www.wairaka.net/ubinz/IR/Community/20000914CharmaineMead.html

I'm Charmaine Mead from Manuka Community House in Nelson - that nice place at the top of the South Island. It's a lovely town nestled by the sea, not far from the mountains; just over the hill from beautiful Golden Bay. People fly in to the airport, drive along the seafront with the snow-capped ranges across the water, meet in comfortable meeting places and fly out again - they say "what a nice place". Many people from Wellington retire there as it's such a nice place. I'm lucky to have been born there - I spent ten years away and came back because ... it's a nice place.

It's a strange thing that even as our community suffers the ills of the larger cities - alcohol and drug problems, violence, crime, high unemployment, the breakdown of the family, abused children, mental health issues, social isolation and POVERTY - we as locals still tend to close our eyes and say "it's such a nice place"! Geographically it is!! But obviously there is much more than meets the eye - for both the casual observer and the long term resident who cares to look more closely - and that is the area from which I want to address you today.

Firstly - I wish to make it clear that I speak from a Pakeha perspective. The tangata whenua have their partnership and consultation processes through the Treaty of Waitangi and so choose to communicate directly with government.

Secondly - I want to acknowledge and applaud the steps the Labour Government are already taking to address a good many of the issues I speak on. We hear the promise of a change - where people are to be treated as people and not economic units to be used, discarded and/or ignored as dollar driven policies dictate - but we need to continue to speak out and advocate to ensure that the promise becomes a visual reality. I'm beginning to sense we may run the risk of ACTUALLY being heard!! (If the media would report the news rather than pursue witch hunts other people might know about the progress too!!)

When I was approached to speak at this conference I was asked to speak on what it is like to be a community worker, what are the issues that we have in our area, and, in particular, how government policy has impacted on them.

What it is like to be a community worker is covered in the process it took to get from that initial phone call to being here to speak to you today: in a word, challenging!! For a start, I've never done anything like this before. So, what else is new - as community workers we are always having something new thrown at us and as tradition demands, of course we rise to meet the challenge!!

Next step - make a plan. Then I met with other community workers in Nelson and Golden Bay to see what they considered the issues were for them within our region, so I could get as wide a picture as possible. I spent time on brushing up on the latest census stats and got buried in the Mitchell Report which was commissioned by the council in 1998 to give the latest economic and social indicators for the Nelson region. Most of this, of course, being done outside work time - as tradition demands. You know, the family weekend in Golden Bay - while everyone else walks Farewell Spit, I was sitting on a seat in the camping ground compiling this information: friends and family put on hold once again as the important needs of the community win again. Lets not overlook the perk though, of being in 'such a nice place'.

As this project continued - so did the demands of work. In fact - as tradition demands - it got busier and so I got up earlier. On the day I decided I had enough info to send in a draft - I was already stretching my deadline considerable - so I took it quick smart to the typing pool ... oops, that's right, we are community we don't have one. There were no personnel or volunteers who had time within the two agencies in which I work and I was faced with a dilemma. ('Why didn't you type it yourself?' I hear you say. I had to give the speech this year not next.) I confided with an already stretched administrator who volunteered to take it home and work on it with her sister, who was co-opted whether she volunteered or not - as tradition demands. A few hours later their passion for the content surpassing their energy - you guessed it, not only do they work, but they are fully involved as volunteers with other community agencies - and it was ready to send. No fax - but, of course, another helpful friend.

NZCOSS met the cost of my travel and invited me to join the conference. Accommodation was found from a list of user-friendly Wellington associates from another Nelson Community worker - my organisation does not have funds for 'frills' such as conferences, but they have supported and encouraged me, and so have the clients I have had to reschedule till next week, and I've made it.

Let's hope I live through it!!

I've thrown away the statistics - I've wanted to do that for ages - the project became too big to get bogged down with those. I go back to the issues and the people. The issues confronting other services mirrored similar experiences of my base organisation so I have decided to tell you the story of our journey so far .......

