Downer has teamed up with Partners Porirua to run Gateway partnerships with local colleges and is keen to attract more women to the infrastructure industry.

Partners Porirua recently ran a “Women in Construction Expo” to inspire young wahine, college students and female job seekers to go into a career in construction.

Seventy rangatahi started new careers in 2021 thanks to the Porirua Youth 2 Work Movement (Y2W).

Partners Porirua and Porirua City Council jointly run a Women in Trades event to inspire women and girls to take up career opportunities in the booming trade sector.

Partners Porirua welcomed four new business partners to its Youth 2 Work Movement at the end of 2020.

The 2020 Tradies’ meet and greet was the highlight of the year for 50 young people who were leaving local colleges or Whitireia Polytechnic to enter the workforce.

Young people in Porirua are the big winners with hundreds more in full time employment since the inception of the Porirua Youth 2 Work Movement in 2015.

We’re heading into interesting times where there’s soon to be more positions advertised than people to fill them. There’s no-longer a pool of ready-made labour sitting around to be drawn on.

The search is on for Porirua’s top young employees. Nominations are open for the Outstanding Young Employee Award 2018.

A recent celebration of the successful Porirua Youth 2 Work Movement saw three new businesses sign up as partners and several youth ambassadors tell their stories.