Transcript
"This huge space takes up a lot of power. for the last 5 months we've been spending our own money to keep the lights on."
"If I had a dollar for everytime someone said 'gosh Papakura's needed a place like this for so long, you know we could fund another 2 years easily." The voices from two different youth community groups in Auckland struggling to keep afloat.
Amiria Puia-Taylor is from The 312 Hub in Onehunga and Leonie Freeman from The Corner in Papakura, South Auckland.
What was once the local bikini swimwear outlet, these young people have now turned into a thriving community hub.
The walls are covered in artwork - In one corner, a young mum runs 'braids and fades' where she works for a koha donation.
On the other side sits a DJ booth built by the youth.
They run events like 'Kai and Korero', tattoo and art exhibitions and many use their facilities to rehearse or do creative work.
Above all that, the centre has become a safe place for young Maori and Pasifika to have their voice heard.
"As long as we know that people are keen to have their voices heard, we going to fight and do whatever it takes to make sure that we keep the doors open."
The hub was a proposed pilot project by local youth to prove to the Council that young people wanted to be heard.
So the Council's development agency, Panuku, offered a facility - rent free for the next 2 years.
But its volunteers have been forking out around $800 a month for its maintenance costs themselves, and they're struggling to keep it up.
They started a give-a-little funding campaign titled "We want change, but we need your coins."
"The change that we want is to see that our young people are in the governance spaces in the urban planning. We've all been informed that there's some massive transformation changes going on. [We're becoming that huge peto or the centrepiece of how people transport themselves throughout Auckland]."
Amiria's neighbourhood Onehunga is one of Auckland's earliest settlements and has been ear-marked by the Council for transformation.
It's strategic central location means its relied upon to receive and host infrastructure for electricity, water, wastewater, transport and freight.
The Council plans for the suburb include a light rail between the city centre and the airport, the East-West Link motorway and the redevelopment of its Wharf.
"With us having this hub, we can try and highlight and showcase - all the urban planners, the architects - all those that are building our infrastructure to go, these are the kids we need to help us inform what our decisions are."
Leonie says while her local board and council have tried hard to engage with the youth, there's still a level of disconnect.
Maori and Pacific people make up almost half of Papakura's population as well as a significant number of the youth who come to The Corner.
Leonie says staying open is about giving their young people a voice
"As happens in every community, some voices are just heard louder than other voices. So it's trying to get those voices that aren't heard as often, because there's just not the platforms or the places to be heard and it's [about] trying to give them a space to have that say."
"Papakura is just heaving with young talent. [Like, there are just so many amazing creative people here.]Beautiful people with just amazing things to say. They just need platforms to say it."
Angelika Cutler from Panuku says they organise activities in South Auckland like local clean ups to engage with young people.
"That might not sound like traditional council consultation but we take the view that the more that you can engage with people in their own communities, the more likely you are to strike up those important conversations about what they want to see next."
But Deahne from The Creative Souls Project, a youth in hub in Avondale say the youth in her community are disengaged and Council needs to do better.
"One of the things that I always struggle with - those council words that's just thrown around. You know, innovation, collaboration, engagement. Some of the language that you're using, if you want to engage young people or even ethnic minorities - they just have no emotional connection to what's actually happening."
Manukau Ward Councillor Efeso Collins says the youth's voice is vital.
"If we're not hearing from our young people then we're not really preparing a city that's going to include them in 30 years time. Worse off it might not be the city that they want in 30 years time. That's why it's really important for us to hear their voices."
Mr Collins says Council want to do better and they're willing to talk.
