Strong Support for Education in the Nelson Tasman region   7 Nov 2014

Strong Support for Education in the Nelson Tasman region

The Canterbury Community Trust has approved grants totalling $311,562 for the Nelson Tasman education sector, highlighting their commitment to supporting the region and its initiatives.

“The Trustees noticed in this funding round the importance of community involvement in education and the diverse nature of applications,” says Ms Louise Edwards, The Canterbury Community Trust.

Applications ranged from ICT support, to pool and building enhancements as well as several worthy projects aimed at improving the lives and outcomes for non-school children and young people and those requiring special education.

“We believe that in education, as with all things, that a one-size-fits all approach is no longer applicable – to really prepare our children for the future, we need to think innovatively and look to forming strong collaborative relationships within the communities that we live in. We have noted some strong examples of forward thinking and relationship building in the community in this funding round and applaud the hard work done by volunteers of the applicant organisations.”

Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower Trust’s ‘Kidpower for Young Children’ is one example of a funding project where the outcomes will have a profound affect on the lives of the young people it is targeting. “This is a great initiative aimed at providing Nelson young people with the skills necessary to lead them to confidence, by providing them with tools to take charge in challenging situations, for example in instances of bullying, abuse and family violence,” says Ms Edwards.

The Trust has also seen a rise in assistance required in developing playground and recreational areas, along with swimming pools. These are expenditure items in schools which do not attract government funding and require hard graft on the part of schools and parents to fundraise and/or seek grants from philanthropic organisations like the Trust.

“We appreciate how hard the job of fundraising is and what appealed about many of the applications around developing recreational areas and playgrounds is the solid homework that has been put into each application, particularly around budgets and research around materials to build facilities that will serve their communities well for the next 10 to 20 years,” says Ms Edwards.

The Trust funds four regions – Nelson, Marlborough, the Chatham Islands and Canterbury.

ENDS

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