Community Action
Five foundations for a good life
Our mahi spans five inter-related foundations for a good life:
Through Te Hiko, our Centre for Community Innovation, we work alongside communities to help turn the sparks of community innovation turn into flames of creative change. These initiatives work across the five foundations for a good life.
At Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae we are working with the local community to build an intergenerational community that supports the five foundations for a good life.
Connected and supportive whānau
Our work supporting connected and supportive whānau spans the whole life cycle, from pēpi (babies) and new parents to kaumātua / seniors. We also work with rangatahi (teenagers and young adults) and with wāhine and tāne who are looking for connection, support, challenge and growth.
Tamariki and their carers
Family Start
Family Start is for whānau who want to give their tamariki the best start in life.
Our whānau workers provide free parenting support to anyone who needs it. We work alongside you in your own home, supporting you to identify your strengths as parents and working with you on changes you want to make.
Download a Family Start referral form
Contact: Sheree Ryder, Team Manager, sryder@wesleyca.org.nz
Family Start
Mana Whānau
Mana Whānau provides intensive, whānau-led support to help tamariki and their parents stay together. Our kaimahi work alongside whānau in their own home most weekdays for six months. The goal is to make sure that at the end of that time whānau have they what they need to give their tamariki the love, care and attention they need to thrive.
Contact: Jazz Charman jcharman@wesleyca.org.nz
Mana Whānau
Social Worker in Schools
Social Worker in Schools supports children and their whānau attending a cluster of primary schools in the Horowhenua area.
Contact: Lisa Seath, lseath@wesleyca,org.nz
Social Worker in Schools
Strengthening Families & Family Social Work
Our team in Waitangirua are there to support families when they need some help. How they help is guided by each family – it may include co-ordinating a range of agencies, helping access resources and services, or supporting parenting and family communication.
Contact: Lois Bryant, lbryant@wesleyca.org.nz
Strengthening Families & Family Social Work
Te Waka Kotahi - Intensive Caregiver Support
The Intensive Caregiver Support Service (ICSS) offers Oranga Tamariki caregivers a short period of intensive, flexible support in their own homes. The ICSS is designed to help caregivers cope with specific challenges and achieve their caregiving goals. The service is provided by skilled kaimahi from Wesley Community Action and informed by more then 30 years of experience working alongside caregivers and their whānau.
Contact: Andrea McKenzie, amckenzie@wesleyca.org.nz
Te Waka Kotahi - Intensive Caregiver Support
Kaumātua / seniors
Te Waka Haumaru, our older persons team, works alongside vulnerable and lonely kaumātua and kuia so they can stay living safely and well in the community and enjoy social connections with others. The team is responsible for three programmes:
Ageing Well Network
The Ageing Well Network is a community-based initiative that brings together seniors / kaumātua living in the community to connect and contribute as they age. At present the Ageing Well Network includes a 10-week Ageing Well course and a weekly Ageing Well coffee group for course graduates.
The Ageing Well Network uses space at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae.
Contact: Nikolien Van Wijk, Ageing Well Facilitator, nvanwijk@wesleyca.org.nz
Ageing Well Network
Elder Abuse Response Service
We run the Elder Abuse Response Service for people aged 65 and over living in the greater Wellington region (Wellington, Porirua, Kapiti Coast and the Hutt Valley). Our EARS team provides support, information and advocacy, and works with elders and their whānau to create sustainable safety.
Contact: P: 04 805 0880 E: ears@wesleyca.org.nz
Elder Abuse Response Service
Supported Independent Living
Our Supported Independent Living team provides community-based support to help vulnerable older people keep living safely and well at home. Our kaimahi work alongside kaumātua living in the community with little to no whānau support, providing the support and advocacy they need to continue their daily activities and maintain their spark for life.
Contact: Claire Booth, Team Manager, cbooth@wesleyca.org.nz
Supported Independent Living
Rangatahi, wāhine and tāne
Healthy whānau can be supported by focusing attention on the needs and aspirations of rangatahi, wāhine, and tāne. We work in partnership with these groups to co-design and host a range of unique initiatives.
New Zealand P-Pull
New Zealand P-Pull is a national movement of people working to empower individuals, families and communities to lead the way to a meth-free future. It is made up of people with real experience of the impact of methamphetamine and who are committed to an accessible, safe and strength-based approach.
Contact: Rowena Wiki, National Co-ordinator, E: rwiki@wesleyca.org.nz, M: 027 840 2291
New Zealand P-Pull
Aotearoa Pasifika Mens Group
Our Mens Group meets regularly a Wesley House in Cannons Creek. The group provides opportunities for support, challenge, growth – and some delicious kai! Members of the group are very involved in Ngahere Korowai, an ambitious project to cloak the bare hills of Porirua East in a native forest.
Contact: Makerita Makapelu, mmakapelu@wesleyca.org.nz
Aotearoa Pasifika Mens Group
Hurihanga: The Broject and Te Pae Urungi
The Broject and Te Pae Urungi together make up our Hurihanga programme. Kaimahi in the Hurihanga team work with whānau living in either Waitangirua or Strathmore who identify as members of gang communities, as well as members of the wider community.
