I DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE THAT!
The difference being made by The New Foundations Trust and how you can help them achieve more.
I don’t want to be like that!
What’s the problem? It is this…
I don’t want to be like that!
And this…
I don’t want to be like that!
And this…
And this…
At risk children are 10 times as likely to have been stood down from school at least once.
Put another way, 41% of those most at risk have been stood down from school at least once compared to 4% of other 15-year-olds.1
1 Statistics NZ’s Integrated Data Service.
And this…
The Auckland District Health Board’s child and youth mortality review group has found 43% of young Aucklander's who died between the ages of 10 and 24 from non-medical causes had been stood down from school.2 Children who are suspended or expelled are much more likely to end up in the youth justice system, and later in adult goals. Kicking a child out of school risks alienating them from society and setting them on a path of antisocial behaviour and crime.3
The NFT programmes keep the youths in school wanting to learn. Eighty percent (80%) of the young people referred to the programmes are Maori and research has shown that for each cohort of Maori students that enters Year 9 (the first year of secondary
school), approximately 60% will leave school before they reach Year 13 4 Poor educational results for Maori have been described as “a wastage of human potential which affects the nation as a whole, not just Maori alone.”5
A lack of educational qualifications or a history of a lack of connection with schooling has been connected to lowpaid employment; unemployment; benefit dependence and even crime and imprisonment 6. Probably the most concerning statistic of all, is that Maori make up 51% of the prison population despite being only 15% of the population of this country and that generally, prison inmates have significantly lower rates of literacy and numeracy than the rest of the adult population 7
2 Students who die early 100 times more likely to have been expelled from school – study. NZ Herald report 12th Nov 2018
3 As per NZ Herald 12/11/18 reference 2 above.
4 Ministry of Education, 2009a
5 Hoani Waititi 1961, cited in Metge, 2001.
6 Department of Corrections, 2007
7 Department of Corrections,2007; Lashlie, 2003; Walker, 2007
I don’t want to be like that!
I don’t want to be like that!
AMIRIA’S STORY
“At High School bad stuff became fun, an adrenaline rush. … I got stoned at school. Everyone thought of me as a tough gangster. I gave a girl a hiding and after that I was expelled and didn’t go to school. Three weeks later I was kicked out of home. I went to CYFS [now Oranga Tamariki - Ministry of Children] because I had nowhere to go and my Aunty came and got me. At first it was cool but then I said, “I want to go back to school” but I would just go back to my old friends and I don’t want to be like that.”
Get that? Amiria doesn’t want to be like that!
God made Amiria to be and to experience blessing. He loves Amiria no more or no less than He loves you. With an unbounded and unconditional love, He made her so she could know “life and life everlasting”. He made her with signals in her soul. Signals that tell Amiria from
8 In the Bible. The Book of John 10 verse 10.
deep speaking to deep: “I don’t want to be like that!” Signals that indicate that she no longer wants to have her life ruined by “the thief [that] comes only to steal and kill and destroy”.8
I don’t want to be like that!
Blocking the blessings planned for Amiria are obstacles that many of us face. Most, however, are obstacles we will never have to deal with. Huge obstacles. Yet the call from deep within Amiria’s heart remains: “I don’t want to be like that”. And neither do we want Amiria’s life to be like that.
We want, believe and know that God has planned better things for young people like Amiria. Because at the New Foundations Trust, we also see the signals within the hearts of young people facing huge obstacles. There is a call on us to act on those signals.
So our mission is,
“To help “At Risk” young people turn their lives around and reach the true potential that each has within them.”
A big mission eh? A big hairy audacious mission with a big hairy audacious goal:
“To ensure that at least 90% of the at risk kids in South Auckland who are referred to NFT return to education.”
We at NFT are clear in our hearts and minds that God gave every child born innate gifts so that they could be a blessing and be blessed in their lives. Gifts uniquely crafted by God. Gifts designed to be joy and to provide others with joy. When Amiria says of herself, “I don’t want to be like that”, she is recognising from somewhere deep within herself something of her God-given-giftedness
But such recognition of that by a child like Amiria can too easily be snuffed out.
Too many young people in South Auckland are having their innate giftedness suppressed by obstacles born of the world’s broken ways. Obstacles otherwise beyond the power of a child or young person to control and influence.
Yet, if we remove those obstacles, reconnect the child or young person to their God-given-giftedness, then they flourish.
Its that simple.
