One of the issues for those of us working in the sector can be time consuming keeping up with the latest research and information. So we have pulled together some of the best websites which have excellent resources and updates to support you with your work.
New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services
The NZCCSS has a section called policy watch- which provides a great selection of the latest news, research reports and policy developments in the social service field. You can subscribe to the newsletter as well providing information into your inbox, so you don’t need to go searching.
The Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand
This is an umbrella organisation for those who identify health promotion as part of their work. Their website is full or resources covering all different aspects of health promotion including Maori and community health. They have a great newsletter you can sign up to in order to keep up-to-date with what is happening in this field.
Information and news to support people to age well and those working and advocating for the older person.
COMET Auckland state their purpose as being to advance education for Auckland by supporting and connecting education initiatives across the city. They run a variety of programmes across Auckland all to do with the advancement of education in the region. Current programmes include Literacy, Auckland Languages Strategy, SouthSci, Skills Auckland, Learning Auckland and Mātauranga Māori. Their website is full of resources form each of these programmes as well as information and resources on past programmes.
Not only do they have a comprehensive list of organisations and services you can also search for information and advice, as well as looking at each of the local offices to see what specialists they have in each location.
Salvation Army Policy and Parliamentary Unit
Not only can you link to their reports and submissions but also to some think pieces and video resources.
Yes its an Australia organisation, but with an amazing resource bank around community development. Well worth having a good look at for those in the community development field.
Auckland Action Against Poverty
Not only can you look at their submissions but there are also some interesting resources around radical community development.
The umbrella organisation for local community networks and council of social services (including ADCOSS) CNA has some great resources especially around new Health and Safety guidelines and other helpful documents for community organisations.
Factsheets and a library which is helpful for all those working in the fields of problem gambling, addictions, and counseling.
Ageing Well National Science Challenge
The Ageing Well National Science Challenge vision is to add life to years for all older New Zealanders. This will be achieved by harnessing science to sustain health and wellbeing into the later years of life. On their website you will find research and news to support people working in this area.
CPAG works to produce evidence about the causes and effects of poverty on children and their families. It looks carefully at how Government policies affect children. CPAG publishes reports, makes submissions and conducts small-scale research projects to achieve its goals and there is a very good resource base on this website for anyone to look at.
Have we forgotten one? Email us [email protected] and she will add it on.
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The report shows that, apart from a short period in the 3 years immediately post the Global Financial Crisis, funding for social services has remained static yet demand has soared to higher levels than ever previously experienced. “There is a real contradiction in government support and our members’ experience. Work and Income’s Special Needs Grants for Food have decreased by 28% from December 2009 to December 2015 but the demand for food parcels has skyrocketed. Housing New Zealand waiting lists have dropped from over 10,000 (2009) to 3,500 (2015) yet the requests for emergency and social housing support have become overwhelming”, said McGlinchey. “Government has relied too heavily on the response of community organisations, charities and service providers to meet the needs of those with the least in our communities”.
]]>Some positive indicators are:
Teen pregnancy has halved from 2008 (6% of all teenaged women) to present rate of 3%.
Infant mortality also keeps falling and is now only 0.41 % of all babies born.
Other good news was that money spent on gambling was down, unemployment levels came down slightly to 5.7%, and the percentage of children attending pre-school had risen to 92.5%
The report showed some contradictory data (positives and negatives) for a number of indicators:
Crime rates for such crimes as victims of crime (theft and violence) and burglaries & car theft are dramatically down. However, at the same time imprisonment is increasing and reoffending of released prisoners has also increased. Our prisons are fuller than ever.
The Ministry of Social Development states that benefit-dependent families has reduced from 30% of all children to 17%. However, children within families earning below 60% of the median household income have risen to 30% of all children.
While average weekly wages have risen (1.5% increase last year), relative child poverty also rose (as noted above).
Negative news includes:
Housing prices in Auckland have risen dramatically (up 26% in the past year).Rents have also increased by around 6% in the past year.
Household debt has also risen and now stands at 152% of the average household after tax income. Around 90% of this debt is housing related.
Auckland’s housing shortage worsened by a further 2000 homes.
Food parcels handed out by the Salvation Army remained the similar to the previous year at 55,000.
Child abuse notifications to CYF remained the same as the previous year at 151,000.
In spite of an active economy, there is inadequate government activity in areas of improving the supply of affordable housing, reducing imprisonment rates and reducing child poverty. Government needs to apply the same energy in dealing with these problems as it put into selecting a new flag. While we continue to ignore inequality as a key policy issue the key indicators of well-being will not improve.
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