Our organisation runs an early childhood education unit with parent support services attached. I work with the parents by providing firstly, a home-based family support service, secondly advice and information for referrals to other agencies, thirdly one to one individual counselling. We also offer parenting and personal developmental courses, and advocate for our clients in many forums.

The counselling service is run in conjunction with BUWT, the Beneficiaries and Unwaged Workers Trust in Nelson, where I worked for two years voluntarily before I began my employment with Manuka Community House.

Manuka is celebrating its 21st this year since being incorporated. It started as an informal playgroup for youngsters and mothers in a church hall, meeting once a week. It grew from there, and in the early nineties Community Housing offered a house in Wainui Street at a peppercorn rental of $10 a year. PEP schemes enabled a co-ordinator's position to become a reality. At the same time, to meet childcare and funding requirements, we were licensed as a childcare centre.

This meant, of course, the need to hire some trained staff and to comply with government regulations.

The co-ordinator's job evolved more and more into a support role for parents, as the teacher's positions could not sustain the level of parent support required. Through government grants, including DSW, as it was then, the co-ordinator's position became a community workers position that was more people focussed than administrative. When I joined the organisation in 1994, in was on the cusp of some significant changes. Because of the requirements of the DSW contract, we were required to significantly upgrade our procedures and policies, and our client statistical data.

Our work with clients became much more formalised to meet the standards, and our accountability to clients, community and funders, much more evident. Professionalism had arrived.

Within a year Community Housing changed to market rent values, and rent increased from $10 a year to just over $5000 per year. CFA as it became, paid a one-off grant, proportional to the support services to assist. The next year rent exceeded $6000 - no support left through CFA. The next year our rent became in excess of $10,000, where it has remained since.

Also in 1995 the Ministry of Education came in and said 'you can't operate in these facilities' - the same ones they had licensed in the early nineties - 'you need extensive renovations to meet our standards.'

To cut a long story short, the renovations required cost $37,000, but then because we were renovating, our local council also had standards that were required to be met - another $20,000. Community Hosing were happy to do general maintenance work but not specialised renovations, so we had to find $57,000 to continue to be of service to the community. We were lucky to have the support of our local MOE staff who enlisted an architectural associate who, voluntarily, did many months of work for us - drawing up the project, negotiating with council for permits, overseeing the tendering process, then the building project. The builders gave more than the contract demanded. Both MOE and Community Trust worked together to provide funding, and eventually, with many volunteers from the community, the project was completed, All this work in a building we didn't even own, but the organisation survived to continue servicing the community. Financially, things got tighter from here on in - the requirements to pay professional wages, paying unsubsidised rents, make improvements, increase resources and training for volunteers and staff all from a funding pool that is no longer able to meet the demands on it.

As the National government continued to devolve its responsibilities of community to community, other groups were facing similar dilemmas and the number of groups increased to meet the needs as the gaps became more apparent. We began to hear stirrings from the funders - Lotteries restructured and began to try and make government more responsible for its contracts, so groups contracted by CFA began to hear "that Lotteries is not here to top up part funding" - other major funders began unsympathetically talking about "groups becoming dependent". They asked what are we doing to become more self-sufficient. We can't choose our clients. The old, 'nobody appreciates anything if it's free,' is rubbish. If you're drowning you'll not appreciate a lifeline more because you have to pay for it. In fact, if you know it's going to cost more than you can afford, you just give up! Smaller funders' pies are becoming sectioned into smaller and smaller pieces as so many groups scramble for the crumbs. As community groups we are in constant fear for our clients that should we not bring in sufficient funding the organisation would simply close down.

Pressure to fundraise is constant - a cake stall with all the organisation it takes makes $100 or so. Small raffles make even less. A small town can only have so many cake stalls. With door-to-door collections happening most weeks, and schools and hospitals/hospices and other essential services clamouring for funds, the small localised community groups can only raise small bikkies. Business sponsorship is areas such as ours, and particularly for local groups, is also very limited. No Kudos for them in that!

Volunteers get ground down very quickly as all their efforts often make little headway.

