Intersect baton handed to young Māori & Pacific women leaders
Te Ara Moana youth leadership event scoops $2000 Intersect Award

The panel of Intersect Trustees was united in its opinion to award the Intersect Award to Te Ara Moana.

Te Ara Moana is a youth leadership event at Orakei Marae, Auckland on July 29th 2018. It is powered by Mad Ave Community Trust in Glen Innes who are focused on doing innovative, effective and impactful work.

Programme Director Veeshayne Patuwai explains ”Te Ara Moana is the name of the ancient pathways that connect all the islands throughout the Pacific. It is a metaphor for young Māori and Pacific people to reconnect, reawaken and restore everything that is great about us. So many of the leadership summits are Pākehā, corporate and not reflective of indigenous ways of knowing, living and being. Te Ara Moana offers a source of empowerment for young leaders moving into the future.”

The leadership event is planned, implemented and evaluated by young Māori women. Run at a profit, it is vehicle that can ‘pay it forward’ to other young indigenous wahine leaders in Auckland and the North. As a social enterprise, it designed to make money to continue to enable people to access the leadership program, no matter what their financial circumstances.

Veeshayne says “We are really excited about it. It’s the first time we’ve done it. It is our aspiration to develop a premiere youth leadership event for young indigenous youth throughout Aotearoa, the Pacific and the world.”

Intersect Co-founder Megan Salole says “We couldn't imagine a better legacy for Intersect than to support indigenous youth to have experiences of leadership. The panelists shared the belief that kaupapa Māori and other indigenous perspectives have such a crucial role to play in healing the fragmented world that we live in.”

Intersect Chair and Impact Strategist Rebecca Mills says “We were impressed with the emphasis on this being a self-sustaining social enterprise. The opportunities and experiences Te Ara Moana provides for young indigenous people contributes to changing the course of their lives. Each year they create even more experiences for rangatahi (young people) to practice positive leadership enabling them to touch and enrich the lives of others. It is a true virtuous cycle.”

The $2000 Intersect award will enable 15 disadvantaged youth to attend Te Ara Moana.
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Links:
Te Ara Leadership Summit and Mad Ave.
Intersect Trust Facebook group

Background
Intersect was an online and offline community launched in the late 2000's in Aotearoa New Zealand. Most of its members identified as 'purposeful young professionals'. It thrived on enthusiasm, bright ideas and creativity. Intersect inspired people to lead positive change in their lives and their work, supporting people to collaborate on projects to create a "world that works better for everyone". Intersect played a role in helping new initiatives to launch. (ActionStation, Enspiral, 350 Aotearoa, Frocks on Bikes to name a few).
Purpose
The original Intersect founders are now in their late 30s to mid 40s. No longer identifying as young, they are winding up the Intersect Trust and wanted to use their left-over funds to catalyse a new wave of purposeful young New Zealanders. Intersect sought expressions of interest from individuals and groups (2+ people) who aligned with their kaupapa - bright ideas (or existing ventures), worthy of a financial push, through which young people are leading positive change.
Intersect Kaupapa
Connecting - bringing people together in ways that make us more powerful than our parts. Intersect care about diversity and inclusion. Energising - encouraging world-changing ideas and action through fun and inspiration. Learning - developing understanding through curiosity and dialogue. Growing - cultivating people's abilities so that we can all reach our fullest potential.

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