17/02/2026
We are proud and excited to let you all know that we now have the empowerED Youth Education Centre up and running at 32 Haszard St here in Waihī.
25 of our precious young people have so far joined us on their educational journey for 2026.
(With details below) Working out of the empowerED Youth Education Centre site so far is Bay Pathways, Pacific Coast Technical Institute and ACE (Adult and Community Education Programmes).
Bay Pathways
In collaboration with Waihī College, we provide alternative education (offsite from Waihī College) for 12-16 year-olds providing hands-on support for students core education needs.
Pacific Coast Technical Instititute
Well established in Waihī for the last two years with resounding success, PCTI runs the Youth Guarantee Programme re-engaging 16-20 year olds in education with the view to them achieving NCEA Level One and Two and also supporting them into either further learning or the workforce.
PCTI also runs the Waihi College Trades Programme for Food or Beverage Manufacturing, this is run out the OceanaGold Waihī Moresby Ave site. Many thanks to OceanaGold Waihī for their generous free use of this site over the last few years.
Periodically we also run Adult and Community Education programmes, most recently focussing on Ai skill development for seniors.
Community Support Services Hub
Waihī has fantastic support services available to our young people. In 2025 we co-ordinated an ongoing and centralised hub for Social Support Services, Counselling Services, Youth Justice Services, NZ Police, Attendance Services and Waihī College. We have found providing a collective safety-net for our young people and re-engaging them has been incredibly successful. Our collective goal is ensuring no young person here in Waihī misses their opportunity to realise their potential, this is a team effort and we so appreciate all involved in sharing this Kaupapa.
What’s Next?
After School Youth Drop-in Programme
We are well underway with planning for providing a reliable and fun After School Youth drop-in space with kai and social opportunities. This is something that we feel is severely needed in Waihī by some of our young people. We are certainly looking for support in this area.
Whanau Learning Support Programme
We fully recognise for some of young people navigating the education system with
A variety of Learning Differences can be unbelievably challenging for them and their whanau.
We strongly believe that individual learning differences are in fact ‘super-powers’ if understood and approached in the right way. We are looking to provide programmes around this space for students and whanau. Please watch this space for opportunities to get together and gain insight to what is truly possible for these young people.
Special Thanks
We would like to thank the Spicer, Osborne-Sole, Te Wake and Graverson extended whanau for their help in painting our new site over the summer break. Our young people certainly feel valued with such a fresh, light and spacious environment.
Space Available for Lease
As a side note, obviously running a site this large is incredibly expensive. We do offer the the opportunity to sub-lease the entire site from Friday to Sunday weekly. Alongside this we also have an office with a separate entrance also available for sub-lease (full or part-time).
If you have any ideas and/or are interested in sponsoring or supporting us, please feel free to contact us anytime if you want to chat.
All the best,
Ngā mihi
Cat & Scott
