InsideOUT

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Schools' Pride Week Aotearoa colouring competition!! 🖼️💗🌈

Primary school winner: Tessla (age 5) from Jireh School
Intermediate school winner: Hanyu (age 11) from Heaton Normal Intermediate
High school winner: Kayleigh (age 16) from Gisborne Girls High School

We had SO much fun looking at all the stunning, colourful entries, and we hope everyone who entered had a fun time making them ✏️🌈 you can find all of the printable colouring sheets made by the talented at our SPWA website https://pride.school.nz/colouring-pages/

We’ve partnered with with funding from the Clare Foundation to co-design the Transgender Inclusion in Community Sport Toolkit, a free resource for sports organisations across Aotearoa to help create welcoming spaces for trans, non-binary and gender diverse people in community sports.

The Toolkit is a free resource for national, regional and local sports organisations, clubs, teams and competitions. It was codesigned by WISPA and InsideOUT Kōaro, drawing on research, lived experience and case studies from the Aotearoa sport sector.

Everyone, regardless of gender, has the right to take part and benefit from community sport without fear of mistreatment or discrimination. This toolkit offers plain language guidance, practical actions, and real case studies from the sector to give organisations the practical tools and confidence to support all participants and create safe, welcoming, and inclusive spaces in community sports.

The Transgender Inclusion in Community Sport Toolkit is available for free on our website at the link below:
https://insideout.org.nz/new-toolkit-helps-community-sport-welcome-transgender-players

Victim Support It can affect whether they feel safe asking for help. It can affect whether they expect to be believed. It can affect how much of themselves they feel they have to explain before anyone even gets to what happened.

Working in the youth mental health and addictions sector and want to improve strengthen your knowledge and practice with rainbow+ rangatahi?

Join us with Whāraurau for this national forum focused on rainbow+ youth mental wellbeing and gender-affirming healthcare, where we will explore insights, experiences, and lessons learned across Aotearoa.

‍The theme for this forum centres on strengthening the workforce and advancing inclusive, affirming practices for rainbow communities. Our focus will be on developing rainbow-specific competencies, amplifying lived experience, and supporting approaches that uphold rights, dignity, and wellbeing. We will also explore how policy, practice, and system change can work together to create more responsive and equitable services.

The forum will feature a range of speakers sharing their experiences, practical learnings, and reflections from their work and communities.

Whether you’re looking to build your knowledge, support service development, or work to strengthen inclusive practices, this forum will offer valuable perspectives to support your mahi with our rainbow+ communities.

The forum will take place at 9am on the 26th of August 2026.

There are limited spaces available to attend, so be sure to register your interest at the link below:
https://www.wharaurau.org.nz/all-resources/national-forum-affirming-rainbow-youth

Our Letters to Rainbow Rangatahi campaign was a huge success, and we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who got involved! 💌

Thanks to every single person who wrote letters and sent them in, and to our amazing regional team for connecting letters with rangatahi, we delivered over 100 letters to rainbow rangatahi across the motu, with a focus on those in rural regions to spread joy, community, and hope 🌈🫶

Community is home, and we hope everyone who sent or received a letter felt that home welcome them in 🩷

Shift Hui 2026 is on the horizon! ☀️

InsideOut Kōaro are looking for a group of passionate rainbow rangatahi between 14 and 18 to help us make this year’s event the best it can be. This group, the Shift Hui Rangatahi Advisory Group, will be a fantastic opportunity to make connections with other young rainbow leaders, and to develop your teamwork, leadership, and communication skills.

What is Shift Hui? 🌿
Shift Hui is InsideOut Kōaro’s long running national hui for rainbow, takatāpui, MVPFAFF+ and inters*x young people aged 14-18. It is a safe space for rangatahi to connect, grow, and learn about different issues facing the rainbow community in Aotearoa, and contribute their voices to community building and problem solving. Participants take part in a variety of informative workshops and fun activities, gaining new skills and knowledge that they can utilise in their lives, schools and communities.

