Youth employment success is being celebrated in Dunedin.
In May, a three-month campaign was launched with the goal of finding employers offering opportunities to young people and telling their positive stories.
On Thursday, an inaugural awards evening will be held at The Hub at Otago Polytechnic and 40 employers will be acknowledged for their support.
Youth Employment Success (YES) involves the Ministry of Social Development, Otago Southland Employers Association, Otago Polytechnic, the University of Otago and the Otago Chamber of Commerce.
Firebrand was contracted to deliver the campaign and Rebecca Twemlow, managing director of the design, web and marketing company, said it was a topic "pretty close'' to her heart.
"The stories I'm hearing, they resonate with me. It's dear to my heart, because my story's tumultuous.
"It highlights the fact that there isn't one particular pathway. We all have a different story.''
It was about stepping up and taking charge of the youth unemployment issue, as Dunedin had some quite significant challenges, and there was also an aspirational element for youth themselves, Mrs Twemlow said.
Opportunities offered by employers could be a job, or a "coffee and sit-down'' to talk about career progression, or the industry and where they saw it in the future.
It could be a mock interview or a "walk-through'' of a business.
Celebrating employers doing things for youth and highlighting them to the community meant the community, in turn, could reward them by using their product or service, and create inspiration for other businesses to do the same thing.
As well as becoming a certified youth-friendly employer, they would receive a resource pack containing tools to help them understand how they could further create opportunities for youth, she said.
Businesses involved ranged from fast-food outlets and service stations to engineering and tech firms and a veterinary clinic.
Videos had been made of some businesses, telling the stories of the employers and the young workers.
It was important the campaign was "not just seen as a flash in the plan'' and, throughout the campaign, there had been discussions with the Ministry of Social Development about ongoing implementation of a plan.
Firebrand would be implementing a 12-month strategy from July and had some "fantastic'' plans for that, Mrs Twemlow said.
It was targeting 1000 opportunities to be created for youth in Dunedin by June next year and at least another 50 employers taking part.
"We haven't even scratched the surface. It's been a big job to get 40 in three months but we did it,'' she said.
Those employers created an environment where young people felt safe, nurtured and respected.
The word "family'' came out all the time.
It was also planned to have an open day for businesses and employers that were YES certified, so young people and their families could see the environment.
Conversations would also be held around the future of businesses and therefore what the future of youth for employment was.
The business landscape was changing so quickly, she said.
Networking events would be held for employers so they could get together to talk about "the trials and tribulations''.
Conversations also needed to be created to dispel some of the myths that youth were "lazy, all they want to do is listen to music and not get out to bed''.
The campaign had some "really good momentum'' and Mrs Twemlow acknowledged there were some big goals but she was confident of achieving them.
