About Blue Light
Blue Light is a registered charity in New Zealand (Aotearoa) and is the only organisation that works in partnership with the police to deliver an extensive range of youth programmes and activities.
About Blue Light
Blue Light is a registered charity in New Zealand (Aotearoa) and is the only organisation that works in partnership with the police to deliver an extensive range of youth programmes and activities.
About Blue Light
Blue Light is a registered charity in New Zealand (Aotearoa) and is the only organisation that works in partnership with the police to deliver an extensive range of youth programmes and activities.
The Blue Light mission is to empower young people across Aotearoa to become better New Zealanders through quality experiences.
Where it all began
Directors Tony Cornish and Chris Pierlot at Countrywide Austral, formerly known as Countrywide Media, founded Streetsmart in 2002. During the launch campaign for the Streetsmart Handbook,
the company wanted to test the waters in the international market. In hopes to discover new growth opportunities, an idea surfaced to roll-out the Streetsmart Handbooks to New Zealand.
In 2002, the Countrywide Austral directors attended their first International Blue Light conference held in Victoria, where they presented the Streetsmart Handbook. The team at Blue Light NZ jumped on the opportunity to create a handbook for teenage kiwis.
From this started the relationship between the Streetsmart and Blue Light NZ.
Pivoting Point for Blue Light NZ
Twenty years ago when the Streetsmart Handbook directors first engaged with Blue Light NZ, the foundation had zero paid employees. Tony and Chris saw potential in the organisation and decided to make an initial investment by providing sponsorship for Blue Light NZ to employ its first ever paid employee Brendon Crompton – Chief Operating Officer (COO).
“Streetsmart Handbooks have been long-term supporters and proud partners of Blue Light NZ and played an integral part of the foundation and growth of the business.” Tony Cornish – Founder of Streetsmart Handbooks
Brendon transitioned from the Police into fulltime work empowering the young people in New Zealand. He took the leap to work alongside the Countrywide Austral and Streetsmart directors in Australia.
Throughout their journey together, the Streetsmart directors imparted their industry knowledge along with the financial investment which led to the development of a bespoke version of the Streetsmart Handbook NZ and Kids Smart publications. It also sowed the seed to expand the company’s reach across the country.
“I started by editing the book and we created the first ever Streetsmart Handbook (NZ). Since then, we have been able to grow from the original investment” Brendon Crompton – Chief Operating Officer of Blue Light NZ.
Over time, Directors Tony, Chris, and Craig Berger (who later joined as a Countrywide Austral director) extended their support beyond the publications and sponsored a range of youth and community driven programmes initiated by Blue Light such as the PCT competition and Fun Days.
As the foundation began to evolve, so too did its employees. Their community-led initiatives enabled the staff to concentrate on programmes that would improve the outcomes for young people; helping them become contributing members of society.
The company started to flourish and stabilise with each step in the right direction. The initial investment coupled with the long-term business and leadership support from Countrywide Austral helped get the business off the ground, which became the foundation of where they are today.
The Rise of Blue Light NZ
Fast-forward 20 years to today, Blue Light NZ has employed over one-hundred full-time staff who contribute to youth work across a wide range of areas. Blue Light NZ also introduced executive leaders Rod Bell – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Joe Graham – National Manager of Relationships and Development who continue to drive the company vision.
Blue Light NZ now run programmes across 72 police stations in New Zealand and have also acquired over 8.5 million dollars (NZD) in assets and facilities which include youth camps, leadership programmes, outdoor education, adventure-based learning, driver licensing and intervention programmes for troubled youth.
“The initial investment by Countrywide Austral made a real difference to us as an organisation, and we’ve really grown from there” Brendon Crompton – Chief Operating Officer of Blue Light NZ.
The Streetsmart Handbooks are offered as a free resource to Year 13 students and school/home leavers in extension of the Blue Light programmes and services available. They have successfully distributed over half a million copies of the NZ Streetsmart Handbook to secondary schools across New Zealand.
Investing in the Future
Countrywide Austral directors and proud founders of Streetsmart Handbooks recently awarded Blue Light NZ with an additional sponsorship. The funding will be used as the founding donation to invest in the protection the Blue Light assets, and therefore the future of the business. As a result, it will provide a permanent funding stream for its members and will help Blue Light NZ continue to provide its support and services for many years to come.
Author: Danielle Bhatt | Nov 24, 2022
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