Kawerau Neighbourhood Support

Currently, there is no coordinator for the Kawerau Neighbourhood Support Trust. Council is working with the New Zealand Police and the Whakatāne Neighbourhood Support Trust to work out the next steps for the local branch.  If you are a neighbourhood support co-ordinator for your street, please keep in contact with your neighbours.

Kawerau has a Neighbourhood Support Trust to serve the needs of the community. The Trust is a partnership of local organisations and has a broad holistic approach to community well being with neighbours looking out for neighbours across a wide gambit of community safety issues.

There could be a group set up in your area and if you want to join. If there is not a programme in your area you can follow these simple steps:

• Canvass your neighbourhood to determine how many of your neighbours are interested in participating in the programme.
• Contact them in person or distribute invitations or questionnaires to do this.
• Help is available from your local co-ordinator to assist you.
• Once this has been done and you are confident that you have some neighbours interested, arrange a place to hold your group meeting. The co-ordinator will attend and provide you with all the help and material you need.

You may feel ill at ease about inviting some of your neighbours to become part of your group because you do not know them, or because you disapprove of their behaviour. Trust your feelings, but at the same time bear in mind that your disapproval may be unjustified and that community support aims to break down barriers and isolation in communities. These may well be the people who need the support of your group.

Community support is the foundation of people learning to live happily and safely together in a community. When one caring household becomes a band of 8-12 caring households side by side with another band of caring households, they have tremendous impact and support for each other and that's what Neighbourhood Support is all about.