Council’s jobs project scoops top honours
Central Hawke’s Bay District Council brought home a top prize in economic wellbeing at a successful Local Government New Zealand excellence awards 2022 for Hawke’s Bay.
The Mayors Taskforce for Jobs — Jobs in Central Hawke’s Bay project was selected as winner of the Martin Jenkins Excellence Award for Economic Wellbeing at the LGNZ conference on Friday last week.
Another Central Hawke’s Bay District Council project, Broader Outcomes in Action — Thriving through Infrastructure, was a finalist in the same category.
Mayor Alex Walker accepted the award, and recognised the work of the council team who have worked on the project.
“We’ve been building a really strong platform in Central Hawke’s Bay for the last few years, and this is really a big celebration for our team who have worked so hard,” Walker said.
She said the project officially began in 2020 with the launch of a partnership between the nationwide Mayors Taskforce for Jobs and the Government to mobilise the postCovid
lockdown workforce back into work.
“It was a very important project for us in a small rural community where often our public services aren’t always visible.
“Not only did we have a Coviddisplaced workforce, but we also had drought where our primary sector was also under quite a lot of pressure.”
As of last week, the Jobs in Central Hawke’s Bay team has referred 742 jobseekers, 337 of whom have secured employment or training. Nearly 50 local apprentices attend weekly workshops, and the team are in regular contact with a network of more than 770 local businesses.
“The number of people that we have been able to get into employment is more than half what
our work-ready unemployed population would be, so it’s a very big proportion of those looking for work that we have been able to help,” Walker said.
She said she saw the future of local government in the way that initiatives like this one had the council bringing people together and facilitating community action to improve community outcomes.
Hastings District Council’s revitalisation programme — Pa¯harakeke, kua tae te wa! It’s Flaxmere’s Time! — was also recognised at the awards, being one of three local government initiatives that were highly commended in the Social Wellbeing category.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said in a statement it was an honour to receive national recognition for the project.
“We are in the early stages of facilitating many of these new initiatives — new homes, a new supermarket, and building a new skate park to name just a few,” Hazlehurst said.
“We are proud of the Flaxmere community’s vision and the plans to bring it to life.”
People were able to move into 18 new social houses built on councilowned land off Tarbet St in Flaxmere in April.
A further 17 affordable homes are being built in the area and work is underway installing the Three Waters and roading infrastructure for up to 150 more houses that will be built across three other council-owned pieces of land in the suburb.
It was a very important project for us in a small rural community where often our public services aren’t always visible. Mayor Alex Walker