Community Resources

Waitakere City is a growing and diverse community with a strong sense of its histories and cultures.  Waitakere City Council supports the community and activities in three ways, through provision and support of facilities, providing and assisting access to funding, and facilitation of community activity initiatives.

Walking School Buses

A Walking School Bus is a group of Children who walk to school along a set route, supervised by one or more adult ‘Drivers.’ Children wait at designated Bus Stops along the route, and join the bus on the way to school. In the afternoon the process is reversed.

Schools participate for a number of reasons; they are keen to make walking safer for children, wish to reduce the chaos at the school gate. A number of Waitakere Primary Schools have one or more Walking School Buses. Each bus is run by parent volunteers, and can run as often or as little as the parents want to ‘drive’ it. The service is free, and parents may be scheduled to drive the bus different days of the week

An added benefit is that it helps build and maintain a sense of community. Parents who walk their children to school see it as an ideal way to meet new people and to exercise, whilst providing the opportunity for children to exercise and learn about Road Safety.

If you are interested in getting a Walking School Bus at your school contact us.

Sustaining Vulnerable Communities

Alan Johnson (The Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit) spoke in Waitakere City at a Regional Community Development Forum about 'Sustaining Vulnerable Communities' the presentation below covers key points and analysis around social equity which is a major sustainability challenge both globally and locally.

His very eloquent and stimulating presentation spoke about the need to build bottom up strategies with poor and vulnerable communities to address the growing gaps in social equity facing vulnerable communities in the Auckland Region, particularly the current trends toward greater social polarisation and marginalisation of poor communities. He discussed examples of community building initiatives that are attempting to address these challenges and our roles as power brokers to help redistribute resources and support social change and justice with these communities.

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Sustaining Vulnerable Communities Presentation (Size 130K)