Of course, we would love it if we could do this across the world. Who wouldn’t? One day maybe. But for now we are doing it in South Auckland. The result is Amiria is only one of hundreds of young South Auckland people being reconnected with their innate gifts and finding that they were right to listen to those signals within themselves. With that, many at risk young people and children are now able to build new, lasting and solid foundations for the rest of their lives. Lives that will follow a better trajectory than if those new foundations were not provided.
The obstacles
And we are 100% committed. Plus, we might just be the best people in the world doing this work. But we don’t spend any time patting ourselves on the back. Although we will go into a corner sometimes and have a wee dance by ourselves as we see the child or young person overcoming their obstacles. Here’s a bit about why we allow ourselves those wee dances.
Demolishing the obstacles.
The New Foundations Trust team specialises in Transitional Educational Mentoring.
Since our beginnings in 2008, we have gained a reputation for excellence in South Auckland schools for our work with some of the toughest students. Previously many were so badly damaged emotionally that few were ever able to be redeemed sufficiently to reach their full potential in life. With vast experience in alternative education, Youth Justice, Child Care and Protection, school chaplaincy, youth training and mentoring we banded together to develop programmes that are changing the life trajectories for greater numbers of at risk students. By first helping a student to restore a robust view of themselves, we then custom develop a one to one mentoring plan. Alongside process, the student develops their own plan, empowering them to gain more control over their own goals in life.
“Of course we would love to work with you again. In fact we did a review of all the different interventions we had in our school last year and yours were the most impactful.”
Papakura Intermediate
Hundreds of high-risk students have been through our START programme. Eight out of ten (82%) successfully transitioned from primary to intermediate or secondary school. Most of the remaining 18% moved out of the area and were unable to be tracked. Ninety percent (90%) of the hundreds of students enrolled in our BRIDGE (Building Respect Inspires Dreams Goals and Expectations) and MINI BRIDGE programmes since 2008 were at high-risk of immediate exclusion from school. With the intervention of our expert team, almost nine out of ten (87%) stayed on to complete their schooling! Are we dancing because
“They [New Foundations Trust] are particularly skilled at building relationships and earning the trust of students and families that have suffered disappointment and discouragement in many areas of their lives.”
Lisa Singe, Director, Papakura Activity Centre
I don’t want to be like that!
When the obstacles are removed
Outcome 1: Time is re-arranged to the young person’s advantage.
We turn a high risk time – e.g. the threat of exclusion from school – into an opportunity for the young person to effect change in their lives.
Outcome 2: Positive self-identity is recovered.
Outcome 3: Cycles of underachievement are broken.
Educational goals never before achieved by a student’s family change family attitudes towards education and its relationship to achieving higher paid employment.
Outcome 4: Intergenerational poverty cycles are broken.
Not just for the student, but for family and whanau.
Outcome 5: Student, family and whanau mental health is improved.
As family stress is reduced, home becomes safer and more functional for all.
Outcome 6: Academic achievement for the at risk student improves significantly.
Also increased respectfulness in class results in other students more able to focus on their own learning. Teachers are more free to teach and are less stressed in doing so.
Outcome 7: Youth crime and destructive behaviour is reduced.
That enhances community safety and wellbeing.
Outcome 8: The student is heard, is happier and more fulfilled.
Which is as God intended they be. They get to know that they are cherished because they were nurtured, protected and they grow a new insight into their own value in the world. And the voice in their heads becomes “That’s what I want to be like. That’s now what I know I can be like. And I now know I can be.”
Outcome 9: A cost saving to New Zealand.
New Foundations Trust can show that for every $1 invested in helping these marvellous young people who are otherwise caught in obstacles blocking their way, the result is $5.80 in social value returned to New Zealand.
I don’t want to be like that!
Put another way, as at 2023, New Foundations Trust had provided social value savings of $914,783 to New Zealand’s social services and support. 9
From data prepared for New Foundations Trust by ImpactLab, chaired by Sir Bill English.
To help more young people like Amiria
More than 10,000 youth aged 15 to 24 in the wider South Auckland area are “at risk”10 . That figure could be double by the time we include young people under 15. That’s closing in on half the total youth identified as “at risk” across New Zealand. Right here at our back door in South Auckland. They are vulnerable to truancy, suspensions or exclusions from school, gang connections,
substance abuse, and usually come from high-needs families. As schools and the community witness the dramatic improvement with such youth who go through our unique programmes, demand for our work is increasing significantly.
And that is wonderful.
But you can see the problem.
