Nuku Ora, the Wellington Regional Sports Education Trust, has been awarded a grant of $189,776 by NZCT to support approaches to increase physical activity across Porirua.
“Porirua is an area with a high population of young people and fewer opportunities to be active. Through our distribution of Sport NZ’s Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa Fund, we have found that there are a range of barriers that prevent people, in particular tamariki and rangatahi, from accessing activities that may be available - three common barriers are lack of equipment, cost to participate, and travel. Through our Green Prescription clients we have heard that this is compounded by the current cost of living challenge we are facing.”
“NZCT’s funding will help to remove these barriers and activate specific communities within Porirua. This investment with have significant impact across a number of primary and secondary schools, marae, and social housing areas, allowing us to provide sport and active recreation equipment, resources, swimming passes, and sports packs.”
Porirua is a significant community of interest for Nuku Ora, with the goal of standing shoulder to shoulder with the community to understand, empower, and achieve their vision of wellbeing through physical activity.”
“We know that physical activity rates are in decline and that inequity is causing the gap between active and inactive populations to widen. Our purpose for this funding is to create more and better activities and experiences, remove some of the barriers, and bring about greater equity.”
“We are so thankful for this significant funding from NZCT as it means we can continue to impact our communities over time. All the initiatives are community driven and act on the voice of our community therefore empowering them to be active, health, and happy.”
“Nuku Ora has a range of dedicated roles working to achieve this vision via our Partnerships, Community Development, Healthy Active Learning, and Regional Programme teams. We work across a variety of settings, from partnership advocacy approaches through to delivery based in schools, the community, and in people’s homes.”
“We’ve learned from our partners (mana whenua, council, and schools) and from the community (Green Prescription whānau and rangitahi no longer engaged in sport) that supporting the accessibility of sport and recreation in terms of equipment, activity subsidisation, programmes, and activations would have the most effective impact on those who traditionally miss out.”
This grant will result in:
- Ten primary schools receiving equipment and training in how to use it.
- Five secondary schools receiving equipment, entry passes, and training in support of how to use it.
- Two marae receiving equipment and support to use it in support of ‘as Māori’ approaches and traditional Māori sport.
- At least four sport clubs will receive equipment to enable teams to be entered in local competitions.
- More than a hundred whānau will receive sport equipment packs to provide the ability to achieve sport and recreation goals. Whānau report increased sport and recreation activity through use of the packs.
- Fifty adults and fifty children will receive pool passes to remove barriers to activities the whānau want to do in support of their sport and recreation goals.
- At least ten neighbourhoods will receive community sport and recreation equipment and be supported to activate it.
“Nuku Ora is the independent body for physical activity in the greater Wellington region. We are a Regional Sports Trust (RST) dedicated to improving the wellbeing of the communities we serve. We believe physical activity has the power to transform lives and helps us move towards our vision of ‘Hauora. Everyone active, healthy, and happy’. This vision recognises that while we highlight the importance of physical activity, we must also consider the need for a holistic and equitable approach that incorporates physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social wellbeing.”
“We provide a variety of services to the community, supporting individuals to make changes towards active lifestyles and building capability of organisations and individuals. This is through Green Prescription programme delivery, the Healthy Active Learning initiative for tamariki and kaiako, and community development through leadership, advocacy, and partnerships impacting tamariki through to older people.”
NZCT would like to thanks it's two local venues, The Mariner in Titahi Bay and The Sandbar in Mana and their patrons, so we're able to partner with Nuku Ora, and make this happen.