December 2022: New Kaikōkiri Announced
The J R McKenzie Trust is pleased to announce its most recent funding recipients as follows:
The Mixit Charitable Trust
$300,000
Mixit are reaching out to former refugee youth and young people from migrant backgrounds by collaborating with and supporting a national network of youth workers trained in delivering inclusive participatory creative workshops. This will support those young people to increase their confidence, gain access to networks, stronger communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills while building capacity to lead themselves and others.
Speed Freaks Charitable Trust
$270,000
Speed Freaks are working with vulnerable adults (who have or are experiencing addiction/s and other mental health distress) through the provision of an inclusive walking and running programme that’s delivered by volunteer coaches. They invite the wider community to connect with, and become part of, people’s recovery journeys. Through this, they build relationships of trust and weave seemingly unlikely connections together, building more understanding and inclusive communities that value diversity, and explore new opportunities together.
Zeal Education Trust
$300,000
Zeal will be increasing technology opportunities for Māori and Pasefika rangatahi in West Auckland. They are doing this through facilitating fortnightly technology refurbishing/e-sports clubs for up to 200 rangatahi each year, and hosting tech expos. This initiative will contribute to the eradication of West Auckland's digital exclusion, increase resilience and prepare Māori and Pasefika rangatahi for roles in the technology industry.
Ngatiwai Ki Whangaruru Whenua Topu Trust
$315,000
The Trust is working with hapū in Whangaruru and other members of the community to provide a Community Hub to facilitate community wellbeing. They are engaging a project worker to coordinate a wraparound community health care facility, providing opportunities to grow kai, offering wellbeing workshops and offering a place where people can come together and connect.
Te Waka Kai Ora Incorporated Society
$300,000
Te Waka Kai Ora is working with anyone interested in the verification of indigenous sustainable food systems, particularly whānau Māori, and isolated and less advantaged communities, both geographically and socially. They are building the capacity of their group to upgrade the Hua Parakore Māori organic verification system and to support our producers to achieve wellbeing, and prosperity caring for Papatūānuku.
Āteanui Limited
$150,000
Āteanui Limited is a whānau-managed, Kaupapa Māori-driven organisation that seeks to address inequity around kai security and provide educational opportunities for people living within and around Kaikohe - Te Pū O Te Wheke. It is recognised for creating spaces that support learning potential through community-led wānanga, which offer ways for whānau and hapori Māori to connect with development opportunities at low or no cost.
This funding will support the growth of a social enterprise focused on the sustainable regeneration of peruperu (a variety of Māori potatoes), which will strive to reconnect/connect people with traditional growing practices that are aligned with Maramataka Māori (Māori calendar) and facilitate the sharing of knowledge though intensive hands-on gardening sessions. The aim is to contribute to the holistic wellbeing of others, enhance self-sufficiency practices, generate momentum for the local Māori economy, and provide local employment and investment opportunities for whānau Māori.
Hikurangi Enterprises
$172,500
The kaupapa of this social enterprise, Hikurangi Enterprises Ltd (HEL), is to build and support sustainable commercial enterprises that create jobs and drive economic development in the Waiapu Valley and Te Tairawhiti. It has four aims: 1) that whānau have access to affordable, healthy and sustainable housing and kai enabling them to live and work at home; 2) that whānau are supported to be self-sustainable and resourceful at home and to bring people home; 3) that rangatahi have a space that fosters entrepreneurial activities and provides mentoring and wraparound services; and 4) that whānau are supported to reconnect and foster interconnectivity.
This funding will support HEL to create a sustainable timber sawmilling operation locally to create employment and build homes for whānau living in Ruatōria and eventually other regions, thus improving housing equity. The project will create local pathways for rangatahi and whānau to develop transferable skills, gain employment, and participate in learning opportunities across industry sectors.
The Free Store
$150,000
The Free Store redistributes quality, fresh surplus food from Wellington's eateries directly to those in need of it. It is a food rescue and redistribution kaupapa, where people from all walks of life can experience belonging and generosity through giving and receiving. Food that would otherwise be wasted is turned into positive environmental and social outcomes through community and participation. The goal is individual, communal, and systemic transformation through the creation of spaces for equitable access to mana-centred opportunities for personal and leadership development. This, in turn, enables individuals to effect their own change.
This funding will support an accessible space where people from all walks of life can belong, experience generosity through giving and receiving, and experience transformation through equitable opportunities to grow and develop. It will foster relationships between people with differences, which in turn contributes towards community resiliency in Pōneke and beyond.
ECPAT Child Alert
$200,000
ECPAT Child Alert acts to uphold the fundamental rights for children in Aotearoa New Zealand to be free from all forms of sexual exploitation. It leads and participates in national and international activities that identify, prevent, and address domestic and international trafficking of children for sexual purposes, online sexual abuse material, and underage sex work.
This funding will support ECPAT Child Alert to grow its most impactful programmes to work with community-level service providers and government agencies. The experience of frontliners working at a community-level, the expertise of specialist organisations, and the perspectives of people with lived experience of exploitation, are all critical to the success of Government efforts to prevent commercial sexual exploitation. By strengthening its role as a bridge between these groups, ECPAT Child Alert aims to contribute to improved prevention and response to commercial sexual exploitation of children in Aotearoa New Zealand.
VOYCE Whakarongo Mai
$90,000
VOYCE Whakarongo Mai is an independent non-governmental organisation that exists to amplify the voices of children in care and ensure that they are heard. It believes the voices of children and young people in care need to be kept at the centre of all the decisions made about them.
This funding will support VOYCE Whakarongo Mai to build its youth participation and leadership strategy: Te Waka Rangatira - The Chiefly Canoe. A full-time, young, care-experienced advisor with prior experience on a VOYCE Whakarongo Mai youth council will be employed to work alongside the National Youth Participation Lead, to strengthen the next phase of regional youth councils. Additionally, care-experienced young people will be contracted to help further co-create and deliver a core curriculum for all five regional youth councils and their members, as well as create access to relevant presentations and short courses. This initiative aims to contribute to improved wellbeing of the care-experienced community, which in turn will improve their wider whānau wellbeing.
Rare Disorders NZ Trust
$54,600
The Rare Disorders NZ Trust (RDNZ) is the only umbrella group for rare disorders in Aotearoa New Zealand and provides a strong common voice to advocate for an equitable healthcare system that works for the 300,000 Kiwis living with a rare condition and their whānau. It offers a platform and connector hub to link people to information and rare disorder groups specific to their disorder, and helps people navigate the health system.
This funding will support RDNZ to work with the Ministry of Health to develop a National Rare Disorder Strategy that would not only benefit those with a rare disorder but have many further-reaching advantages for wellbeing and contribution to society. The goal is a strategy that includes a strong consumer voice where families, carers and supporters are engaged and valued as experts and in co-design opportunities in health services integration. By providing a strong, unified voice to advocate for public health policy and a future healthcare system that works for those with rare disorders, better outcomes will ultimately be realised.