The editorial writer in the Manawatu Evening Standard said that it was good to see people from the Poverty Action Group involved in the Employment Summit, not just stating the problems but working on solutions, and then later, that "it's time to get selfish over jobs" and that that was a challenge to the whole community "to form a united city, pooling its ideas and energies ………must have a better chance of success than one that sits waiting for something good to happen"

A look at the ideas that came out of the small groups at the end of the Summit showed that while there is a long list of things that can be done, the key is being pro-active and working together.

The Local Employment Committee has taken a number of steps to carry through with some of the ideas. Three working parties have been formed. The first to take up John Fraser's challenge to set up a Group Apprenticeship Trust which several of the small groups supported. This has received wide support and we have been able to tap into the experience of some of the key people who have set up other such trusts. The decision was made to begin with the engineering trade and to see how that went before going wider. The proposal is about to be put to the industry and the signs are positive.

The second working party has been looking at the field of micro-venture finance, following the positive response to the stories from Just Dollars, the Methodist Employment Generation Fund and Palmerston North's own Angel Fund. The working party has been looking at the needs in the region and are wondering if the Manawatu Credit Union and the Angel Fund would meet the needs. They have been looking at the gaps in the support services and how best to fill them.

A Community Sector working party was also set up and the idea of a Volunteer Centre is currently being explored.

The City Council's Employment Initiatives Fund has now been passed, making $80,000 available to community initiatives. This also will have a large multiplier effect.

As the Mayor said in her closing remarks, the issue of communication and co-ordination, getting ideas people in touch with action people is an important one.

The message to come through load and clear was that in such an issue as this - we all need to take a share of the responsibility and that communities that put employment at the top of the agenda and are continually working to create opportunities and are testing everything they do against the question: "will it create jobs and get people into work" are successful and are showing the way.

The Summit was the start, not the finish. It will have been a success if the importance of employment as an issue in its own right has been re-established and more people are making a commitment to put it at the top of their action agenda and ideas checklists.

Many thanks once again, to our sponsors.

Ian Ritchie
Co-organiser, 30 July 1999.