Authors: Synergia
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Genesis Youth Trust works with at-risk rangatahi (young people) to reduce offending in Auckland’s most vulnerable communities. In September 2017, it was awarded a Social Bond to substantially improve resourcing for its innovative wrap-around programme that enables young offenders to proudly transform their lives for themselves.
The purpose of this research was to establish whether the programme improved outcomes for its participants. Using the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a cross-agency government database maintained by Stats NZ, more than 500 rangatahi and young people (around 2/3 Māori) who completed the programme were compared to a contemporaneous cohort from the same geographical area matched in age, sex, ethnicity, and risk of reoffending (as determined by Police YORST youth offending risk scores). The research compared them on several different outcome variables within the IDI including education, employment, justice, social support, driver’s licensing, and consumption of health services.
Overall, on the clear majority of metrics, measured outcomes for social bond participants were either significantly better or tending in that direction compared to the matched cohort.