This is a reality the Saddle Hill Foundation Trust wants to change.
It wants to employ a part-time youth worker to run programmes and connect with young people in the area through mentoring, organising activities and running a youth programme on Friday nights.
Trust youth director Brendon McRae said previous youth work in the area had been sporadic and it acted more as a training ground than a permanent base.
"We want to be intentional here and stick around," he said.
Teenagers often felt disconnected from the area once they left the primary school and a youth worker would help "create a sense of community".
A profile of the Fairfield community, compiled through research and interviews by Ben McKenzie, a youth worker in training, in 2009, showed the population of 2000 would benefit from having a youth worker to connect with the school and support a growing sense of belonging and ownership in the community.
Another survey, conducted by the Fuel Church in 2007, interviewed 87 families and more than half said they would like a youth service to be based in Fairfield, Mr McRae said.
Once funding was secured, with two grants already approved from the Dunedin City Council and Saddle Hill Community Board, it was hoped a youth worker would be in place next year.
They would work in a similar way to other youth workers in the East Taieri area by offering children and teenagers "stuff that's real for them" and a place to go for support.
"Sometimes it just takes a youth worker to pull it all together."
