Rainbowyouth 2017 Annual Report
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KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BE WHO YOU ARE. RAINBOWYOUTH ANNUAL REPORT 2017 As RainbowYOUTH enters its 29th year opportunities for queer and gender of operation, it also enters a stage of diverse youth in Aotearoa New new horizon. After a 4 year period of Zealand. While these ventures are growth, RainbowYOUTH now has 10 exciting, RainbowYOUTH staff and staff members (including one based in volunteers work hard to maintain the Tauranga), a fully opperational support kaupapa and values set out by the service, a national scope for health founding members of RainbowYOUTH promotion, an established presence on in 1989. And after 29 years, we are the national stage around queer and still, proudly so, a youth run and youth gender diverse issues and a flourishing led organisation that believes in the new direction for our education strength, resilience and skills of queer programme. and gender diverse youth. Our membership base is growing and We are excited to share with you our diversifying, as is our volunteer base. mahi over 2016/2017, and we thank Increasingly, we are being approached you sincerely for your support of to work across sectors and regions RainbowYOUTH. to improve the well being and STAY UPDATED @RAINBOWYOUTH ON ry.org.nz [email protected] (09) 376 4155 11 Edinburgh Street, Auckland CBD 1010 PO BOX 68383, Newton, Auckland 1145 In early 2017, we asked four of our members to write letters of advice to their younger selves. We filmed them reading these letters aloud to acknowledge International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. DEAR ME AT AGE 14 “I KNOW YOU’RE SCARED “...YOU DON’T WANT YOUR RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO YOU’VE JUST HAD ONE OF KNOW, BUT MORE THAN THE MOST IMPORTANT AND ANYTHING, YOU WISH THAT TERRIFYING REALIZATIONS YOU COULD HIDE IT FROM OF YOUR LIFE...” YOURSELF...” “...JUST REMEMBER, WHEN “...I AM SO EXCITED PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO FOR YOUR FUTURE...” HELP, LET THEM - THEY HAVE THEIR REASONS FOR WANTING TO...” LOVE, ME AT AGE 19 PAGE 1 TAINE POLKINGHORNE & SOPHIE SILLS CO-CHAIRPERSONS TĒNĀ KOUTOU, No good co-chairperson report is been able to secure funding for our influence. They have donated their time, complete without a huge thank you to roles in education and fundraising to ideas, advertising space, and resources to everyone that puts their time and hard make a much-needed return. All of helping our cause. This partnership also work into RainbowYOUTH. We have these changes are very exciting and lead to our charity gala night in May 2017, achieved a lot in the past twelve months, we are lucky to have such a dedicated which raised over $26,000 towards the but none of it would have been possible team of staff members working with us. I’m Local project. Beyond that, we gained without the tireless work of all of our several strong connections to groups and staff, interns, volunteers, and members. This term we have also been fortunate organisations that were not often involved Ngā mihi nui kia koutou, you have all enough to secure funding for a with RainbowYOUTH or our community. accomplished many great things this year. RainbowYOUTH van. While this may We’d like to thank each one, and hope sound like a small achievement, Mahipahi that these partnerships will continue to This board term has been a big year of allows us to transport members, foster a safe environment for rainbow firsts. Most board terms seem to volunteers, interns, and staff members young people in the wider community. take us further and make us stronger in polka-dot style. This has meant that as an organisation, but every year our groups are no longer limited to the Finally, we would like to acknowledge the our achievements seem to grow in drop-in centre or public transport. Our rest of the Executive Board members over scale. Over the past 12 months, our outdoors group, Outside the Box, have the 16/17 term - particularly Rachel, who staff team has grown, we were gifted used Mahipahi to take trips, go tramping, began this term as co-chair with Sophie. a van, and have celebrated many and visit beautiful West Coast beaches. As volunteers, we often have many other successful fundraising initiatives. Even beyond this, Mahipahi is helping commitments to juggle around board us continue to expand our support and meetings and making progress in our At our peak this term, RainbowYOUTH education into rural areas of Aotearoa. strategy. The board whānau play such was employing ten full and part-time As we mark important growth and new a huge role in making