Auckland Moxie

Recreate NZ launched the MOXIE (Meaningful Opportunities X’ing Into Employment) initiative in 2016. MOXIE is a series of projects that provide experiential learning and meaningful work experience for youth with mild to moderate intellectual, physical, learning or sensory disabilities.

MOXIE CURRENTLY INCLUDES:

Midweek work experience on a lemon and lime orchard in Kumeu, Northwest Auckland

Midweek work experience on a micro orchard in Waiau Pa, South Auckland

Midweek work experience in a market garden in Waiau Pa, South Auckland

Product creation and development through the 'Óur Harvest' brand at our Recreate premises

Paid employment as Office cleaner for Recreate NZ

Paid employment as Vehicle Valet for Recreate NZ

MOXIE provides a safe and supportive space for the young people involved, where they are given opportunities to learn and perfect new skills. They are also given resources to track their progress and reflect on what they are learning.

EXAMPLES OF PRACTICAL SKILLS OUR PARTICIPANTS CAN LEARN INCLUDE:

Ride-on and push lawn mowing and weed eating
Pruning and tree maintenance
Picking fruit
Composting
Weeding
Beekeeping
Planting
Kitchen hand experience
Vehicle cleaning
Office cleaning
Customer service
Teamwork and communication

Our over-riding objective or ‘big vision’ for MOXIE is have a ‘wrap around’ service that provides a pathway for disabled youth across New Zealand, ensuring that they move on to further education, training or employment opportunities once they have graduated from MOXIE.

From Moxie's inception in 2016, we have evolved from one small team working on one orchard to now include 22 youth in 5 teams working on all these exciting projects. Recreate plans to scale MOXIE further to cater for 60 youth with disabilities per week, reaching 135 current and/or previous participants nationwide within three years.

If you live in Auckland and you would love to find out more about MOXIE, please email sheridan@recreate.org.nz