Auckland Council’s Parks, Arts, Community and Events (PACE) Committee allocated $295,000 to 13 community development projects at its February meeting.
Chair of the PACE Committee, Councillor Alf Filipaina, says the contestable Community Development Fund is essential to support and empower Auckland communities.
“Resident and community-led action is flourishing in Tāmaki Makaurau,” says Councillor Filipaina proudly.
“The organisations that we have funded have strong strategic direction and solid business plans. This funding will help our communities continue their important work to promote transformative social change, increase community collaboration and support social innovation.”
Mayor Phil Goff says the innovative community-led projects help ensure our city is a more inclusive place and give people a sense of belonging.
“The organisations we support are experts and leaders in their fields, and ensure we achieve the results we are looking for,” he said.
How is funding making a difference?
Ruapotaka Marae
This project extends the role Ruapotaka Marae takes to manaaki newcomers to Tāmaki Makaurau, complementing projects from new migrant and ethnic communities seeking to engage with tangata whenua.
Georige Thompson, Marae Manager at Ruapotaka Marare, says that this funding gives the Marae the opportunity to create marae-based programmes that empower local people in areas such as life and creative skills, education, self-confidence and small business employment.
“Due to our Marae working from a tikanga perspective in all our practices, an added advantage of running our marae-based programmes, has been the opportunity to share our Māori culture with a wide variety of cultures and people within our own and wider communities,” said Georgie Thompson.
The Cause Collective
A primarily South Auckland with regional impact, this project is an exciting and innovative youth-led initiative focusing on social change - particularly with Maori, Pacific, South Asian communities in South Auckland. This project works directly with communities and young people to design solution towards social issues they are passionate about. Becoming a young social changemaker activates youth voice and measure impact through their eyes.
Chillion Sanerivi, Youth Systems Innovator from the Cause Collective, says that receiving funding from the council means young people get the chance to be connected into a network of changemakers.
“We hope this will activate them to lead change they want to see based on topics they are most passionate about,” says Chillion Sanerivi.
“If we did not receive council funding, we wouldn't be able to respond quickly to what young people are wanting to do for their local areas. It's a powerful platform allowing young people to activate their ideas. We describe ourselves as a youth movement passionate in wanting to see change. Change in ourselves, change in our communities, change for the better because we deserve better.”
Timebanking
A timebank lets people exchange services on a time-for-credit basis and records these exchanges on a database (usually a timebank platform). Basically, for each hour someone helps another, they receive a credit for an hour of help of their choosing. This regional grant supports working with the vibrant Māngere East Family Services Center to enhance community engagement with a formal timebanking system.
Kristen Wilson, Project Lead for the Mangere Timebank pilot, says that timebanking is an adaptable community system that connects people with each other, enabling them to share skills, and sometimes goods, where everyone's time is equally valued.
“A timebank is created by and reflects the character and interests of the community it serves, explains Kristine Wilson.
“Timebanks with active memberships have been shown to build meaningful and more connected and resilient communities. The challenge is knowing how to empower and create the right groundwork to enable different communities to be supported into their own timebank.”
A full list of the projects and organisations that received funding is provided below.
|
Organisation |
Project |
Grant |
|
Project grants |
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|
Aotearoa Resettled Community Coalition Inc. |
Building connections for resettled people, increasing and supporting public awareness through:
|
$30,000 |
|
Auckland North Community and Development Inc. |
Further development of the Auckland Community Accounting project, building financial management capability within Māori and Pacific community organisations across Auckland |
$30,000 |
|
Auckland Refugee Council Incorporated |
Asylum Seekers Support Trust (ASST) Social Engagement Program. Development of the current social engagement programme of community meals and shared activities with a focus on building connections with local iwi, Marae and other community organisations |
$10,000 |
|
Catalyse Network |
Placemaking Kit Update 2020. Developing a further iteration of the placemaking kit, through a co-design process, particularly with Māori, ethnic communities, people with diverse abilities, tamariki and rangatahi. |
$20,000 |
|
CNSST Foundation (formerly known as Chinese New Settlers Services Trust) |
"A Brighter Future for Us" Multi-culture Community Hub Developing an intergenerational, cross-cultural, interactive community hub that meets the needs of people from different ethnicities of all ages with a migrant focus. The hub is proposed for Panmure, with an outreach to other CNSST sites across Auckland. |
$20,000 |
|
Mangere East Family Service Centre Inc |
Auckland Timebank Pilot. A timebank lets people exchange services on a time-for-credit basis and records these exchanges on a database. This pilot project involves research, education, and setting up a pilot timebank. |
$37,000 |
|
OUTLine NZ Inc. |
Web Chat Support - stage two of service upgrade. The first stage of the web chat service development was supported by a grant in 2018/2019 and involved upgrading the phone hardware and data systems. This stage is to provide a web chat service that will optimise the service upgrade. |
$16,000 |
|
Recreate NZ |
Youth volunteer recruitment and training Recreate NZ offers a range of programmes and support for young people with disabilities, mainly provided by youth volunteers. |
$15,000 |
|
Refugees as Survivors New Zealand Trust |
Connected Communities Youth Internship Programme This collaborative project between Refugees and Survivors NZ, Belong Aotearoa and NZ Red Cross engages young adults including refugee and migrant background and tangata whenua, to explore and unpack racism. Fifteen interns will be supported by the three organisations to plan and deliver three community events aimed at challenging racism and promoting inclusive, connected communities in Auckland |
$25,000 |
|
Ruapotaka Marae Society Incorporated |
Te Awhi Rito o Ngā Tangata Hou - Supporting our New Communities. The heart of this project is for Ruapotaka Marae to support (tautoko) refugee and migrant communities through ‘awhi (embrace), maanakitanga (generosity), and kotahitanga (working together).’ The marae will host 20 workshops for refugee and migrant communities. These activities will embrace our migrant communities to give them a Marae to connect to. |
$20,000 |
|
The Cause Collective |
Do Good, Feel Good - Young Social Changemakers Mobilising young people, particularly Māori and Pacific in South Auckland, for social change. The recommended grant is to recruit and train more social changemakers in codesign processes (empathy storytelling, leadership development) |
$22,000 |
|
YMCA North Incorporated |
Youth-led Safeguarding workshops The YMCA has implemented Safeguarding throughout its own centres and programmes. This project extends the programme to YMCA’s wider community. The Raise Up Youth development and YMCA youth leaders will develop and deliver workshops on safety-related issues for parents, carers, whanau and the wider community. |
$20,000 |
|
Strategic relationship grant |
||
|
Auckland Regional Migrant Services Charitable Trust Operating as Belong Aotearoa |
Belong Auckland: to implement the Belong Aotearoa Strategic Intent 2018-2023 In 2018, Belong Aotearoa set a new strategic focus of driving change to improve newcomer settlement and integration, with strategies to address:
The proposed 3-year grant is to support the organisation to implement this strategy, with specific milestones to be developed in the grant’s first year. |
$30,000 per year for three years |
|
TOTAL |
|
$295,000 |
For more information about the council’s Community Development Grants programme, check out the council’s website.
