The Value of Hope for Community

At Waipuna Youth Services we don’t just measure how many young people walk through our doors. We measure hope.

Independent social impact research tells us hope is one of the strongest predictors of positive change for young people. When a rangatahi believes their future can look different, they make different choices today. They show up. They stick with things. They try again after a setback. The data on this is clear, and it lines up with what we see in our work every week.

Across our programmes, every participant has reported a big or huge lift in hope by the time they finish with us. That’s the number we sit with. Because once hope returns, the rest, work, study, connection, follows.

The shift shows up in everyday ways. Rangatahi who arrive guarded begin to trust the adults around them. Young people who have been told for years that they aren’t work-ready start to believe otherwise. Whānau notice the change at home. Job coaches notice it on shift. And the rangatahi themselves start setting goals they wouldn’t have voiced six months earlier: a licence, a tenancy, a CV, a first paid role.

The Waipuna Kindling project is one of the places that shift happens. Rangatahi who have spent time disconnected from work and study come into the project, learn to do something well, get paid for it, and start to see what’s possible for themselves. The work is real, the product is real, and the customer at the other end of it is real. That’s what gives the lift in hope its grip.

You can read the full social impact report here: Waipuna Social Impact Report 2025.

If you’d rather back the work directly, the easiest way is to pick up a bundle of Waipuna Kindling at Mitre 10 MEGA Hornby this winter. Every bundle helps fund another shift, another skill, another young person moving forward.

Summary Report

A summary of the independent impact research into Waipuna's adventure therapy programme, covering outcomes and findings from the 2023 to 2026 reporting period.

Social Impact Report 2025

Our full impact report measuring outcomes, reach and the difference our Adventure Therapy services made for people and whānau across Aotearoa.

Impact Report →

Social ROI Analysis 2025

Independent analysis of the social return on investment generated by the Waipuna reintegration programme – $15.44 for every dollar invested.