Strengthening the Nelson-Tasman Youth Sector Survey

Kia ora and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. The Nelson Tasman Youth Workers Collective (NTYWC) has commissioned a report on the state of our youth sector. It outlines seven ideas across four themes to help strengthen the sector.

We’d love your feedback on these ideas – and on some key issues affecting young people.

A few things to know before you start:

• Every question is optional. Answer as many or as few as you like.

• Each section starts with a short summary so you don’t need to have read the full report. However, you can access both a summary of the report and the full report.

• You’re welcome to complete this survey as an individual or as a team.

• You can save your progress at any time and continue filling out the form later by clicking the Save and Continue Later button.

• Everyone who completes this survey will go into the draw for a $150 fuel voucher.  There are two vouchers up for grabs.  Competition closes 11.59pm, 31 May 2026. 

Idea 1: Make it easier to match needs with services with a public-facing, interactive directory.

Discussion: The NTYWC already maintains a youth services directory. Making it more interactive using AI – so people can search by issue and location to find the most relevant services – would make it easier for young people and their whānau to find help. Practitioners could also use this to refer people to other organisations.

Idea 2: Give people the option of a single point of contact, with someone who can connect them to the different services which are relevant to them, and to provide ongoing coordination and communication.

Discussion: Alongside the interactive directory in Idea 1, there could be value in having a contact person that youth workers, social workers, teachers, GPs and whānau can call when they’re not sure where to start with finding help for a young person. This is the “human” version of the directory – which would be particularly useful for complex situations where a young person needs help from several services at once.

Idea 3: Make youth services more visible to the community.

Discussion: Lots of amazing services and programmes are available to help young people in Nelson-Tasman region. We would like to understand how people currently learn about youth services and whether there is value in raising awareness of the full range of support available to young people through additional pathways.

Idea 4: Build a shared register of youth sector programmes.

Discussion: A region-wide, searchable register of details about youth sector programmes and proposals to help participating organisations spot opportunities for collaboration and avoid duplication. It could start with a Memorandum of Understanding between youth sector organisations about the information they will share, and a commitment to keep this updated.

Idea 5: Use the register to identify opportunities for multi-agency programmes

Discussion: Section 4.2 of the State of the Nelson Tasman Youth Sector Report describes the competitive funding environment and the heavy administrative load on organisations. One way to shift this would be for agencies to work together on joint funding applications — demonstrating to funders how they propose to deliver on their priorities. This could reduce duplication of effort, support collaboration, and make it easier for funders to see how individual proposals fit into a bigger picture.

Idea 6: Develop a shared way to measure and report on impact.

Discussion: We could develop a shared framework for measuring and reporting on outcomes – making it easier for individual organisations to demonstrate their value and giving the region meaningful data on the sector’s collective impact.

Idea 7: More specialised mental health training and support for youth workers.

Discussion: The State of the Nelson-Tasman Youth Sector report discusses the flow-on effects of specialist mental health services being at capacity – with other youth workers picking up more responsibility for supporting young people who are struggling with mental health issues. We will seek guidance from the sector on whether more training and support would be of value, and if so, what this could look like.

Discussion: A wider set of issues are affecting young people, and the youth sector is well-placed to provide insights on these issues and potential responses to them.

Question 8: What actions could be taken to enhance or improve young people’s access to:

•      youth hubs, drop-in spaces and “one-stop shops” for social connection, safe spaces, easier access to wrap-around support, and somewhere to go that isn’t school or home.

•      support and programmes for young people who are not in education, employment or training

•      job opportunities

•      transport (including public transport and driver’s licences)

•      housing

•      food (particularly during the current fuel crisis).

Thank you for completing this survey!

You are also very welcome to sign up for 1:1 conversations, group discussions, Zoom hui, or the Connections Hui on 12 May 2026.