Youth Strategy

Proposal: Developing a Youth Strategy for Marlborough’s Future

Marlborough District Council has shown it values strategic plans which provide a framework for our region's future. These include the Economic Wellbeing Plan, the Arts and Culture Creative Strategy, and a long-term regional plan. However, a critical gap exists – none of these strategies explicitly address the specific needs, challenges, and opportunities facing our young people.

How do we uplift, retain, and attract young people to Marlborough?

Marlborough's future prosperity hinges on the success and well-being of our rangatahi, yet concerning trends like increasing youth disengagement, rising mental health concerns, homelessness, and a high suicide rate threaten to undermine their potential and hinder our region's long-term growth.

What We Need to Do

1. Pathways: Create more opportunities for training, skill-building, and career development for all our youth 
2. Well-being: Provide stronger mental health support, ensure housing security, provide food and tackle challenges like drug use, crime, and homelessness and poverty.
3. Collaboration: Build a network of support across government, NGOs, and the private sector to offer youth the resources they need.

Key Issues

Our rangatahi are facing several pressing challenges, including:

• Disengagement: Many are feeling disconnected from education, work, and their communities.
• Limited Pathways: There aren’t enough opportunities for youth to access education, training, and career development.
• Homelessness and Housing: An increasing number of young people are facing unstable living conditions.
• Crime and Drugs: Many young people are struggling with substance abuse or crime.
• Mental Health: There is a significant gap in mental health resources and support for our youth.
• Food Security: Having a reliable access to food is often a challenge.

Challenges We Face

• Fragmented Services: Right now, youth services are siloed, scattered, and disconnected.  Creating duplication, lost opportunities and wasted resources.
• Limited Resources: The resources available to support youth are stretched thin and often fall short of the growing demand
• Decreasing Funding: Cuts to government funding for youth services are adding more strain to an already difficult situation.
• Low youth retention & participation: We lack strong youth participation in areas that drive the economic and social well-being of our community, and risk blind spots in how we guide the future of Marlborough.

A comprehensive youth strategy is crucial for Marlborough's future. This strategy must:

• Engage Youth: Create clear pathways that help young people stay connected to education, work, and their communities.
• Provide Support: Address the root causes of issues like homelessness, crime, and mental health struggles by offering targeted support.
• Strengthen Our Community: Foster stronger youth involvement and promote mental health and well-being.
• Expand Opportunities: Business engagement.  Provide more training and career development opportunities, so youth can build the skills they need to succeed.
• Attract and retain young people: An important indicator of our region’s success is our ability to attract and retain young people. They are key to sustainable, long-term success of the region.

Whānau Ora Approach

As with all members of our community our youth are not just their home situation, or their health, or their education.  All aspects of their lives influence each other, and are influenced by the people and community they reside in.  This is why we believe that a Whānau Ora approach is the right one for our youth and strategy.

The principles of Whānau Ora aren’t just about supporting the individual – it meets the person where they are at, and it uplifts the whole family and community.  It changes lives and therefore homes, streets, and communities. If Marlborough became known for working with our people in this way, it could become a model for the rest of New Zealand.

Impact and Outcomes

Success will be measured by real change, including:

• Reduced Crime: A decrease in youth involvement in criminal activities.
• Less Homelessness: Fewer young people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
• Lower Suicide Rates: A reduction in youth suicide rates through better mental health services.
• No Wait Time for Counselling: Immediate access to mental health and support services for young people.
• Increased Study Options: A wider range of educational and training pathways for youth to pursue.
• Improved Decision Making: Funders, and providers will be able to make more informed decisions on services provided and have better visibility of the outcomes of these interventions.
• Improved cost efficiency: By removing wasted time and resources, along with potential duplication and ensuring youth do not fall through the cracks between services we can increase the outcomes with the funding and people we have available.

Conclusion

A Youth Strategy will provide us with a shared roadmap of how we make Marlborough a place where rangatahi feel valued, supported, and empowered to succeed.   It will also help us support the entire region — a thriving, vibrant Marlborough is built on the strength of its young people.