ZEAL Kāpiti

Salary Support  | Youth Worker  

Zeal’s mission is to positively impact every young New Zealander through creativity. Their youth centres are safe, welcoming and inclusive offering afterschool hangouts, events, creative programmes, workshops, online crisis intervention and more. 

Zeal Kāpiti works to transform the lives of young people on the Kāpiti Coast, particularly those experiencing distress and disconnection. With support from the Nikau Foundation, they were able to employ incredible youth workers on the ground, offering young people a place to belong and connect, mentoring, leadership development and programmes designed for young people to realise their creative potential.  

Their work is life-changing, and comes at a pivotal moment in many of these young people’s lives. Aaliyah, a Year 13 student who they met for the first time in March 2019 was struggling, with what she describes, as an ‘in-between’ phase in her life. Participating in the Zeal programmes has helped her find her voice, and she has since gone on to become part of the kaitiaki team: 

“Zeal is a space that allows me to be weird and wild without judgment and I’ve completely fallen in love with it all. I’ve discovered that being a wee bit crazy is really fun and a pretty cool part of myself. Zeal has taught me how important it is for all young people to feel belonging and to have a voice. I’ve made some pretty cool friends, have had epic experiences here and I’m so much happier in myself.” 

We are grateful to The Tindall Foundation who helped make this grant possible.