Both The Broject and Te Pae Urungi promote a pro-social and pro-family approach with a strong emphasis on harm reduction. They work to increase connectivity to the community through a range of activities such as sport, pathways to employment, driver licencing and first aid and diving courses.
Contact: Andrea McKenzie, amckenzie@wesleyca.org.nz
Hurihanga: The Broject and Te Pae Urungi
WhānauFluence
WhānauFluence is a closed, moderated Facebook page for whānau who want to break down cycles of intergenerational disadvantage. WhānauFluence provides a kete of tools through lived experiences, shared knowledge and the voices of tamariki.
WhānauFluence
Te Roopu Tiaki Rangatahi (TRTR)
Te Roopu Tiaki Rangatahi (TRTR) is a youth-led development programme that grows youth wellbeing and resilience among young people in Porirua. Youth leadership and youth governance sit at the heart of TRTR. A team of rangatahi known as The Voyage designs and delivers programmes and events for young people in the Porirua area.
Our youth workers based at Wesley Waitangirua support The Voyage and also work with rangatahi in Porirua.
Contact: Lise Soloa, Youth Worker, lsoloa@wesleyca.org.nz
Te Roopu Tiaki Rangatahi (TRTR)
Community arts programme
We offer a structured arts programme at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae as well as workshop space for local artists and informal art groups that self-organise.
The classes in the arts programme are open to anyone in our wider community, at little to no cost. As well as painting and other art-related activities, classes have included pottery and theatre classes. Some classes are available in the evenings. We also run arts activities for young people during the school holidays.
Follow Wesley Rātā Village on Facebook.
Contact: Emily Innes einnes@wesleyca.org.nz
Community arts programme
Financial stability
Our work to build financial stability creates opportunities for local people to develop and drive initiatives that help grow and sustain wealth within their own community. The goal is to support a local economy that enhances the wellbeing of local people and provides opportunities for them to shape, contribute and gain from it. Our work is based on a theory of change developed by a wide group of people from Porirua East who were looking for ways to address growing levels of debt in their community.
Good Cents course
Our 8-week financial wellbeing course is for people in financial stress who want to make changes. Good Cents participants lead their own journey, taking ownership and control of their finances and supporting each other to identify and make the changes that work for them.
The courses take place at Wesley House in Cannons Creek once each school term. We also run Good Cents courses in other locations, including Kapiti.
Contact: Ruth Nonu, rnonu@wesleyca,org.nz
Good Cents course
Porirua Wealth Pool
The Porirua Wealth Pool is a savings pools where members can save money instead of spending it. They can borrow money at no interest from fellow members – or lend money to them.
Contact: Ruth Nonu, rnonu@wesleyca,org.nz
Porirua Wealth Pool
Porirua Time Bank
The Porirua Time Bank is a way to get things done by spending time, not money. Members can make connections while helping themselves and others.
Contact: Ruth Nonu, rnonu@wesleyca,org.nz
Porirua Time Bank
Kahukura
Kahukura supports whānau living in Porirua East who are experiencing significant financial stress or distress. It’s not a budgeting service, but rather a way for whānau to lift their financial literacy and gain a sense of control over their finances.
Contact: Ruth Nonu ruth.nonu@wesleyca.org.nz
Kahukura
Good kai
Having access to good quality, affordable, healthy food is a fundamental human right. The focus of our kai work is on addressing the root causes of poverty-related hunger and working with others to build long-term, sustainable solutions that create food security.
Wellington Region Fruit & Vege Coop
Affordable hauora kai (healthy food) is the idea behind the Fruit & Vege Co-op. The Co-op harnesses our collective buying power to reduce the cost of fresh kai.
For just $15 you’ll get a fruit & vege pack made up of 3 to 4 fruit and 3 to 4 vegetable varieties that are currently in season. The pack contents vary from week to week but it’s always great value!
Wesley Community Action co-ordinates the Co-op in partnership with Te Whatu Ora (formerly Regional Public Health).
The Co-op is made possible by many volunteers giving their time generously to support their community – we’re not a business or a charity. We uphold the mana of everyone involved – the growers, the wholesalers, the freight workers, our volunteers and our members. We’re creating a food system that rewards everyone fairly and is accessible to all of our community. So the more people that join, the better value the Co-op can deliver to all.
The co-op has 11 packing hubs and more than 30 pick-up locations throughout the greater Wellington region (including the Wairarapa).
Contact: Cory Hope, Fruit & Vege Coop Coordinator, chope@wesleyca.org.nz
Wellington Region Fruit & Vege Coop
Community Pantry
Our community pantry provides no-stress, no-guilt kai parcels to whānau who need them. The pantry is based at Wesley House in Cannons Creek.
When: Monday and Thursday, 9.30am to 12pm
Where: Wesley House Cannons Creek, 206 Mungavin Ave, Cannons Creek
Contact: Gina Wong, gwong@wesleyca.org.nz
Community Pantry
Kai resilience: Growing good food
Our kai resilience work is based at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae and Wesley House in Cannons Creek. The goal of this work is to support local people to be in control of how they access, grow and share kai.