The forced voluntary work schemes for an additional $21 a week, popped up about then. People who through their own volition had been doing voluntary work for some groups, were suddenly forced into positions elsewhere - the system not recognising the roles they already had of any value. Previously paid positions, such as personal care or caretakers jobs in schools, became unpaid positions with the very real possibility of shrinking the paid employment opportunities even further and many more families becoming state dependent. That was helpful (not).

Back to Manuka - pressure was starting to show as our voluntary collective tried to absorb the vastness of the growing responsibilities. As employers and financial directors, with no remuneration, it was becoming stretched to keep its value base and function efficiently. We often had at risk children enrolled whose parents couldn't afford even our very low rates, or whose family was in crisis, but we could no longer afford to operate with these 'unpaid spaces'. We began to lose families as they could not afford the services, and we could not carry non-paying clients who had got behind with their accounts - so much for community focus.

In the political climate of individual responsibility, some management volunteers began to get worried that they couldn't meet the demands on the - and that they personally may be at risk of being held responsible if the organisation didn't come up to scratch or went under.

Gone were the days when we could lasso someone off the street to help run the place. We had become a professional business delivering what had to be a professional service, on a shoestring budget that could snap at any moment if the next grant wasn't sufficient to keep us going.

No private business carries on with less than a few months running costs up their sleave, but community groups are constantly living hand to mouth. If we have some baseline costs covered, and aren't too desperate, then our funders don't see our need as great enough and we don't get funded for that round. So the management members of our group, and many others in the region, are constantly turning over as the stress of their role overcomes them.

Last year, al of these issues culminated in a management crisis of such major proportions that even I didn't believe we could survive - we underwent a major change - only one management member and myself are still in our original positions as the constant stress took its toll. A new management was formed and the childcare service was restructured - we have also managed to get an ongoing grant to subsidise the "families at risk" day-care. We have found through new faces, energy and focus again in the day to day tasks of the organisation - but how long will it last as the pressure continues to build - two cultures passing each other - government expectation versus lack of community resources. We as community do not have the resources with which to continue to operate to the degree of professionalism and stability required. If community groups are going to survive, they need to be adequately acknowledged, trained, managed and resourced.
 

Families have a higher level of stress placed on them - unemployment and illness has increased as wages have decreased, so the effects of long term financial constraints have taken their toll. When people present now, they require more interventions from more agencies than when I started six years ago. On average my clients have contacts with five agencies who specialise in different areas. The administrative time spent on behalf of clients finding resources and keeping up with progress in contact with these agencies is growing considerably.

"Strengthening Families" is a great idea - though I have to say in Nelson we usually have strong networks and good relationships with other agencies. The weak link with the "Strengthening Families" process is that the lead agency gets much more administrative work to do that is not easily funded - CYFS only fund client contact hours. Other funders prefer to only fund projects, ignoring the vast amount of time and money which must go into the administration of the service.

The lack of knowledge with WINZ case workers as to client entitlements can be appalling. Is further training required, or is it their system that works to reward budget constraints the problem? To contact WINZ through the 0800 numbers can be nightmarish, with long waiting times - 15 minutes is not uncommon: four in a day equates to one hour. Compulsory budget advice for beneficiaries is no help when the basic needs can't be met.

Lack of resourcing for CYFS, with too much pressure on too few staff (who are underpaid), prevents staff retention. They have a high turnover rate and clients fall through the gaps between workers. Common sense for FGC does not always prevail where some family members are forced through circumstances to have to endure the process while shut in the same room with someone that has abused them and/or their children. Personal stress dealing with that can be huge.
 

While the ideas are great, could needs be met by expanding or recognising available services and spreading the new monies over them?

Also, historically, these have tended to be short-lived projects - even after they have shown good success.

Social workers in schools was an example of a change of thinking in this area - where existing groups were invited to tender for the new service.

Widening gaps between rich and poor are a direct result of government policies. Market rents for state housing severely disadvantaged low income earners, especially those in high cost housing areas sch as Nelson.

Unemployment, most often not the individual's fault but cause d by government policy to have an unemployed pool. The government strategies of increasing part-time employment has resulted in more families being state dependent and experiencing poverty.
 

