Franklin Local Board has announced strategic partnership funding for groups across the area.
Board chair Andy Baker says the partnership grants support local groups that serve the community through their activities, ranging from events to welfare support programmes.
The grants include support for A&P societies in Clevedon and Franklin, business associations across the region, and events such as the Waiau Pa Hop and the Clevedon Art Trail.
There were 15 applications made, requesting around $240,000 from a budget pool capped at $175,000.
“These partnerships are about providing ongoing security for groups so that they can plan and work with us,” Baker says.
“Sometimes that’s in areas where what is being achieved is just injecting a little life and fun into communities, such as at the Hop or through support of Pohutukawa Coast Rotary’s Maraetai Beachlands Trolley Derby.
“That’s an event that brings visitors to the area, that huge numbers watch, and which sees a lot of family interaction with carts being built and raced.
“We would be all the poorer for if it, if it were lost.”
Other partnerships involve community safety, such as funding for programmes around water safety at Hunua Falls, but also for organisations providing a range of family support services across the district.
Family Support Network Trust operations in Franklin, Pukekohe-based but operating widely, and at Waiuku will be funded, the groups joined by the Beachlands-based Takutai Trust, a new group operating to support vulnerable residents.
“It’s also about supporting things that are important to us from a heritage point of view, with the Manukau Heads Lighthouse Trust on the list of partners, and the health and well-being of our people through support for groups such as Counties Manukau Sport,” Baker says.
“These are partnership grants. They indicate that the board recognises the value of the groups involved, and that we want to work with them to benefit all our people.”
