Innovative Horticulture is the future for Katikati's young people and community

Community, industry and education in Katikati, Western Bay of Plenty are on an innovative and collaborative journey to improve local personal, educational, social, cultural and economic outcomes.

The Katikati Innovative Horticulture Trust wants to build a facility that will support the needs of Katikati College's Innovative Horticulture Programme, provide a venue for training providers to run courses for young people not in education, employment or training and assist them into employment, as well as adults seeking to upskill in horticulture, which of course is a huge industry in our area.

The project will support the growing demand for skilled workers in the horticultural industry by providing young people with the skills and knowledge that the industry needs, improving their employability. It will also offer other members of the community the opportunity to upskill in a way relevant to local employment pathways which industry is increasingly finding difficult to fill.

Katikati's young people are embracing the exciting new opportunities offered to them by the Innovative Horticulture Programme but because of the modular, cross curricular and personalised nature of the programme have outgrown the limited facilities available within the school. Other providers have no Katikati venue and a minimum 70 km round trip to other institutions is a huge barrier for many people.

The facilities will benefit specific groups within the community in other ways, including community garden and foodbank initiatives, and the wider community through to the horticultural industry.

In the longer term the project also involves establishing a nursery to generate revenue to allow financial sustainability of the project along a social enterprise model.

The Katikati Innovative Horticulture Trust has engaged with major industry and regional stakeholders, all of whom have shown overwhelming support for this initiative. However, "it takes a village to raise a child" and we invite you, the much wider community, to walk along-side us on our journey and help us make this happen.

We are passionate about our young people and our community and want the best possible future for them.

Please help us raise funds to construct and fit-out a building containing multiple meeting and learning areas. We envisage a colour-steel barn - nothing fancy, just very functional. We are fortunate to already have land available. Thank you.