History

The Otangarei Trust (Formally Otangarei Youth Sports and Recreation Trust) was a pan-tribal Maori organisation which formed by Ben Matthews, Martin and Janine Kaipo and was incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 on the 17 April 1991.

The organisation operates in a suburb in a small city. The suburb has a high Maori population of 96% and a reputation similar to that of South Auckland. 48% of housing is state owned, 62% of the residents are unemployed and 48% are single parent families. At this point in time there were few activities and resources available to the young people and their families. With encouragement from others, the founders of the Trust developed activities and events for their community.

The organisation was first approved in July 1993 by the New Zealand Community Funding Agency (NZCFA), under Section 403 of the Children Young Persons and their Families Act (CYP&F Act 1989) to provide structured youth programmes, family support and family budgeting services. The Trust has retained approval ever since.

In 2003 the organisation was also granted Section 396 approval to provide residential services to young males and has since established a similar facility for girls earlier this year. However these homes are not, and were never intended to accommodate young people with addiction problems, although many of the referrals presented come with these problems.

By 2001 the Otangarei Trust offered a range of services including whanau support, mediation, youth justice supervision, advocacy, family budgeting, youth and holiday programmes, mentoring and support for the elderly. It was for this work that the Trust was named Supreme Winner of the 2001 Trust Power National Community Awards.

It would be fair to say that after ten years of hard work, Martin and Janine had achieved their wish of turning Otangarei into a vibrant community mobilised by local resources.

The Trust ran a residential facility for male youth facing youth Justice or care and protection issues. They also worked with the Ministry of Social Development and other stakeholders to establish a residential facility for teenage girls along the same lines as the boy’s residence including the vision of a residence or retreat for Youth dealing with drug and alcohol issues at a later date.

In 2007 The Otangarei Trust gained Charitable Status with the Charities Commission.

At this stage the Trust had fourteen part time /full-time staff consisting of: residential social workers, youth workers, Programme Workers and administration staff. In the initial stages of the Trust, all the current full-time workers were volunteers. The organisation steadily grew, enabling the Trust to pay these volunteer staff. 

In 2009, we were successful in becoming a Whānau Ora collective as Te Hau Awhiowhio o Otangarei Trust.

Developed Work Ready program with Employment, Te Hau Awhiowhio o Otangarei Children’s Clinic, Otangarei Papakainga, Hakinakina, Meth Testing, Alcohol and Drug Testing.