Project Employ

03/02/2026

We thought we'd use this December '25 Project Employ Graduate update as an opportunity to do a shout out to all businesses fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Firstly, great decision! We know you'll be seeing significant, measurable improvements in innovation, productivity, employee retention and financial performance.

Secondly, we'd love to introduce you to your next employee!
Since graduating from our 6 months' employability skills and work experience programme, Caleb, Juan, Tom and Tanaya have been putting together their CVs, practicing their interview skills, and are about to begin looking for paid internships and/or employment.

- Caleb's keen to work outside, maybe with animals.
- Juan would like a career in hospitality, developing his coffeemaking and food prep skills.
- Tom and Tanaya would both like to transfer their employability skills to office-based jobs.

(Sorry, but you can't employ Jaden or Kyle just yet - Jaden's about to begin studying art at university, and Kyle is completing a 2-month paid internship in Flourish Cafe, Takapuna. The first rung of the ladder to him becoming a chef!).

If you would like to find out how you can employ one of our 48 amazing graduates, Project Employ's Emily Norton would love to hear from you. She'll walk you and your team through the process, and be there if needed once an offer of employment takes place.

emily@projectemploy.nz
https://www.projectemploy.nz/our-graduates

02/02/2026

👏👏👏👏👏

01/02/2026

Sneak peek alert!!!
How about this for an auction item?
An Exclusive Private Culinary Salon with celebrated chef, Ganesh Raj!👏👏

Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity - buy your tickets to our March 21st Dinner & Auction Fundraiser today!

Proudly sponsored by Hilton Auckland, New Zealand, Davenports Law, Oceanbridge Shipping Ltd, Ricoh New Zealand Limited Benefitz

Tickets and tables of 10 available from www.projectemploy.nz

29/01/2026

Thanks for sharing I Love Takapuna! We really appreciate your continued support 🙏

28/01/2026

It's that time of year again that the Project Employ team and Flourish Cafe customers LOVE!

Eleven excited but nervous neurodiverse young adults are about to begin their six-month employability skills training in our training cafes (19 Como Street, Takapuna, and 185 Fanshawe Street, Auckland CBD - the Air New Zealand building).

More info to come about each amazing new trainee, but in the meantime pop along to Flourish Cafe from Monday 2nd Feb and say hello. ☕️

21/01/2026

Mark your calendars! 🗓️

Our Dinner & Auction Fundraiser is happening March 21, 2026 at the beautiful Hilton Auckland, New Zealand.

Proudly sponsored by Hilton Auckland, Davenports Law, Ricoh New Zealand Limited, Benefitz and Oceanbridge Shipping Ltd, every ticket sold supports our employment programme — giving neurodiverse young adults the skills and work opportunities they want and need, to live their best lives. 💛

Stay tuned for sneak peeks at our amazing auction items!

Tables of 10 and individual tickets are available now from www.projectemploy.nz or via the QR code on the image.

15/01/2026

A huge congratulations to the December '25 Project Employ Graduates - Kyle, Jaden, Tom, Juan, Tanaya and Caleb! 👏 👏

Thanks to Quest Apartment Hotels - New Zealand & Fiji for sponsoring another evening of celebration, filled with laughter, tears, and excitement for the future. As six more motivated and work-ready young adults stepped up to collect their certificates, their newly found confidence was clear to see and hear. Speaking from the heart, they each gave a powerful graduation speech to their proud families and friends.

Here's a taster of what they said...

"Thank you for everyone that believed in me. Growing up, people kept telling me I would never pass anything in my life. I would never gain friends or respect. I've proved them wrong over and over again and I've proved them wrong once again by graduating".

"Being a trainee has helped build my confidence and made me believe in myself, and that I can do more than I realised I could. I am now confident enough to go to uni".

"With how tough it can be to find work experience, Project Employ has been nothing short of a miracle, and I certainly won't take this for granted. I am looking forward to new opportunities where I can make the most of what I have learned here".

"Thank you to the customers for coming in and being patient with us. It has been a very wonderful experience and I loved every moment of it".

