"Stop viewing our youth as a problem and start seeing them as our future", was the message delivered at the Taranaki Mayors Taskforce for Jobs community forum held in Stratford on Friday.
It's a view Stratford mayor Neil Volzke shares, saying a change of mindset is needed.
"Our aim is to have youth either in school, in training or in jobs. The hardest part is getting employers on board, that is the real challenge," Neil says.
Stratford, together with New Plymouth, are Taranaki's 'retirement villages', Otorohanga mayor and chairman of the taskforce Dale Williams said, warning that we need to do better for our young people.
"We have to do a whole lot better for those we got, cause we are not getting any more."