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New location working well for Rainbow Youth

Tue 3 Aug 2004 In: Community

Amid the problems facing the Auckland Pride Centre (see feature story) there is a silver lining, for the new tenant at the Pride Centre's old K Rd shopfront, Rainbow Youth. Youth co-ordinator Lesley-Ann Guild says they've gone from strength to strength since the move, having been able to create a “queer-friendly youth space in the heart of the city” which has seen an increase in both the numbers of regulars and casual visitors off the street. “We've now been able to create a real space where young people can feel that they can just chill out and spend some time and actually make the space theirs, whereas before they were really sitting within the office. When they weren't wanting the one-on-one contact with staff there wasn't room for them to just hang out, so it's been good to be able to expand that.” Rainbow Youth were previously housed in a small office at the Burnett Centre, which was provided at a reduced rent. There are, obviously, increased outgoings since moving to the larger premises, but Guild says they can cope. "We're concentrating on really making sure our core services are solid, so what we offer at the moment is the drop-in centre, which is open between 9 and 5:30 Monday to Friday, we offer diversity workshops in schools, we've expanded our staff; including an education officer who liaises with schools doing diversity workshops and supporting gay/straight alliances in schools, and generally providing more services in that area."     Chris Banks - 3rd August 2004

Credit: Chris Banks

First published: Tuesday, 3rd August 2004 - 12:00pm

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