made suggestions for improvement if they were to do something similar again. In the Youth Justice
Space quite a lot is happening and there is a real issue with these young people being disengaged
from education. In the homeless space there is quite a bit of momentum in addressing transport
and accommodation needs for young people. There is also a youth homelessness forum on the 6th
May about finding solutions and alternatives.
Next Meeting: Wednesday 13th May 2015.