Community and Youth Development is about creating a ripple effect. Empowering a young person or encouraging someone to pursue their passion can cause a ripple that creates a movement. At 4YP we believe that if you want to go faster, go alone. If you want to go further, go together.
4YP was established in 1993 as the Christchurch City Council Youth Entertainment Project. 4YP was a strategic partner of the Christchurch City Council. 4YP’s role was to engage young people around the provision of recreation and social opportunities. These included events such as Skate Jams and Dance Parties. Events were used as a way of engaging young people in decision making processes and educating communities about the needs and aspirations of their youth.
The demand for events saw 4YP partner with youth and community organisations to plan and present over 80 events annually. Weekly ‘Youth Cafes’ were hosted Friday nights featuring young bands and solo musicians who were mentored by professional artists. “Big Events” included “All Night Parties”, “Inter-school Lip Sync Competitions” and “The Big Gig Out”. Big events were attended by a minimum of 500 young people with over 23000 young people attending 4YP annually.
After 16 years of award winning successful events and community projects 4YP as a Youth Entertainment Project came to an end. Youth workers and organisations that had been supported and partnered with 4YP continue running events in Christchurch.
In 2017 4YP was re-established as 4YP Consulting. 4YP now exists to support Community and Positive Youth Development initiatives. An emphasis on youth engagement and advocacy informs the projects that 4YP supports.
Chris Martin is the founder and lead consultant for 4YP. He has worked in the youth development sector for 30 plus years. He has experience as a volunteer youth worker, local government youth advisor and event manager. Youth projects, initiatives and social enterprises designed and facilitated by Chris have won regional and national awards. His passion is for engaging young people and supporting them to take the lead in development projects. He currently is an active member of the boards for the Canterbury Youth Workers’ Collective, Ara Taiohi (National Peak Body for Youth Development), Selwyn Parenting Network, Generation House (Rolleston) and Selwyn Waiwera Youth Trust. Chris is also a member of the Interagency Group that leads the Strengthening The Youth Sector project for greater Christchurch and Advisory Group for Youth Voice Canterbury