Wakatipu Youth Trust

Wakatipu Youth Trust was formed from the amalgamation of Wakatipu District Youth Trust and Queenstown Life Trust in 2011. We are the only youth trust serving the Wakatipu basin, which stretches from Glenorchy to Arrowtown to Kingston. This is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing areas; we had 22,000 residents in 2015; 25,557 by 2018 and by 2028, our population is expected to reach 32,627. This rapid growth puts stresses on all infrastructure and support services.

Wakatipu social services are also seeing changes in our community as it grows. In particular, increases in domestic and family violence, overcrowded housing, income inequality, mental health issues, poverty, isolation, youth anxiety, families working multiple jobs and gaps between families’ needs and what social services provide. At the same time, the social services sector faces decreased funding and less time available from region-wide services for our district.

Youth work relies totally on fundraising and receives no government funding. Its purpose is to guide and support our young people in their personal, social and educational development to help them reach their full potential in society and make a successful transition to adult life.

Wakatipu Youth Trust achieves these ends through a variety of services from individual mentoring to our drop-in centre, holiday and extra curricular programmes, youth groups, events, weekly engagement within seven local schools as well as courses supporting life, relationship and vocational skills.

In 2018, the trust moved from downtown Queenstown to Frankton, reflecting the move of the high school and increasing concentration of local families.

Our youth face an ever-changing world on a monumental scale - from technology to education, career structure, communication and home life. Generation Z and Alpha (those born from 2010) will require agility and different skill sets in the face of rapid and ongoing change.

Helping our youth face the manifold opportunities and challenges ahead will require similar agility from youth workers and all others involved in the social services sector. Collaboration will be key as no one group or profession will possess all the skills, knowledge, resources or capacity needed.

We want to ensure Wakatipu Youth Trust is positioned to help lead this collaboration to ensure our youth are best equipped with the mindset, skills and behaviours they need in this dynamic, highly globalised and uncertain world.