Game-changing funding
For 24 years, Vibe has provided young people with an ever-growing range of programmes and health and wellbeing services. Resilience building and a strong youth voice lie at the heart of Vibe’s work.
A one-stop shop
Under one roof, through one door – that’s been Vibe’s guiding principle since it opened to Hutt Valley youth in 1996, says General Manager Bridget Roche. “Vibe is a one-stop shop, and that means you have a range of services and support programmes under one roof, through one door. Young people only have one point of entry, so ideally they’re not having to tell their story multiple times, and there’s an ease to accessing services.” Bridget says, over time, the changing needs of young people has seen Vibe tip towards providing services for high-end/ high-needs young people.
It’s a crucial part of what they do, but not Vibe’s only purpose. She says light-touch engagement through resilience-building programmes are essential in meeting the wellbeing needs of young people.
What’s also really important, says Bridget, is having the resources and space to think about, develop and maintain these lighttouch programmes. “We need to think creatively about how we sustain our programmes.
We apply for funding from organisations like Nikau Foundation to innovate, be creative and provide what I still believe are some of our core services in regard to youth development programmes.”
Building resilience and a strong youth voice
A $5,000 Nikau Foundation grant meant Programme Development Co-ordinator Sahra could dedicate time to a work readiness programme and a peer support programme, run over a week, helping young people identify their own skills and learn what it is to be a leader in their communities.
With many organisations contacting Vibe for a youth voice on issues, having integrity around how the organisation responds to requests is crucial. A third programme supported by the Nikau Foundation grant focused on developing that young voice through a Youth Advisory Group (YAG).
“It’s been quite a long-term group but it probably hasn’t had the time and space to make it something that, number one, is really fulfilling for the young people involved and, number two, is strengthening and meeting Vibe’s aspiration to be the place that’s hearing the voices of young people.”
Game-changing funding
Understanding the best way to develop the group meant investing time and resources to be able to listen to and act on YAG’s ideas. And that, says Bridget, is what the Nikau Foundation grant allowed them to do.
“I feel really excited about the work we’ve been doing in this space. We’ve taken some time to say youth participation is really important to us, but what does that look like? We’ve done some work as a staff, taken that thinking and given it to our YAG members and said this is what we’re wondering, and they’ve worked with us and said yep, that’s great, and we think this and we think that.”
“We’ve decided that our first step is to really strengthen the group. We hope to ensure young people can influence Vibe services at all levels from our trustees to management as well as day-to-day relationships with our staff.”
Because of the support from the philanthropic sector these programmes are effective and far-reaching.
“If we just have a little bit of time and space to think and do this work now, the ripple effects are significant. What I love about the philanthropic sector and places like Nikau is that they see this little piece of work that needs to be done and they are like ‘we can support that’. And that is a game-changer.”
We are grateful to The Tindall Foundation who helped make this grant possible.