The Auckland City Council arts team has managed several successful youth arts projects across the city of Auckland. The council aims to establish a best-practice standard for community artists in line with international standards of community cultural development. This reflective paper explores the processes, impacts and outcomes of some of the council's community arts projects, which involved diverse young people in the Wesley/Mt Roskill neighbourhoods. In her documentation of these projects, Sarah Houbolt, the council's Community Arts Coordinator (Youth), outlines a community cultural development practice framework, gives examples of successful project models and shares experiences of working in these Auckland communities.