Four years ago the Merivale Community Centre won the Supreme Award at the TrustPower Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga

Community Awards.  The Centre then went on to be named Runner Up at the 2004 TrustPower National Community Awards.

At the time of winning the Award the group had just raised enough funds to build a Community School Hall.  This $1.4 million project has now been completed and is regularly used by groups within the community and beyond. It is a wonderful facility that reflects the incredible

Today, the Merivale Community Centre and its volunteers are continuing in their vision to develop the Merivale neighbourhood in positive ways. They are bringing the community closer together by providing programs and services for both the young and old in their community.

Graham Cameron, Services Manager at the Centre, says that they have started a lot of new initiatives in the last four years.

“In keeping with our long-term commitment to our young people Merivale Idol began in 2005. This is a community event that celebrates our young people’s talent and abilities in the successful New Zealand Idol format. Since the beginning the event has been very successful and popular,” says Graham.

The Centre has recently perfected its Strategic Plan 2008-2013, which has set a path forward for the group under a new vision: Building Our Community Together. The Centre is looking to establish new programmes, in particular “MVL Lokalz,” a programme for 14-18 year olds in the community. This programme aims to help tamariki (children) through their teenage years by showing them how to be giving and innovative young adults and equipping them with skills to follow their dreams.

Over recent years there has been a growing community concern about road safety on Fraser Street, particularly around the Merivale shops. The Merivale Community Centre’s volunteers have set about addressing the issue and have generated a sustained community campaign involving lobbying the Council for action and highlighting to drivers the danger of speed.

At present the Community Centre is also working to reduce the amount of graffiti and vandalism in the area.

“We continue to actively debate with the Council about issues that affect our community,” says Graham.

The Merivale Community Centre has also undertaken research in partnership with the Department of Internal Affairs to identify current community needs and dreams.

“We have now visited every house in Merivale and over a third of those have answered a questionnaire. This is a direction-setting piece of research that ensures we will continue to respond appropriately to our community,” says Graham.

The Community Centre has recently gone through a restructuring and renewing process and the Centre now has a new Services Manager, a new Administrator, and are currently employing two new community workers to work with the tamariki and rangatahi (young adults).

“This has been a big change and one which will allow us to meet the needs of our community better,” says Graham.

Through this restructure the Centre has seen a vast improvement in its relationships with the community and the Council and people are excited by the new opportunities arising. There has also been an increase in the number of volunteers coming on board to help out at the Centre.

The Merivale community are very generous with their time and resources and, as a result, the younger people and tamariki in the community are able to grow up seeing that civic and community responsibility is a normal part of life.

The Centre is also part of a Merivale Collective of the Merivale School. This group includes Tutarawānanga Te Kōhanga Reo, Merivale Whānau Aroha Centre and the Kukupa Trust – all these groups are committed to co-operating on strategic issues in the area. This is part of a community commitment to excellence in service delivery and social outcomes.

“Our success as a community is how we involve people in the life and decisions of their community. Certainly we want to make progress on our social and health deficits, but we believe Merivale is a model of community integration and development for Tauranga,” says Graham.

Winning the Supreme Award at the 2004 TrustPower Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga Community Awards was an important marker for the Centre and the community. Graham says it gave the Centre the belief that they can foot it with the best as well as challenging the Centre to strive for excellence, and this challenge echoes in their changes to date.

“We need to always be prepared to reinvent ourselves to be relevant to today. We can’t sit on our laurels,” says Graham.

The Merivale Community Centre aims to be leaders in community development. Their recently completed research is part of being able to engage at a local, national and academic level to bring their perspective to community development debates.

“We are not waiting for central or local government to guide us…we are leading the way,” says Graham.

For more information on the Merivale Community Centre please contact Graham Cameron on 07 578 6450 or email merivalecommunitycentre@xtra.co.nz.