TLC - Thames Linking Communities

Invigorating community spirit so communities can look after their own

A ground breaking new project has begun in Thames, inspiring everyday people in our communities to get alongside each other so that supporting local families to raise their children safely becomes a normal part of community life.

The two-year Many Voices, One Purpose project, made possible through funding from the Todd Foundation, is being coordinated by Jigsaw’s national project manager Sally Christie. If it achieves results that work well for children, their families and their communities, then it could be adapted for other regions.

The aim is to mobilise community strength and connections to help all children thrive and reach their potential. It will focus on prompting people to notice when children and families need extra help, assisting them to find the confidence they need to get involved.

Sally will go into two communities in the first year, beginning with Thames, which has approximately 6,000 people.

The Thames Linking Communities (TLC) project starts with a mass conversation in Thames, engaging with a wide variety of people, including local plumbers and builders, retailers, teachers, senior citizens, accountants, bank staff, parents and people from sports clubs. They have been invited to appreciatively inquire into what their community does well now to put children first and get alongside families in helpful supportive ways. Then they are being encouraged to generate new ideas about what else they can all do so that all their local children grow up safely.

A project leadership group is being formed to help people across the community turn their new ideas into action, backed up with 12 months’ coaching and support. By the end of that time it’s expected that taking action to get alongside parents and families and offer help usefully when it’s needed will be well embedded into everyday community life.

“It’s about giving the community back the sense they are able to look after their own and give them the confidence and the right and the responsibility that they can,” Sally Christie says.    

“It’s not the job of Child, Youth and Family or the Police or specialist community service agencies to be the keepers of children. They have a role, obviously, but the most accessible resource available to families, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day, is their community,” she says.

“We want someone to notice and ask how they can help if they see a situation in which parents are struggling to cope,” Sally says. “It could be as simple as helping kids get to rugby practice when their parents can’t take them. “

Turning around New Zealand’s high rates of child abuse and neglect requires a fundamental change in the balance between professional social services and community caring.

“We need to invest in community development approaches that support communities to look after their own,” Sally says.  Jigsaw, with help from the Todd Foundation, is aiming to do that, one community at a time.

“Jigsaw is well placed to do this because our network of partners means we have agencies in local communities already that have prevention of child abuse and neglect as their primary focus,” Sally says.

A condition of the Todd Foundation grant is that lessons learned from each community are documented and their stories shared with others through a range of media. Stories and photos about local acts of kindness towards families and children are also being publicised through web-based blogs and locally at libraries and supermarkets.

“We expect there to be fun activities which are also designed to break down isolation and build relationships. Things like street barbeques or workplace get-togethers where people learn the names of children in their street and families can talk about how they can look out for each other,” Sally says.

Discussion groups will also be set up for parents through sports clubs, early childhood centres, local community media and web-based social media.

Enquiries to:
Leigh-Anne Wiig
Media and Communications Manager
leigh-anne@jigsaw.org.nz
04 3857983

Sally Christie, Project Manager, with children
at Thames South School