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25 years ago Sir Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson, Lady Dingle, decided to dedicate their lives to helping Kiwi kids when they co-founded the Graeme Dingle Foundation in order to help change the negative youth statistics in our own backyard, here in New Zealand.
Their proven programmes, Kiwi Can, Stars, Career Navigator, Project K, Kiwi Tahi and MYND, support tamariki and rangatahi five to 18 years and have a direct impact on building resilience ensuring they overcome life’s obstacles and thrive.
Participating students have access to inspirational leaders and mentors when taking part in programmes that provide a toolbox of the skills they need to prosper no matter what comes their way.
The Graeme Dingle Foundation programmes all transform lives and are informed by best practice research. With their University research partners, we know their programmes improve attitudes and behaviour, improve academic results, help young people set and achieve goals, boost self-confidence, reduce truancy rates and at-risk behaviours such as substance abuse.
Since 1995 they have had over 300,000 young people through their programmes and helped over 26,000 children each year to become their own heroes.
“When our job is done we know tamariki and rangatahi can summon from within, the power to overcome any obstacle”.
A life skills and values programme delivered to the whole school by trained Kiwi Can leaders, with every child attending a Kiwi Can lesson once a week, every week of the school year. School Principals tell us that Kiwi Can has a noticeable effect on how well their children interact with each other - with significant decreases in truancy and bullying.
Stars uses the teina/tuakana mentoring model and achieves positive and measurable results, including increased academic engagement and achievement for junior and senior students. It transforms school culture through building relationships, leadership skills and a sense of community with teachers and students.
Career Navigator is a ready-for-work programme that is designed to help secondary school students find a meaningful pathway upon leaving school. The programme supports teens in their decision making around future employment while also providing an effective platform for employers to share real-world knowledge and offer mentoring and active learning opportunities.
Project K is a 14-month mentoring programme designed for selected students with low self-confidence. The aim of Project K is to arm these young people with a belief in their own ability, to set and achieve goals and to help them find purpose and direction transforming their lives.
MYND is for young males who are referred to the programme for offending. It is a highly successful ‘intervention’ programme with a proven track record of significantly reducing youth re-offending. MYND is community-based, providing mentoring, life skills and goal setting for these young men to put them on the right path for their future.
Kiwi Tahi is an early intervention programme for young people aged 8 – 12 years which aims to reduce the number of young people engaged in anti-social behaviour and/or the youth justice system. It provides positive role models for participants and their parent/ caregivers, supports healthy relationships, teaches life skills that build resilience, and pro¬vides access to community services and support.
First and foremost, the funding provided by the Milford Foundation helps the Graeme Dingle Foundation run their current programmes and keep expanding so that they can reach more children in need across Aotearoa. By investing in their work, and partnering with them, we are investing in Aotearoa’s future, allowing more young people to positively impact our society.
There are other ways to help, too. The Graeme Dingle Foundation are in 40 communities across New Zealand and many of their programmes require mentors. Being a mentor can be a big commitment, but it is truly life changing for many young people.
Project K needs you! As a mentor, your role will be to build a trusting, fun partnership with a Project K student and to help them set and achieve goals.
For 12 months, you’ll meet with your student fortnightly and catch up weekly by phone or email. You’ll also be able to share your successes and challenges at monthly mentor meetings and take part in fun Project K events.
Do you want to connect your industry to young people? Career Navigator mentoring could be just the ticket!