"I have confidence that whatever my next adventure may be, I will achieve great things and make everyone proud".

"I'm proud of myself for graduating after 6 months. Happy to have made new friends that I'll keep in touch with throughout next year. I'm excited for what job comes through with Emily's help next year".

As we celebrate the 48th neurodiverse young adult to graduate from our training programme, it is the perfect time to thank all the organisations, businesses, personal donors and volunteers that have made it all possible. You are amazing!

With one PE graduate heading off to uni, Emily Norton (our Employment Programme Lead) will be working with the remaining five to help them gain paid internships and/or employment. So, if you would like to snap up one of these hardworking young people and benefit from the many attributes they'll bring to your team, Emily would love to hear from you.

emily@proejctemploy.nz

11/01/2026

04/01/2026

Happy New Year from Project Employ!

What are you doing on Saturday 21 March from 5.30pm?
Join us for the charity event of 2026 — our 3rd Annual Dinner & Auction Fundraiser at the stunning Hilton Auckland, New Zealand ✨

Enjoy bubbles and entrées served by Project Employ Graduates, live music from Nathan Fry, and an unforgettable evening hosted by our amazing Ambassadors Angela Bloomfield, Shane Cortese, and The Breeze NZ’s Kris Edwards.

You’ll also hear inspiring stories from our graduates and their employers, as we showcase the power and potential of a neurodiverse workforce.

Proudly sponsored by Hilton Auckland, New Zealand, Davenports Law, Ricoh New Zealand Limited and Oceanbridge Shipping Ltd

🎟 Tickets available now at www.projectemploy.nz

For tables of 10, simply purchase 10 tickets.

Join us. Make a difference. 💙

Photo shows Project Employ Ambassador Angela Bloomfield standing on the left, next to Project Employ Graduate Andre. Andre is wearing a blue shirt and holding a microphone while speaking about his job at The Hotel Britomart.

23/12/2025

A huge Xmas ‘thank you’ to all the organisations and every single individual that has chosen to support Project Employ this year. You are amazing!

Your generosity through grants, donations, buying coffees from Flourish Cafe or attending our Dinner & Auction Fundraiser is very much appreciated by the PE Board, the PE and Flourish Cafe teams, and Trainees/Graduates.

It’s thanks to your belief in PE’s mission that another 14 hardworking and employable neurodiverse young adults have graduated from our training programme this year. They’ll now move onto our Employment Programme and be supported to gain meaningful, paid employment.

Wishing you all a merry Xmas, a happy new year and a relaxing summer break; and we look forward to introducing you to our next cohort of trainees… there’s 11 of them!!

16/12/2025

Have you seen this month's Auckland North Community and Development - ANCAD Community News magazine? Not only does it feature Project Employ and Flourish Cafe, the star of the article is most definitely PE Graduate Kimiyo - she even made it to the front cover!

So grab yourself a cuppa and have a read of Kimiyo's journey, from Rangitoto College to meaningful, paid employment at JW Marriott Auckland (via Project Employ!).

A huge shout out to Auckland North Community and Development (ANCAD) - an amazing charity and resource, with a vision to create resilient, safe and connected communities. They are doing this by providing coaching, specialist short-term consultancy engagements, work shops, community accounting, mentoring and so, so much more. 👏👏

Inside the latest issue of Community VoicesOur Summer edition of Community Voices brings together powerful stories from across Aotearoa that reflect the resilience, creativity, and heart of the community sector. This issue features real-life journeys of impact— from inclusive employment and youth-...

14/12/2025

We asked our trainees, staff and Flourish Cafe customers what Project Employ means to them. These were some of the most common responses:

P priority; positivity; people; passion
R reliability; respect; ready for work; rewarding
O optimistic; opportunity; organized
J jobs; jokes
E Emily’s tasty wraps; experience; education
C creativity; confidence; coffee; cafe customers; changing lives
T trust; training; time

E equal; equality; engagement; empowering
M mindfulness; Megan; motivation; meaningful employment
P positivity; passion; polite; pride
L learning; lots of fun
O opportunities
Y you!; youthful

We'd love to know what Project Employ means to you?