Mission Statement
The Youth Hub is a collaboration of co-located organisations that create a safe-haven for young people between 10 and 25 years and gives opportunity for young people to be engaged, encouraged, focussed and believed in.
The founding documents are Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and Mana Taiohi principles of youth development to assist organisations to communicate openly, honestly and share information ethically in the best interests of young people.
Services are based on evidence, each organisation is supported to ensure best practice and is responsible for their own capacity and governance, in partnership with the Youth Hub Trust.
The need
We know that one in every five young New Zealanders are struggling and require support from time to time, while a further one in 10 face severe adversity in many aspects of their lives including health, education, employment and housing. To exacerbate this, Christchurch’s young people have had to endure the 2010-11 earthquakes, 2019 mosque shootings and 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. These events are hard on all young people but are often crippling for those already suffering adversity.
Youth Hub Christchurch aims to break this cycle of adversity by being the turning point in the lives of young people aged 10-25. The Hub will be the first of its kind in New Zealand and will be based in the heart of central Christchurch. It will act as a communal place of growth and wellbeing and will give opportunities to those who need a chance to prove themselves as contributing citizens of our city and country.
The Hub will connect socially supportive organisations under one roof to deliver a holistic one-stop model with wrap-around services including mental health, medical, education, employment and training, transitional housing, recreation, creativity, and social entrepreneurship. Importantly, it will do this in a youth-centric and accessible environment where young people feel accepted and supported as they develop into adults regardless of their ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and gender.
The plans for the Youth Hub closely align with transitioning young people out of state care, fulfilling the goals of the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy and improving youth mental health outcomes.
According to The Treasury, the cost to the taxpayer for just one young person who has been in the care of the state will be $1 million by the time they are 32-years-old. Therefore, if the Youth Hub turns around the lives of just 20 young people, it will have paid for itself. From a people and economic viewpoint, we believe it is an investment worth making. We hope you do too.