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The organiser of a weekend hui for gang members says they are looking for a better future for their children.
The gathering at Wainuiomata was attended by more than 100 people affiliated with various gangs from around the country, including many wahine.
They heard presentations from Dr Lance O’Sullivan about his iMoko digiatal app getting healthcare to remote communities, the Children’s Commission, the police’s Wally Haumaha, the Electoral Commission and others.
Harry Tam, a social policy analyst and advisor on hard to reach communities, says it was a way to tackle the social exclusion many such people feel.
"A lot of our people have had really negative experiences from officialdom so they kind of keep away from those proceses, ad of course by doing that they disempower themselves, so this is the whole lead up of awareness, of conscientising our people, of realising they are not powerless," he says.
Mr Tam says rather than claim there are easy solutions to problems like crime and social dislocation, politicians and government agencies should listen to hard to reach communities about what they think could be solutions to what they and their whanau face.
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