All things 'Doc(k)y'

DFI day 1 has been focused on Google docs. The first thing that hit me was the words and phrases that I am increasingly seeing in use. The current one for me is 'deep dive'. This has recently been coming at me from all directions. No, I'm not researching an underwater holiday, but encountering this term meaning 'taking a thorough look at or into a particular subject matter'. Gone are the words 'focus', 'probe' or 'enquiry'. That got me thinking about the nature of language and common kīwaha, or sayings, which perhaps not coincidentally was the topic of this week's Te Reo lesson for the course I am on. The one I liked from my lesson was 'pai kare' which means 'by golly!', so every time I hear or read 'deep dive', I am going to think 'pai kare'! My first love is language so it's quite hard to distract me from language musing most days.
Anyway, I did concentrate on the content and for my 'create' part of the day, I decided to do a revision of the Trust meeting agenda and add a table of contents. I have created newsletters in docs and drawings, but am currently trialling 'mailchimp' which is the app that most organisations use for a professional look and which also automatically manages the newsletter subscription list.
So here is my new look agenda. I will trial it with trustees until the end of the year.

Media Moments - part 1

This blog post will discuss the four national media events for Kootuitui ki Papakura in the last few months. They are a
1. TV interview - June 2019
2. Radio interview - July 2019
3. Radio news story - August 2019
4. TV news story - August 2019

The media we have been seeking is for national coverage of our Ko Huiamano: Warm, Dry, Healthy Homes programme. This programme is significantly different from other types of provision in this area because it is a community-led development model, being:
- developed by whānau through co-design
- delivered by whānau largely through their commitment to being volunteers
- built on the kaupapa of 'fill my kete, fill your kete'
- focussed on education for behavioural change rather than provision of goods
- not funded through any government scheme such as AWHI (Auckland Wide Healthy Homes)

The first national media event was a short segment on What's Next? where our Kootuitui Whānau were featured on episode 3 being interviewed by Nigel Latta. On Demand here and the text article here. This was excellent timing for us with the winter just getting underway and we felt so proud to be in the spotlight. It was wonderful meeting Nigel and the segment reflected fairly on our work. We received lots of 'congratulations' and 'you guys are doing amazing work' but no direct offers of support. There wasn't any direct link back to us as an organisation as the media didn't actually mention our name 'Kootuitui ki Papakura' or show our logo and the segment sounded a little like a group of people helping others without a charity or organisation behind them. At that stage, I hadn't started to harness the power of social media so after the screening, I shared the On Demand and text links and the euphoria of being on national TV ebbed away. Maybe the viewing demographic for this programme were not the people we were trying to reach?

We recently had support to publish a booklet which details the story of our Homes strand and the Ko Huiamano prototype and I was looking to once again get a national spotlight on our work. I began contacting reporters I knew and emailing TV sites. Then, quite suddenly, I was rung by Radio NZ to do an interview with Jesse Mulligan. This was recorded at 1pm one afternoon and published on their website. Through this interview people were beginning to become more aware of Ko Huiamano: Warm, Dry, Healthy Homes and understand how this part is situated within our whole scope of EDUCATION, HEALTH AND HOMES.

The same RNZ reporter who linked us with Afternoons with Jesse was really keen to attend a home installation and see what happens, in particular the effect of the bubble wrap on the temperature. This led to our Radio news story. This story was broadcast on Checkpoint with photos, video and commentary as well as a short article. This was a tenanted Housing NZ property which showcased our partnership with HNZ. At this stage the social media just took off, maybe because RadioNZ had the story as a feature article on their website.

Even though I had not received any direct replies to my approach to TV media, Te Ao News saw the second RNZ article and contacted me. They wanted to cover our work from a different angle and we agreed on an interview with Māori homeowners. The added piece to this story was that a warm house had had a positive impact on their health. The segment was screened on a cold, Friday, August evening and is here. This is such a positive story of helping our kaumātua and the impact of a home on the health of its occupants.

My next blog post will focus on the social media that has come from the mainstream media above. I am still looking for opportunities for publicity through mainstream media, so if you can assist me in any way, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you. Help us support by Māori, with Māori, for Māori for the improved lifelong outcomes of the young people of Papakura.

Annual Stakeholders' Event

Last Wednesday we held the annual morning where we welcome sponsors, partners, schools and local community organisations to hear about our activities over the past year. It is a short showcase for our funders, sponsors and partners to get an insight into Kootuitui ki Papakura.
This year, the event was hosted at Papakura Central School and included a welcome to the 70-ish attendees, short presentations (above) from representatives who work in each of our three strands and a tour of 1:1 hubs and the school clinic. The Education strand was presented by four PCS students who showed attendees how they learn in an online environment through their teacher's visible website, some of the Google apps they use and the cybersmart learning around making positive, thoughtful and helpful comments on blogs. Having students present is always well received, as is hearing from whaanau who share their stories and others' stories of change through their engagement in the Homes strand initiatives.
This is our third year hosting this event and I have learnt through that time some things that have helped the planning for each successive year. These include the preparations that need to be made at the Trust level, at the school level and at the level of connecting with the various delivery partners. The run sheet invariably gets behind, so I have learnt to factor this into the programme and to break up the 'listening' activities with time for the attendees to talk, walk, network and have refreshments.
The Kootuitui team gets behind this event and pulls together to make it happen. Right now, there are 10 employees, including full and part-timers, with additional volunteers, and we are also supporting the salaries of about 6 FTE - so we are growing as a roopu.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Connections are continuing to be made with other organisations as we focus on our vision of improving the lifelong outcomes for tamariki in our community.

Changing lives one home at a time

A TSI (The Southern Initiative) collaboration with Kootuitui ki Papakura set out to support whaanau to create solutions to the challenges they are facing in day to day living.

This project came about as we were looking to establish an initiative focussed on 'Homes' for families in Papakura. This resulted in a unique peer-to-peer model aimed at empowering locals to improve housing conditions in Papakura in a practical way, while delivering positive social outcomes.

TSI input led to a co-design process that built the capability of whaanau. It then helped them develop a low-cost home intervention kit to create warmer, drier and healthier homes. 

By using a strength-based approach, the whaanau involved experienced greater social connectedness, built a network of authentic and trusting relationships, learnt how to implement their innovative ideas and grew their self-confidence and basic DIY skills.

Due to the high level of training the Kootuitui Whaanau have received, they expanded their knowledge of their tenancy rights, learnt budgeting skills and through whakawhanaungatanga (the building of authentic and trusting relationships), the families transferred what they learnt to whaanau across the community through a 'Fill my kete, fill your kete' approach.

The initiative delivered specific results – meaning many whaanau now have warmer and drier homes. This model will continue to be developed and opportunities sought to scale it further.

Kootuitui ki Papakura would like to thank TSI for its support to produce this document which chronicles the story of our Homes strand.