9 New Foundations Trust Impact Lab Good measures report 2023. 10 A3 - Youth At Risk: Identifying a Target Population (Ages 15-24) (treasury.govt.nz)
So we need your help to keep ahead of the need.
What does NFT do?
“Working alongside some of the most at risk youth, our expert team applies proven and effective love-based methods to re-integrate them back into educational pathways.”
What’s a “love-based method”?
“Its listening to an at risk student’s heart to help them discover their God-given gifts and apply those so they can return to education. And to have them know we have their backs.”
What is the goal of NFT?
“To ensure that at least 90% of the at risk kids in South Auckland who are referred to NFT return to education.”
Because we know what research keeps telling us:
“Engagement in school reduces the incidence of anti-social behaviour and provides a positive buffer against prevalent risk factors in the child’s family, peer group or community.11”
Kesia Ngaire Sherwood – Lawyer and social researcher, Otago University.
11 Stuck in Detention – the Connection between Disengaging from School and Youth Offending in New Zealand - Kesia Ngaire Sherwood
What’s the best way anyone can support us to reach those targets?
1. By becoming one of the NFT Twelve.
2. By becoming an NFT regular giver.
3. By including a bequest to NFT.
The NFT Fund. Ahead of the need.
The worst thing that can happen when young people like Amiria are brought to our attention through the educational or legal system is for NFT to not be equipped to help.
The NFT Fund is about building sufficient financial funding ahead of the need so that we can act promptly, effectively, compassionately when we are called to do so. To provide our expertise to help such young people remove the obstacles that are blocking their way. Its about removing any obstacles in the way of New Foundations Trust when we are introduced to an at risk young person.
So we are asking two things from you.
The New Foundations Trust is a registered charity in New Zealand (Charity number CC37354)
One: Might you become one of The NFT Twelve?
Stable and sustainable philanthropic fundraising takes years to develop.
Building the solidarity of philanthropic income needed to grow our impact and achieve the change needed will require a dedicated fundraising strategy that will last well into the future. For that we need to fund and train a dedicated fundraising manager and team who will lead that work in the years ahead.
Malcolm Sproull has over 20 years experience in the nonprofit fundraising sector in New Zealand and has made himself available to train a suitable candidate.
To achieve this, we are seeking twelve individuals who share our passion for the New Foundations Trust mission who can pledge $6000 a year for three years to cover the wages for such a role.
Call Malcolm on 021 777 672 to discuss your interest.
Using a proven 12 step best-practice method as outlined in Malcolm’s book Cracking Generosity, we will then set to work finding the right person and then training and supporting them to become the skilled fundraiser we need to grow and sustain the NFT vision.
This is our first step to building a nonprofit fundraising enterprise that will sustain New Foundations Trust in the decades ahead. The decades needed for us to bring the change we all want for young people like Amiria
Might you become one of the NFT Twelve?
To become one of the NFT Twelve, call Malcolm Sproull on 021 777 672 and he will organise to set that up.
Two: Activate citizen generosity
For example, a regular donation of only $8 each month for 5 years will cover the cost of one student through our highly successful START Transition Program. Or $40 a month over one year.
$47 a month for one year will cover the cost of one student in our BRIDGE program. $104 a month for a year puts one high risk young person through our STEPS program, remembering 95% of students undertaking that program opt to then remain in education!
To all members of The NFT Twelve and the NFT Fund multi-year pledge-makers, here is our commitment to you.
• All NFT staff commit to applying your multi-year pledge in such a way that it yields the best possible outcome for at risk youth who come to our attention.
• We commit to reporting to you routinely, transparently and promptly on all aspects of our work in which you have invested and on how your support is helping us maintain our goal.
• Our expert frontline teams working directly with at risk youth will exercise their highest levels of professional skill to achieve the above commitments and deliver on the NFT vision.
• While always respecting the confidentiality of our clients, on request, all pledge-makers and donors will be provided with information on how their philanthropic support is being applied to producing better outcomes for at risk youth who come to our attention.
• We will try not to embarrass you or ourselves when we thank you. Your generosity will be defining a significantly better future for many otherwise at risk young people. For that we and they will be immensely grateful.
We the undersigned so pledge.
Sue Dickens, CEO
Glen Paddison, Chair of the Board.
One more time: The goal of New Foundations Trust is…
“To ensure that at least 90% of the at risk kids in South Auckland who are referred to NFT return to education.”
The New Foundations Trust is a registered charity in New Zealand (Charity number CC37354)