RainbowYOUTH staff members - what a change we have connections in Tauranga, Christchurch, what it is, and we remember that with undergone from our origins as a small and Dunedin, our van has made so gratitude that extends beyond words. band of volunteers in the 1990s! This much more possible so that we can truly speaks to our growing presence in continue to reach and support rural youth. Again, we thank everyone who has made both rainbow and non-rainbow spaces Mahipahi marks a shift in our organisation these (and all of our other) achievements across Aotearoa. New roles have been towards independence and growth. this term a possibility. It has been a created across our staff team this year, mammoth effort, but we are looking for example, we were able to begin a Thanks to the hard work and initiative forward to all of the challenges and conjoint project with Lifewise using of our staff, we secured a charity firsts that the coming term will bring us. money raised from Team Rainbow partnership with MediaWorks to help Nāku iti noa, nā, during the Big Sleep Out 2016. This us with our rural outreach programme, funding has allowed us to employ the I’m Local Project. This has been Taine Polkinghorne & Sophie Sills Aotearoa’s first rainbow homelessness a huge area of learning and growth support worker, an area of huge need for us as we work alongside an in our community. Additionally, we have organisation with a wide reach of PAGE 2 YOUTH RUN, YOUTH LED. RAINBOWYOUTH EXECUTIVE BOARD 2016/2017 (L - R) Emilie Rākete (Tangata Whenua Rep), Taine Polkinghorne (Co-Chairperson), Sophie Sills (Co-Chairperson), Joel Gatland, Rachel Brebner, Debra Doyle,Ryvre Thompson (Secretary), Hamish Tait (Treasurer), Beth Maynard (Stepped down), Jake Angus (Stepped down), and Frances Arns (not pictured). PAGE 3 In October 2016, RainbowYOUTH created and distributed a membership survey RAINBOWYOUTH across our networks. The aims of the survey were to gather more information about who our membership and service MEMBERSHIP users are and how they have experienced our various services. The survey was completed a total of 325 times. Here SURVEY RESULTS are some of the things we found out... OUR SEXUALITIES OUR GENDER IDENTITIES 15% 3% EA 20% GEERUEER PAEUA 3% 4% AGEER OARY 8% 20% EMAE GAY 12% 13% 2% OTHER OTHER UURE (BELOW 1) (BELOW 1) 2% 39% PA 18% EMAE 2% EUA 25% AEUA MAE 11% HETEROEUA 6% TRA MAE 2 O THOE THOE O 2 UREYE UREYE 2% OF THOSE SURVEYED ETE ETE TERE A IDENTIFIED AS INTERSEX 1.8% INDIAN OUR ETHNICITIES 12.6% MĀORI 4% CHINESE NB: People could select more than one option for our ethnicities category 77% PĀKEHĀ 0.9% COOK 1.5% 22% OTHER ISLANDER SAMOAN “THE VIBE WHEN YOU WALK IN IS LIKE A FAMILY” - COMMENT IN THE MEMBERSHIP SURVEY PAGE 4 “BEFORE I FOUND RY, I FELT ALONE FOR THE LONGEST TIME. NOW I CAN TALK WITH PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER NZ AND MAKE NEW FRIENDS” - COMMENT IN THE MEMBERSHIP SURVEY OUR SERVICES 0 2 0 75 100 ot at all A little bit Yp OUR LOCATIONS Most definitely I don’t know 5% NORTHLAND A “I ENJOY ATTENDING RY’S 72% AUCKLAND GROUPS, EVENTS AND/OR ROP ETRE 7% 2% TAURANGA/BOP WAIKATO 0 100 10 0 2% HAWKES BAY ot at all A little bit Yp Most definitely 5% WELLINGTON I don’t know A WOU TE OTHER 2.2% CANTERBURY TO GO TO RAOWYOUTH FOR UPPORT” 0.9% SOUTHLAND 1.5% OTAGO PAGE 5 DUNCAN MATTHEWS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TĒNĀ KOUTOU E HOA MĀ! The last 12 months have been huge and over that time did a huge amount the RY staff team in January 2017 as for RainbowYOUTH, with a number of of work getting the Health and the Auckland Schools Coordinator. Mel initiatives we have been working on Safety of our organisation into order. has immediately got stuck in, working for three plus years bearing fruit. More If this sounds like a fairly boring, on our new OUT Schools Initiative, services for young people that reach thankless task, it’s because it is! But which is being piloted in three schools further across Aotearoa, and two Casper took on the task with great across Auckland in 2017, with plans to successful fundraising initiatives enthusiasm, and managed to engage a create an evidence base for expanding are just a couple of examples of large cross-section of the organisation the programme in 2018. Welcome Mel! this year which started in 2013. in getting involved in Health and Safety. Thank you Casper for your hard work Another awesome partnership we’ve Looking back to June 2016, it was hard with the organisation over the last been working on is with Lifewise. Out to imagine that we would be here, under 9 months, we were very sad to see of the Big Sleep Out 2016, RY and such great circumstances today.