This year Shift Hui will take place in the term 3 school holidays.

What is the Shift Hui Rangatahi Advisory Group? 🪻
We need your help and input to organise and plan Shift Hui, so that this event can be created by and for rangatahi. We believe young people know what they want and need, and this is your chance to help shape Shift Hui 2026. From the snacks to the activities, this group will have a big say in what goes on.

For more information and to fill out the application form, please click here: bit.ly/SHIFTYAG2026

Applications close on July 30th 🌈

We're delighted to announce our winners of the 2026 Out on the Shelves Display Competition! We were blown away seeing the joy, colour, and life in this year's submissions, and hope you had just as much fun getting to put them together as we have had seeing them all 🩷

This year's public library display winner is Hillcrest Library who created this spectacular rainbow book display and photo booth area - we loved seeing the staff with the display as well 🌈 Our runner up prize for public libraries is Ngaaruahwaahia Library!

In the school library category, first place goes to Green Bay High School, who created this beautiful 3d tree display filled with pride snails and so many beautiful details! Our runner up prize for school libraries goes to Mountainview High School ✨

We want to say a huge thank you for all of the libraries who participated, whether it was your first year or you've celebrated Out on the Shelves in the past 🙏🌈📚

We'll be in touch with the winners soon to get your prizes to you!

We're hiring for our newly established Director of Service Delivery role to lead the delivery of our national services across Aotearoa.

The Director of Service Delivery leads the strategy, quality, coordination, and sustainability of InsideOUT Kōaro’s services nationwide across youth, community, and training contexts. The role ensures services are safe, inclusive, evidence‑informed, and aligned with kaupapa Māori, rainbow youth needs, and funder expectations, while remaining integrated, responsive, and well‑supported.

Working closely with the Chief Executive as a member of the senior leadership team, the Director of Service Delivery translates organisational strategy into high‑quality, scalable, and sustainable service delivery, supporting teams to deliver outcomes across diverse settings and building systems that enable long‑term impact and organisational resilience.

To learn more about this role, the experience and skills that we're looking for, and how to apply, head to the link below:
https://insideout.org.nz/seeking-director-of-service-delivery/

InsideOUT Kōaro are excited to be working with takatāpui arts collective Utu Ā Matimati to support the distribution of their second issue of the Utu zine, showcasing amazing takatāpui mahi-toi and kōrero on identity and mental health.

This issue features interviews with artists Misty Frequency, Ruby Solly, Stevei Haukāmau, Jamie Berry, Tina Walker-Ferguson, Tayla Hartemink, as well as toi by Huriana Kōpeke-Te Aho, Maori Mermaid, Story Hemi-Morehouse, Raumati Puhia.

100% of the proceeds from each zine goes back to supporting the Utu kaupapa. You can find the Utu zine at our webstore at the link below:
https://insideoutkoaro.com/products/utu-a-matimati-zine-issue-2

Out on the Shelves Wrap Up! 🌟

We had a record breaking 270+ libraries take part this year, making 2026 our most successful Out on the Shelves campaign ever! 📖

School libraries, public libraries and community centers across the motu held events, made displays, ordered bookmarks, promoted our competitions, celebrated rainbow stories and more! 🌈

There was a big increase in visibility on social media this year, and we thank you all for sharing the joy and celebration far and wide. A special mention to all the librarians out there providing safe spaces for rainbow and Takatāpui young people in your communities. 🫶

We want to hear your thoughts and feedback about the 2026 campaign! Out on the Shelves is constantly evolving and growing, and getting your input helps us to continue to develop the campaign every year. 💖

Let us know what you think went well, and what you would like us to do differently or better next time. We would love to hear any positive testimonies, as well as any challenges or pushback you may have had. ✨

You can find the link to our feedback form here: bit.ly/OOTSfeedback2026

Eveey form completed goes in the draw to win a copy of “30 Q***r Lives” by Matt McEvoy courtesy of Massey University Press!