5 minute read
Amiria doesn't want to be like that!
"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."
Now here is where you come in; Amiria and thousands of young people like her can't become much else than what they don't want to become WITHOUT YOUR HELP.
The New Foundations Trust team specialises in Transitional Educational Mentoring.
Since their beginnings in 2008, NFT have gained a reputation for excellence in South Auckland schools for their 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 that process, the student develops their own plan, empowering them to gain more control over their own goals in life.
So we need your help to keep ahead of the need.
What is the goal of New Foundations Trust?
“To scale up our proven success to date so that the percentage of at-risk kids in South Auckland is halved in the next 15 years. And then halved again in the 15 years after that.”
To help more young people like Amiria
The list of obstacles stealing the blessing planned for young people like Amiria can seem overwhelming to them and to many onlookers: but not for our NFT team. Especially not when we are constantly drawn forward in our Mahi by seeing young people flourish when they are given new foundations. New insights. New hope. New people covering their backs. People who they know can be trusted. People who are 100% committed to the wellbeing of young people like Amiria.
More than 10,000 youth aged 15 to 24 in the wider South Auckland area are “at risk”. 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. That makes them highly at risk of becoming citizens neither they nor you would want them to become.
As schools and the community witness the dramatic improvement with such youth who go through our unique programs, demand for our work is increasing significantly. And that is wonderful.
But you can see the problem.
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. It's about removing any obstacles in the way of New Foundations Trust when we are introduced to an at-risk young person.
If something in your life-journey resonates with all of the above, please make contact with me, Malcolm Sproull. Maybe you were once the kid who said of yourself "I don't want to be like that" and someone stepped in to your life to make a difference. To bless your way forward like many did with me.
I'm here at malcolm@crackinggenerosity.com
Drop me an email with just this in the subject line - "How can I help?"
