Funding for environment centre stops
Despite a drop in government funding the Taranaki Environmental Education Trust is determined to maintain a physical presence in the community.
At the end of June, funding to keep its centre in the Metro Plaza Downtown Arcade open for 20 hours a week stopped and the trust can only afford to maintain that physical space for a few more months.
So the trust has launched an online survey to assess what the community wants before making its next move.
‘‘The centre is something that’s driven by the community. It’s been a drop-in centre for people to come in and ask anything that’s got to do with the environment in Taranaki or education programmes,’’ trustee Tiri Porter said.
‘‘There’s a good subscriber base there now for people who have said they’re interested further as to what the centre wants to do.
‘‘This was our way of going back to them and saying, ‘tell us what you want,’ rather than putting the hard foot down and saying, ‘we’ve got no funding, we’re going to close it and that’s it.’’’
Porter said it’s most likely the existing centre will close.
‘‘We can’t sustain it in terms of funds to pay the rent, to pay the power, to pay someone to sit there. That’s the other strand of going back to the community is saying, are you able to help?’’
‘‘We're hoping to be in a shared venue.’’ Tiri Porter
It’s hoped the trust can work in collaboration with other organisations. ’’We’re hoping to be in a shared venue. I don’t want to commit as to where that will be because we’re still negotiating with organisations to get that done.’’
Meanwhile the projects run by the trust, Impact Youth, Enviroschools, Sustainable Backyards, and Sustainable Living Programme, will continue to run as normal.
‘‘The centre is important because it provides that central hub for the programmes to come together and be accessible to the community.’’
The survey, which can be found at sustainabletaranaki. org.nz, closes on Friday August 5.
‘‘Feedback so far is the suggestion of going to farmers’ markets or being more mobile, going to the people.
‘‘The other feedback is to look at other community models of how one central hub can be used to connect other community organisations,’’ she said.