Project Employ

31/10/2025

Applications for our January 2026 intake open 9am, Monday 3rd November!
We'll post a link to the Trainee Application Form on Monday but in the meantime, check out our website https://www.projectemploy.nz/

30/10/2025

Flourish Cafe, 185 Fanshawe Street, Auckland CBD - the best coffee & grab ‘n’ go food in town!

Wishing you could have a devil-ee delicious mug of milky, barista-made coffee? Possibly with a freshly filled bagel or an evil-ee decadent chocolate slice?
Pop into Flourish Cafe, 185 Fanshawe Street, Auckland CBD (Air NZ building) and our colourful team will be only too happy to make your every wish come true! 🎃 🧚 🧙

29/10/2025

Happy Thursday from all at Project Employ 🎉

A huge shout out of thanks today, to The Lion Foundation for their incredibly generous grant towards our Flourish Cafe rent.

This grant means the PE Board and team can focus on the important things - supporting neurodiverse young adults to gain meaningful employment.

Thank you The Lion Foundation for your continued support of PE - your generosity will have an impact on so many 👏👏👏

28/10/2025

👏👏👏 Tickets are on sale NOW! Don't miss out on attending the charity fundraiser of 2026!
Get yours today from https://www.projectemploy.nz/

23/10/2025

It was a privilege being among the guests at Shaw and Partners NZ's Client Appreciation Event last night.

Guest speaker, Sir John Key, was very entertaining and shared some interesting financial and business insights.

We're sure the highlight of his night was meeting our Founder and CEO, Sarah Dann-H***e, and hearing all about Project Employ!
Our trainees look forward to welcoming you into Flourish Cafe, Sir John ☕

22/10/2025

Save the date for the charity event of the year!
Project Employ's 2026 Dinner & Auction Fundraiser is on Saturday, March 21st at Hilton Auckland, New Zealand

Join us for an inspiring evening dedicated to raising funds and awareness of our Employment Programme. Prepare to be moved by stories of transformation and empowerment, as we come together for this life-changing cause.

Together we can make a difference, and ensure many more neurodiverse young adults receive the support they need to thrive.

Tickets available via our website from 9am, Wednesday 29th October.

21/10/2025

A HUGE Wednesday shout out of thanks to all those who donated towards our “Help! Our oven has died” post.

Thanks to your generosity we now have a beautiful , shiny new oven 👏👏

Southern Hospitality, we are very grateful for the charity discount and new oven stand. You are amazing!

Takapuna and Milford Rotary Trusts, thank you SO much for making up the shortfall. Your members do so much to support our trainees to become work ready, and it is very much appreciated.

To those individuals - Flourish Cafe customers, social followers, families of current and past trainees - THANK YOU 🙏 We were blown away by your speed and generosity folowing our call for help.

*Apologies to those who phoned us in a panic, worried Flourish Cafe/Project Employ was closing down 😱!

19/10/2025

We are fortunate to have some amazing ambassadors who are out in the community representing and promoting our charity’s mission. They volunteer their time helping raise awareness, supporting our fundraising events, and inspiring engagement.

Angela Bloomfield Shane Cortese Terence Harpur Claire Turnbull Emma Barratt and our Youth Ambassadors Emily, Ben, Damian and Shani play a key role in expanding Project Employ's reach and impact.

Today, we are very excited to welcome a new ambassador to the Project Employ team. So a huge thank you, in advance, to.... Kris Edwards.

Kris is an experienced media personality with almost 40 years in radio, announcing, programming and management, a winner of multiple NZ radio awards, and currently the Content Director of The Breeze NZ radio network.

Kris is also the host & founder of 2 podcast series 'The Cerebral Palsy Podcast' (Kris has CP himself), telling the stories from the NZ cerebral palsy community & 'The Para Podcast' conversations with our para-athletes.
He has also just been appointed on the board of the Cerebral Palsy Society Of New Zealand.

A proud advocate for the disabled community, Kris is very keen to work alongside Project Employ to make a difference.

08/10/2025

We weren't sure what to expect when Fonterra invited us to be their chosen charity for a Big Bloom Hackathon. But over several months Gergana David and Rochelle Grant supported us through the process, and last week over 30 Fonterra graduates came together to take on the challenge we'd set them: How might Project Employ open its next Flourish Café (outside of Auckland) in a way that’s accessible, community-driven, and financially sustainable?

All we can say is, the five groups blew us away with their creative thinking, teamwork, presentations skills and enthusiasm. Their authentic desire to help us grow and support neurodiverse young adults from across NZ to gain meaningful, paid employment was clear to see.

Gergana and her team reminded us all throughout the day to "trust the process" and with this in mind, it was down to the Jury to pick a winner - such an incredibly difficult decision. Congratulations to team 'Scoop It'! A brilliant concept and presentation!

Thank you so much to all the teams. We're looking forward to taking bits from all the potential protypes when we take Flourish Cafe nationwide!

In preparation for the Hackathon, our Founder and CEO Sarah Dann H***e was interviewed by Yvan Gatignon, Founder of Big Bloom, on his By Doing Good Podcast. Check it out on Spotify - Episode #74 (it's a great interview - well worth a listen!)

https://podcast.ausha.co/by-doing-good/74-how-can-we-help-disadvantaged-young-people-in-new-zealand-enter-the-workforce-with-sarah-dann-hoare-founder-and

Special thanks to our stakeholders, jury members, those involved in the preparation, and those that joined us on the day Gergana David Yvan Gatignon Jodie Shelley Rochelle Grant Hannah Sykes Emily Smith Carol Day Ed Collett Brooke Zondane Rich Easton Melanie Ilich Justin Luen Melody Taylor Naila Naseem Grace Stratton Saloni Jindal Charlotte Downes Michelle Skipworth Ebony Combe Yvonne Thynne

05/10/2025

Wondering how you can support Project Employ, a local charity helping neurodiverse young adults gain meaningful employment?

We have an old oven and food cabinet (both NOT working) that need to be collected from Flourish Cafe (Takapuna) asap and disposed of appropriately.

They are large, heavy items so you’ll need a friend or two and a trailer/ute.
Oven: 735 x 810 x 730
Cabinet: 1200 x 640 x 1420

If you can help, please message us or contact sarah@projectemploy.nz

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, in advance 🙏🙏 Your next coffee’s on us ☕️

01/10/2025

Today’s the day! 👏👏
We are so excited to be presenting our ‘challenge’ to five amazing Fonterra teams at the Big Bloom Hackathon.

Will they accept our challenge?
Will they work as a team to meet the very short deadline?
Will The Jury like their proposed solutions?

Da da daaaa…. 😱 Tune in later for the next exciting episode of The Big Bloom Hackathon 2025, featuring Project Employ and Fonterra!