Pipe band drummers and the city’s homeless illustrate the extent of Waitematā Local Board's community support.
During recent Auckland Council 10-Year Plan and Local Board Plan consultations, there was strong feedback for more to be done for the area’s homeless.
Now the board has approved Local Grants funding for two initiatives with the City Mission.
The first, $5271, will go towards 50 portable backpack beds for homeless people in the city, while the Mission’s Audrey van Ryn will receive $4000 for a project designed to give rough sleepers access to showers. The money is for staff to supervise homeless people to shower at the Ellen Melville Centre.
Providing facilities for the homeless is one of the key priorities in the Local Board Plan.
Grants to community groups
It also supported young people, with KidsCan receiving $3000 towards food for schoolchildren in the area, and Youthline $1500 for helpline and text delivery costs, while Rainbow Youth was granted $3000 for 129 peer support group meetings.
The New Zealand Sunday School Union got $2000 towards new vinyl and there was support for adults too, with the Auckland Women’s Centre receiving $2000 towards Maori and Pasifika culturally safe community workshops, and the Auckland King Tides Initiative $4000 for water level gauges.
A $1500 contribution was made to Age Concern Auckland for the provision of its services across west and central Auckland, and the Project Litefoot Trust – which uses prominent sports people to inspire environmental change – received $3194 for its work.
Both grants were “multi-board”, where groups working in several areas apply to boards where the work is done, but where they may not necessarily be based.
There was support for the arts too, which will see the Auckland and District Pipe band marching to a new beat, after being granted $5000 for 20 new drums. The board also gave $3690 to the Auckland Performing Arts Centre at Western Springs for new video cameras, and $1000 to the Tuatara Collective for an upcoming Q Theatre production.
St Mary’s College’s kapa haka programme will get a new look after a $1500 grant for 30 new costumes, and there was also a $5000 grant to the Show Me Shorts Film Festival Trust Board.
Two community sports groups also received funding. Auckland Basketball got $2000 for venue hire at YMCA Pitt Street for youth and community activities, and Auckland Table Tennis $1500 towards its community programme.
In total, Waitematā Local Board granted more than $49,000 to community groups.
The board’s next Quick Response grants round opens on 5 June and closes 6 July. Local Grants Funding opens 2 July until 3 August.
Visit here for more information on grants programmes.
