A Kaik\u014dura job programme has made just one sustainable placement since July, as the reality of a Government funding cut sets in.<\/p>\n
Te H\u0101 o M\u0101tauranga (Learning in Kaik\u014dura) operations lead Vicki Gulleford said her staff were doing their best after the Government made changes to the Mayors\u2019 Taskforce for Jobs programme.<\/p>\n
The programme’s funding was slashed from $260,000 to $100,000 for the year from July 1, as the Government focused support on getting people off the benefit rather than helping school leavers.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve had a really quiet start because it\u2019s specifically working with those on a jobseekers\u2019 benefit and there\u2019s not a huge number of them,” Gulleford said.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve had one placement so far but we want people to know we are still available and we will do whatever we can to make it work.<\/p>\n
“We are stretching the funding as far as we can.”<\/p>\n
The funding was for 12 sustainable job placements, compared to 30 for the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n
The Kaik\u014dura job programme overshot its goal in the last reporting period, placing 46 youth in jobs in the year to June 30.<\/p>\n
Under the funding criteria, the programme could still work with up to five school leavers.<\/p>\n
Staffing reduced from one full-time co-ordinator and two part-time staff, to just one half-time co-ordinator.<\/p>\n
Nicole Witterick stepped into the co-ordinator role, juggling it around her day job at Clarence River Rafting.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a huge difference, it\u2019s changed the whole feel of the place,” Gulleford said.<\/p>\n
Te H\u0101 was engaging parents and older youth to help fill the void, but it was not the same as having dedicated staff on site, she said.<\/p>\n
“Young people, when they leave school, often need to build some confidence before applying for work,” Gulleford said.<\/p>\n
“It might be as simple as hanging out and making coffee on the coffee machine or going on a trip skiing or rafting.”<\/p>\n
Mark Paterson, whos worked part-time for the last two years as youth employment programme facilitator, was continuing to volunteer two days a week.<\/p>\n
He was taking young people fishing, which led to the Rodbenders Youth Fishing Club being formed at the beginning of last year, with young people taking on committee roles.<\/p>\n
The club went into recess over the winter, but Gulleford hoped to reinvigorate the club as there were a few keen fishers at Te H\u0101.<\/p>\n
Te H\u0101 was also continuing to help young people prepare for their driver’s licence tests, despite the reduced resources.<\/p>\n
While some councils, including the Kaik\u014dura and Hurunui district councils, faced funding cuts, others, including the Waimakariri District Council, received a funding boost due to the new funding criteria.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Kaik\u014dura job programme has made just one sustainable placement since July, as the reality of a Government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[138,158,84,1122,232,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-17483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jobs","tag-business","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-education","tag-employment","tag-jobs","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}