I Have A Dream Charitable Trust

Dear Supporters,

The overall objective of I Have a Dream is to help members of the community to build their skill-sets and resilience, and eventually their economic and overall well-being.

I've often explained to people that our 15 year investment timeframe has cascading levels of impact, i.e.

• our initial focus on child development leads to
• family development, which leads to
• community development, which leads to
• regional economic development

Local business owners can see this cycle working, and many have become passionate supporters of our programme.

I'm pleased to announce that we've recently recruited Jodie Hannam as our Fundraising and Partnerships Manager, based in Whangarei. One of Jodie's key tasks will be to revive the BAG (Business Advisory Group) that we'd started planning in early 2020 … just in time for Covid. We're thrilled the core group of business leaders - who have already been supporting and advocating on our behalf - remain keen to drive it. They understand that with our oldest Dreamers in Year 13 today, we're going to have successive waves of rangatahi coming out of Tikipunga High School ready to join the workforce, continue their education … or start their own businesses!

Dean McGonagle has gladly recruited our Dreamers as caddies for the annual DVS/Platinum Homes Pro-Am golf tournament, saying that the kids have added a special dimension to the event and are a big hit with the pros and the amateurs participating.  Similarly, Cath & Dave Davies-Colley have commented that the Dreamers who volunteer at their annual Magnolia Garden Tour represent themselves and their school with pride, earning kudos from all of the people the tour.

By exposing our Dreamers to these kind of events, and especially by preparing them for the world of work (via workplace visits, guest speakers, holiday work experiences, etc.), these business leaders know that they are directly contributing to ensuring a healthy and productive community.

Please enjoy these three stories below.

Thanks,

Scott Gilmour

Chairperson, Board of Trustees
I Have A Dream Charitable Trust

Emotional self regulation drives a positive gaming culture

"I struggle when parents won't sit down and watch their child play Esports, engage with them during play and learn what they are doing. It is important to the child and we see firsthand how the children love it when their parents get involved. Parents are very willing to sit on the side line on a Saturday or Sunday morning in the freezing rain to watch a traditional sport but not Esports. The irony is that there are probably more chances for kids to make a living from Esports than traditional sports."

This sentiment from Tony Grose of Esports Gaming Whangarei is behind both Tony and School-based Navigator Piripi Burt's mission to reverse the stigma towards young people who game and gamers in general. 

Driven by his own interest in gaming and his passion for building positive mindsets, Piripi's REAL KIDZ programme is broadening to become a part of other Navigator's after-school programming. The programme - in particular, the skill of building emotional self-regulation - is helping Navigator Zak with his Year 10 students who are keen on gaming.

Read the full story here.

Donation helps to lift period stigma & poverty

Period poverty is when someone cannot afford menstrual items, because of cost. A recent Youth19 survey of 7700 rangitahi, stated that one in 12 students stay home during their periods because they can't afford period products. As with many poverty statistics, Maori and Pacific students are disproportionately affected by period poverty. 

That's why the incredible donation from Kiwi company AWWA means so much to us. AWWA generously donated a set of period pants, drawstring bag and education guide to all of our Year 7 & 8 kohine. Year 8 Navigator, Shardae Grenfell, initiated the donation and has been bouyed by the positive korero since distributing the sets to students.

We can all do our part to help curb period stigma and poverty. Read the full story here.

Interested in nature?

Some of our Dreamers thrive in nature. More so than in the classroom. We're looking to support some Dreamers to attend weekly Nature's Cool classes provided by Safe Outdoors NZ. 

The classes take place one day per week, on a termly basis and include experiences such as swing building, traditional fire lighting & cooking, flax darts, eel & koura catching (& releasing), hut building, dam making etc.

Currently, this is beyond the "discretionary programme budget" allocated to each Navigator. We are exploring ways to support opportunities like this, so please get in touch if you have any suggestions.