There is a lack of relief support for families with children with ADHD, Asbergers, Autism etc which has been well documented in the media. Our child health is deteriorating. New choices in maternity care are creating gaps for on-going monitoring of babies well-being. That area is an important one to focus on.
 

The pressure on young people within the education system - nothing to offer as an alternative for those that don't fit academia. These are often our practical minded children - who used to be our tradespeople. If they get a special dispensation to leave school to go on a course then often there is nothing at the end of it and they can't get WINZ assistance until they are 18 - at best they get into mischief!

Even those who appear to be doing well in the system are often so stressed that many of them actually kill themselves. A local St John's Ambulance officer told me there is a high incidence of young people overdosing on contraceptive pills at School Cert time - contraceptive pills because it is often the most accessible medication in large amounts. This is a sad reflection of where we are at.

Specialised Youth Workers are becoming essential, but there is still no nationally recognised training for them.
 

Many people move to Nelson to get away from gangs and their drug/alcohol associations or violent partners. These people need lots of help to establish themselves and are very isolated - no extended family members or friends to help. (Even those residents with local family have little support as family members are often working and unavailable). Pressure on solo parents to work makes these gaps more apparent.
 

There are not enough volunteers to person services adequately. As the workload increases, volunteers are pushed to the limits and then give up - they can get paid jobs that are less demanding of their time, energy and family resources.
 

With the wind down of residential mental health services, more pressure has been put of the out-patient mental health services and supports. Many clients who do not want to be in the system - and it's their choice - turn up at community agencies where we do not have the expertise to offer them. In some cases, because of their behaviours, they have even had trespass orders taken out against them by the out-patient supports. What do we do? Some colleagues suggested we get extra training in regard to helping these people but I don't believe it is possible to be expert at everything and it's a big ask that we should have to. Meantime, who supports or keeps these people safe from themselves and us safe?

The number of obvious dual diagnosis problems is on the increase. In particular alcohol/drug and psychiatric problems. The health service is overloaded and splintered - clients can't get help with psychiatric problems until they deal with the addictions and they can't stop the addiction because they can't deal with the underlying pain of the psychiatric problem.

There are ongoing employment issues for those with mental health problems, many great people are working with clients to assist them back to the workforce. Understanding employers are indeed hard to find and as a result many people are forced to work at menial jobs that are well below their level of capability. They are expected to pay secondary tax on the little they earn, plus cuts that may happen in regard to special allowances within their sickness or invalids benefits. Combined with needing time off from work occasionally to deal with their illnesses, and the adjustment time needed to reinstall their benefit, this becomes overwhelming. The recipients become disillusioned and demoralised all over again. So do the workers!

With income testing for residential mental health services some partners are having to leave relationships in order to receive help, as they cannot afford the programmes. This increases the myriad of problems and lengthens the time needed for recovery. Not to mention the emotional, social and economic cost to the families involved.

The legacy of individual responsibility we have inherited has prevented people from asking for help. Some people I work with have let their issues reach crisis point, because they didn't think they were important enough to seek help from systems that might be overloaded with the consequences of, say, youth suicide, which is an alarming and growing reality in our area.
 

We have many, many problems and we will need to work in partnership with government to deal with them. How we can have an effective relationship is, of course, yet to be established and there are no easy answers. I have heard talk of a three tiered system involving central government, local government and the community. While this may have its merits, our local body - like many others, no doubt - do not understand their role in social responsibility. Our local council has recently disbanded their Social Policy Advisory Group. Regardless of these issues, we as community are still being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. It is imperative that we begin to address the roots of the problems, which can only be done with an equitable partnership with government and societal change. A partnership is about working together - not the partnership of the '90's where we were expected to train ourselves, resource ourselves, and increase our accountability while out National government partners stood back and repeatedly ripped of the system and demeaned, by way of policy, those who needed assistance.

I was appalled to hear on the news on Monday an economist asking us to speak positively and be in support of the dollar. Well, how about we all get radical and start speaking positively and be supportive of the people.