Kererū Gardens
Kereru Gardens is a community garden based at Wesley Rātā Village. Regular group gardening sessions are held on both weekdays and weekends.
Wesley House
Our kai resilience work at Wesley House in Cannons Creek focuses on two main things:
1. Composting
2. Seedling-production using biology-first principles
We currently support five community groups in Porirua East to make amazing, biology-rich compost.
We use the tunnel house and potting shed at Wesley House in Cannons Creek to propagate vegetable seedlings to sell to the local community and give free to school and community gardens.
We also provide training opportunities in growing kai.
Contact Kereru Gardens: Emily Innes einnes@wesleyca.org.nz
Contact Wesley House: Composting: Cory Hope, chope@wesleyca.org.nz Propagation: Gina Wong gwong@wesleyca.org.nz
Kai resilience: Growing good food
Warm, safe and dry housing
We’ve been involved in providing warm, safe, dry affordable housing since the 1950s. We currently provide homes to 95 people in 62 affordable rental properties in the greater Wellington region.
Social housing
We are an accredited community housing provider (CHP) and we are committed to adding to the stock of quality rental accommodation with the support of Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Some of our homes are rented to people on the housing register and some are available on the open market for people with a range of housing needs. As a non-profit social housing provider we aim to foster connected and safe communities and keep rents as low as possible.
A present we have:
- 25 houses at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae for people on the social housing register
- 30 rental villas in Wesley Rātā Village for older people
- 7 rental units in Newtown
- 12 houses at Punavaiola in Flaxmere, Hawkes Bay.
Future social housing initiatives
We are currently developing two new social housing projects at Wesley Rātā Village:
New apartments in Wesley Rātā Village: This $6.8m project involves turning the former hospital at the Village into 15 one and two-bedroom apartments.
New affordable units in the former Strand Home: This $4.8m project will convert the former Strand Home at Wesley Rātā Village into 16 new one and two-bedroom units.
Contact: Shomilla Sidal, Housing Development & Property Lead, ssidal@wesleyca.org.nz
Social housing
Sustaining Tenancies
Sustaining Tenancies provides support to whānau in Porirua who are facing challenges sustaining their housing tenancy.
Our kaimahi works alongside them to address any issues that may be threatening their tenancy and prevent them from losing their home. We take a whānau-led approach to develop an individually tailored plan that allows whānau to identify and implement the changes they want to make.
Contact: Denzel Wineera-Lutau, dwineera-lutau@wesleyca.org.nz
Sustaining Tenancies
A healthy natural environment
We believe that taking action to help nature to heal helps support good health in our social systems. Doing what we can to care for the environment and counteract climate change fits with our kaupapa as an organisation committed to building and sustaining healthy systems.
Team Taiao
Team Taiao is made up of staff from throughout the organisation. They are looking at what we can do to lead and foster positive environmental action.
So far they have identified two main areas to focus on:
- measuring and reducing the organisation’s carbon emissions
- reducing the amount of waste that gets sent to landfill.
Following waste audits at all our sites the team has now set waste reduction targets. We’ve also had our carbon emissions measured and have embarked on a place to reduce them.
Contact: Kirsten Gendall, Funding / Taiao Lead, kgendall@wesleyca.org
Team Taiao
Ngahere Korowai
Ngahere Korowai is an ambitious project to cloak the bare hills behind Porirua East in a ngahere (forest) of native trees. Our Aotearoa Pasifika Mens Group, based at Wesley House at Cannons Creek, came up with the idea after a visit to Zealandia. They’ve been joined by Ngati Toa Rangatira, Greater Wellington Regional Council and a host of other organisations to get the planting project underway.
Contact: Shelby Lockwood, slockwood@wesleyca.org.nz
Ngahere Korowai
Protecting the ngahere at Wesley Rātā Village
We are lucky to be the current managers and guardians of a large piece of regenerating native bush at Wesley Rātā Village in Naenae.
We are working with local environmental groups and the Hutt City Council to protect this ngahere through pest eradication and community planting. There is huge potential to improve access to this beautiful resource.
Contact: Emily Innes einnes@wesleyca.org.nz
Protecting the ngahere at Wesley Rātā Village
Te Hiko: Centre for Community Innovation
Te Hiko is our koha towards sparking local community economic systems that truly value what makes people’s lives better.
We’re always on the lookout for sparks of community innovation that we can help turn into flames. Through Te Hiko we work to understand and create the right conditions for those sparks by supporting the design of new community-led responses. We work to evaluate, measure and share knowledge on what’s working and what we are learning.
Wesley Rātā Village is an intergenerational village in Naenae with a special position for seniors/kaumātua.
You can find the Village at 249 Rātā Street in Naenae. It’s the site of the former Wesleyhaven Resthome and Hospital which we ran from 1955 to 2017.
The Village currently has 55 affordable homes It Is also host to a range of regular community activities and it has a number of venues available for hire.
Wesley Rātā Village
