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Starfish Social Services Trust
Youth take centre stage in Matamata
Jo says that Youthworks very much grew out of
community need.
“We identified this gap in provision in the community, and
worked creatively with the resources on hand to address it,”
she says.
Youthworks already has numerous employers, training
providers and clients under its umbrella, with more being
referred all the time. At the moment, Starfish plays a
managerial role with respect to the fledgling agency, but will
eventually step back once it is well-established.
Now that Starfish has itself become an established service
within the region, it is increasingly beginning to see the fruits
of its work. Several young people who have previously used
the Trust’s services are now coming back, as adults, offering to
help with its work.
“They want to give back to their community and that’s what
it’s all about,’’ says Jo, “strengthening the community from its
youth up.”
Trust Waikato is pleased to have been able to help Starfish
Trust during 2014, with a donation of $15,000.
Local youth are firmly in the driving
seat when it comes to programmes
and services offered by Matamata’s
Starfish Social Services Trust.
As Trust Manager Jo McNaughton puts it, “For our youth
development initiatives, the youth design, facilitate and
implement the events. They set the tone and culture right,
and as a result the events are always a huge success. The
adults involved only play a supporting role, as needed, and
are always the ones to learn the most from the experience.”
As indicated by its name, Starfish’s influence stretches wide. It
started off as a regionally-funded counselling service in 2009,
and now offers a variety of programmes and services.
Jo says that Trust Waikato funding is particularly valuable for
Starfish Trust “because it comes from a similar philosophical
foundation” of supporting rural communities.
One of the major initiatives Starfish helped get underway
during 2014 was Youthworks, a collaboration between
local businesses, social services and government agencies
aimed at ensuring “that all young people under 25 years
are engaged in appropriate education, training, work or
other activities that contribute to their long-term economic
independence and wellbeing.”
Youth
HELPING YOUTH
$15,000
TRUST WAIKATO
DONATION 2014
Pathways
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
1 1
T RUST WA I K ATO
ANNUA L R E POR T
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