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City Scene - Christchurch City Council Newsletter - March 1996
The Leisure and Community Services Unit of the Christchurch City Council is carrying out a monitoring programme to look at poverty and hardship in the city. The programme will help the Council and central government determine the impact their policies are having on Christchurch citizens, particularly on those who are experiencing hardship.
The aim is to look at poverty and hardship across the five areas of health, housing, food issues, social welfare and employment. The Council is especially interested in looking at the experiences of women, children and youths, the elderly, Maori, Pacific Islands people, the physically disabled, those with mental health disabilities, immigrants (particularly refugees), beneficiaries and low income earners.
Much of the information collected for the research will come from surveys and interviews conducted in selected schools in the city and from community agencies which deal with hardship issues. Given the workloads of staff in these organisations, any form of information gathering will be kept brief and will be tailored as much as possible to suit their needs.
The programme will not define the exact numbers of people in the city experiencing poverty, but will instead be aimed at examining trends. According to the programme's co-ordinator, Community Adviser (Research) Kath Jamieson, "We are interested in the overall poverty and hardship trends in Christchurch and in looking at the implications of government policies and of poverty on well being."
"Lessons can be learned from community based initiatives that are already -dealing effectively with hardship."
There is widespread support for the project in Christchurch. Community workers, central and local government representatives and community leaders recognise that information about poverty in our city will provide us with valuable feedback that can help us to determine our roles in fighting hardship and help us distribute resources more effectively to those in need. Kath says that the research will also have practical implications for those involved, giving them the opportunity to take part in the processes that lead to decision making in the Council: "As the data is being collected, we will be working with schools, community groups, government representatives and other specialists to find the solutions and resources to address aspects of poverty". She acknowledges that some of the answers may lie in already existing programmes. "Lessons can be learned from community-based initiatives that are already dealing effectively with hardship. We need to look closely at these, give them support and see where their approaches can be used elsewhere."
The information collected through the monitoring programme will be made available to the community and consultation will occur to determine how best to present the findings. Possibilities explored so far include computer links through the Internet, public forums, working parties and regular one-page fliers available to interested people.
Groups being asked to participate in the research are currently being contacted by the Council. The initial research will run for six to eight months and will highlight areas needing ongoing investigation by the City Council.