October 2011

The International Association for Public Participation’s Core Values Awards recognise and encourage projects that are at the forefront of public participation. The awards were created to encourage excellence, quality and innovation in public participation in Australasia.

A winner is chosen for each state in Australia as well as one for New Zealand – and Porirua City Council has won for its Waitangirua Park project – “putting the heart back into the community”.  Waitangirua residents drove the development of the park and created a heart for the suburb out of underused land. Residents worked alongside Porirua City Council staff at every stage from the concept to construction.

Read more details at the Porirua City Council website  and IAP2 website.

How are children faring in our cities?  That’s a question which a three-year Kids in the City study funded by the Health Research Council is seeking to answer. 

Researchers from SHORE (Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation), Whariki Research Centre (Massey University), AUT and Auckland University have been working with children and their parents in six different Auckland neighbourhoods to find out what they think of their urban environments and how safe they feel, how children move around their neighbourhoods, where they play, and how physically active they are.

Great Start’s Project Sunshine teaches children around NZ about seeds, bees, and cross-pollinating communities

Project Sunshine is an initiative of Great Start Taita’s Children’s Gardening Club.  It has seen the streets of Taita brightened with sunflowers, and new community connections created through the process.

In July 2011, Taita children hosted a delegation from the UN Youth Model UN Conference, and together they had a great day to 'launch' Project Sunshine and spread it around the country.  During a great day together the children learned a lot about the importance of bees and what they can do to protect bee populations, and how they can use sunflowers to help not only bees but also their community.
 
See the full story and photos on Great Start's page in the Core Learning Cluster section.

Ooooby is an acronym for 'Out of our own back yards' and it’s all about connecting communities through local food.  Ooooby founder Peter Russell says: "In these uncertain times it is becoming apparent that neighbours will soon reclaim the status of being among the most important people in our lives.  As we move away from the industrial era towards the networked era, neighbours will morph from being anonymous cohabitants of a strip of suburbia, to being the direct source of most of the things that sustain us, including food, energy and entertainment."

Ooooby is for you if you either like to grow food (on a farm, in your backyard, in a community garden or where ever) or if you just like to eat locally grown food.  Check out the website www.ooooby.ning.com (that’s 4 o’s!)

Ooooby exists in two ways.

1. Online as a social network, think of it as the Facebook for people into homegrown and local food. At Ooooby.org you can connect with food growers and 'locavores' (people who like to eat local food) from all over the world.
2. Onland as a local food outlet and encouraging people to form their own local Ooooby groups to share food locally.

Ooooby also exists as a market stall concept which is being prototyped at the Grey Lynn Farmers Market in Auckland. The stall provides a way for people to buy, sell and barter homegrown and local food. This stall is a prototype which provides an income for the stall holder.

The plan is to develop systems that can then be engaged in other areas and operated by local people. If you are interested in running an Ooooby Stall in your area join the Stall Holders group.

Other services include Ooooby-versity workshops where you can learn seasonal knowledge on food growing and recipes. For more join the Ooooby-versity group.