Ignite Youth Employment Services graduate Taedyn Vai Brown said the Napier-based scheme got him both mentally and physically fit, and help him land his first job. Photo / Neil Reid
Taedyn Vai Brown grimaces while recalling being in a team huddle on a life-changing youth programme when he was asked to describe himself in one word.
Sitting alongside fellow recruits on the Ignite Youth Employment Services course, and answering the question posed by its founder and executive officer Chris McIvor, the then very shy teen opted for “lazy”.
Then aged 16, Vai Brown was among other teens and young adults on an Ignite course aimed at youth who had “fallen out” of the education system, didn’t have a job and didn’t have the confidence or motivation to find one.
The Napier-based initiative – the brainchild of McIvor, a former National League and Chatham Cup football winner – receives Government funding and has a completion rate of over 80 per cent; including Vai Brown.
“When I first came here, we went up in the hills and got into a circle,” he told the Herald.
“We had to tell Chris about ourselves in one word. When it was my turn, I called myself lazy. Chris told me to find another word to describe myself. I didn’t respond, I was quite shy and didn’t want to talk to people.”
It was a very different version of Vai Brown when he later graduated from the six-week course whose two major drivers are mental and physical wellbeing.
“I had found some more words to describe myself, including the word confident,” the 17-year-old said. “I can talk to people in public now. I have the confidence to talk to everyone now.”
Like others who have gone through the Ignite programme over the past two years, the school system didn’t work for him and he said he was “having troubles at home”.
“I couldn’t find any motivation to get out of the house.
“I would just stick around home. Before I came here, I always had trouble sleeping. I would go to bed early in the morning and wake up at around 10am or 11am to go to school.”
Vai Brown describes Ignite as the “second chance” he needed to reboot his young life.
“The moment I joined the group, I could feel my confidence grow,” he said.
“And my English, it is so much better. They have also taught me a lot about time management. This course has changed me.”
Without the life-changing six-week course he said he believed he would still be lazing around home. He now had his first fulltime job working for a Napier cleaning company.
And soon he hopes to be able to drive himself to work as he seeks his driver’s licence after being put through driving training via Ignite.
Ignite was launched two years ago, with initial funding from the Provincial Growth Fund and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
It is currently negotiating a hoped-for funding extension with the Ministry of Social Development.
Prior to its creation, 44-year-old McIvor had his own leadership business, predominantly helping younger athletes in areas such as goal-setting, self-leadership and self-management.
“It was really based around trying to get them to realise their potential as teenagers,” he said.
“I didn’t have that when I was a teenager. I always think, if I only just had that one person who was pushing me a little bit more . . . "
The “seed” for Ignite grew after he met someone running an employment programme. After learning more about how many young people were either unemployed or who had dropped out of school, he worked on a business case with Nicky Mapp; Ignite’s programme manager.
While Ignite utilised a lot of physical challenges – as well as working on mental health, communication skills and the confidence to strive – McIvor stressed it was not a boot camp.
Physical challenges include gym workouts, tramping, biking and swimming.
Attendees also visit community organisations and workplaces in a bid to make connections and give them inspiration to find an area of work they are interested in.
Driving lessons are also provided for those without a licence. And those who undertake the course receive support for months after their graduation.
“Everything is challenge by choice,” he said. “We don’t make anyone do anything, we just encourage and motivate them.
“We are really trying to take young people from point A to point B. We want to be able to take them to a place where they are feeling confident and ready to have a really good crack at the next part of their life journey. We are trying to give them the confidence and tools to get themselves going.”
Ignite is based out of Hawke’s Bay Rugby Football Union’s HQ in the suburb of Tamatea.
The facility includes a large gym, with the programme’s youth at times sharing that with members of the Magpies NPC squad.
McIvor said in some aspects of life sport “can be the greatest teacher”.
And having the chance to see top rugby players – including watching injured players painstakingly going through injury rehab programmes – benefited some of Ignite.
“Just being here in this facility where young people can see the struggles of athletes firsthand, but also be inspired by them, is great,” he said.
“We are making sure we are surrounding our young people with inspirational people; then they can see that the struggle is real for everyone and see how other people work their way through it.”
Since its creation, more than 100 young people have been through the programme. More than 80 per cent have completed courses, going on to gain jobs or further education.
On top of that, Ignite has helped around another 40 youths on a one-on-one basis.
“We have had kids who have come here after leaving school with nothing, no qualifications or credits . . . now they are managing staff, have transitioned into having a full licence and are thinking about applying for other jobs,” he said.
McIvor said some recruits were “very low” when they began their journey with the programme.
“They fall into a hole; they often fall out of the school system,” he said.
“Schools are very busy places, and they can’t connect the dots for everyone. A number of kids fall out of the school system, end up at home and just settle in for a while, so to speak.”
Those who have attended, and successfully completed, the course over the past two years include youth who never returned to the classroom after schools shut during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Ministry of Education data released last November showed that the number of children regularly attending school plummeted to a record low of 40 per cent in term 2 of the 2022 education year as Covid-19 ripped through New Zealand.
The Post Primary Teachers’ Association called it “hugely concerning” and said the data highlighted the need for more pastoral and guidance staff in schools to identify and work with struggling students.
“Some would just stay in their bedrooms and watch telly . . . they became connected to the world just through their devices,” McIvor said.
“And speaking anecdotally, I think there is a group of young people that is growing that fall into that category where they have become disconnected from the community and society.”
That includes concerns about what impact the recent devastating Cyclone Gabrielle flooding in areas of Hawke’s Bay will have on some of the region’s youth.
“For some, it is another thing that might have knocked them back. We are very aware of that, that we need to lift our capacity with what we can do with their mental health space when they come through our programmes.”
Attendees go through mock job interviews as the course progresses.
And members of the Ignite team will cold call industries that soon-to-graduate students indicate they want to work in for any potential jobs.
“We are really proud to back ourselves to do that, it can be hard work,” McIvor said.
“We want the kids to be able to start their work journey around where they want to be, rather than just a job for a job where in six months they might be back here again. And that does happen, and we just go again.”
Post his football playing career, McIvor has also had held office roles with Badminton New Zealand, Napier City Rovers, Sport Hawke’s Bay, the Central Football Federation and Basketball Hawke’s Bay.
But when it comes to rewarding experiences, he said what had been achieved by Ignite was hard to top.
“Things like someone who you struggled to get into the van each morning, just having them turn up three days in a row is a win,” McIvor said.
“Or it might be them completing something in the gym that they have never done before. Many of us might take that for granted, that they are just a routine for us, but for many people, they are not.”
Those rewarding experiences weren’t just restricted to seeing graduates leaving Ignite, it was also seeing how the work of his “great team” was able to change lives.
“The other thrill is seeing them being able to empower young people to achieve things,” he said. “It makes me really proud.”
Vai Brown has been one of the big success stories of Ignite.
The once self-described “lazy” and shy teen is stoked with his transformation. His mind was now filled with aspirational thoughts, including one day owning his own house.
“I am just trying to save money,” he said.
“I am trying my best to save money to one day get a house. But I do know that is going to take a long while.”
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