LOVE MY COMMUNITY A guide
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LOVE MY COMMUNITY CONTENTS
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KIA ORA, HELLO
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TAONGA, TREASURE
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LOVE MY COMMUNITY IS
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JOIN LOVE MY COMMUNITY (PULL OUT FORM) PART ONE: About You PART TWO: Your Community PART THREE: More Community
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PART FOUR: Congratulations!
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COMMUNITY IN DANGER
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WORKING TOGETHER
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from the grassroots
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kia ora hello
Love My Community is a co-operative for communities launching in 2015. It works by connecting communities — making it easy for communities to find, support and work with one another — by providing a network for groups to exchange ideas and opportunities. Love My Community has been initiated to strengthen community identity, celebrate the uniqueness of each community and to reassess the necessity of community in our lives. Rapid social and political change in Aotearoa, New Zealand is creating numerous challenges for community. Love My Community provides the opportunity for different groups to overcome these challenges together. The Love My Community concept has grown from strong grassroots established by Depot Artspace — a socially conscious community for over 18 years.
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love my community
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TREASURE TAONGA
Each community in Aotearoa, New Zealand is a unique and irreplaceable 'taonga' or 'treasure' with the potential to improve the quality of life for each of its members, by providing the opportunity to share and engage with one another — no community could be described as 'typical'. This understanding is the root of the Love My Community project which facilitates connections between community groups so they may support each other in the same way — by exchanging information, opportunites and skills with one another. Communities tend to form around a place, an interest, shared values or cultural backgrounds and many other things. Community is the shared interest central to Love My Community as it is made up of groups and individuals that treasure community for what it has been, what it is and what it could be in the future.
“We all breathe, think, have opinions, cry and bleed real red blood. All of us. Young and old, gay, straight, kind, indifferent, mad. The human community?” — Nigel Brown
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Love my community is • A community of/for communities • Facilitated by a community not a government body • A way to 'give back' and show appreciation for your community • A network for connecting, strengthening and providing support to communities everywhere • A way to share — a platform for sharing ideas/information, discussion of issues your community may be facing, celebration and showcasing of your community's (ies') strengths and unique characteristics • An opportunity for exchange with other groups (to share traditions, skills, showcase talent and more) • A movement • Open. Love My Community acknowledges and supports the similarities and differences in the challenges and opportunities each community is faced with • A preventative and visionary measure — through information sharing and open discussion of positive and negative developments effecting communities pitfalls may be avoided, challenges faced and plans for the future realised • Nationwide. Allowing for different groups to interact despite the challenge of geographical location or even isolation • Diverse. Any group or individual that supports true community may join • Grassroots — Love My Community has grown from strong roots, initiated by the Depot Artspace, a socially conscious community for over 18 years
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join love my community Please pull out this section to complete your registration.
GROUPS Please nominate a contact person for your group so they may complete Part One: About You on Page 10. If you wish to register your community or group please complete Part Two: Community on Page 11 as a group. Further details about your community can be provided by completing Part 3: More Community on Page 12. ALL Remove this section of the guide and follow the instructions in Part Four: Congratulations! on Page 13 to complete your registration. Think of this as creating a profile for you and your community, details can later be updated or changed at any time upon request. It's a good idea to complete this form with at least one other member of your community as the information provided here will be used to build the profile of your community. There are also some questions which you may find easier to respond to as a group (e.g. "What challenges is your community facing?").
love my community
Please pull out and complete this section
INDIVIDUALS If you wish to join as an individual please complete Part One: About You on Page 10.
PART ONE: INDIVIDUAL
About you Name: Email Address: Postal Address (Street Address/Suburb/Town/Postal Code):
Do you wish to receive the Love My Community newsletter? Yes – E-newsletter Yes – A printed and posted newsletter (please only choose this option if you do not have easy access to the internet) No thank you
Phone number: Are you joining as an individual or would you like to join with your community? Please tick or circle one option below: Individual Community
Your closest community (you may list more than one if appropriate): Time spent in this community: Would you like to be listed as a contact person for this community?
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PART TWO: COMMUNITY
Your Community Name of your community group: Location/address of your community group: Contact person: Contact phone number: Contact email address: Do you wish to receive the Love My Community newsletter? Yes – E-newsletter Yes – A printed and posted newsletter (please only choose this option if you do not have easy access to the internet) No thank you
Which of the following descriptions suits your community the best? A) B) C) D) E)
A geographical community (a community by place) A cultural community (specific to a nationality or tribe) A community of interest (e.g. a craft, trade, hobby, passion) A religious community Other (please tell us more!)
How many people are in your community? 1-4 5-50 50-100 100-1000 1000 +
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A) B) C) D) E)
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PART THREE: COMMUNITY
Please use a separate piece of paper to complete this section. Feel free to write as much or as little as you need in this section to introduce your community. It is a good idea to work through these questions with at least one member of your community or group...the answers may surprise you! What makes your community unique (e.g. the great people, a passion for a particular hobby or tradition, a special location)? What is your community passionate about (e.g. each other, weaving, dancing, knitting, women's rights, learning etc.)? What special skills does your community have? What threats or challenges is your community currently facing/what is your community in need of? What keeps your community together? When was your community formed? Who are the kaumﾄ》ua (elders), leaders or founders? Some communities have senior members who play a special role; you can identify them here if it is appropriate for you as a group. If they have special titles please also include them here. Please provide an example of your community in action (e.g. teaching a class, showing support, looking after the wellbeing of your community) Is there another story of your community that you would like to share?
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Please pull out and complete this section
more community
CONGRATULATIONS!
PART FOUR: Congratulations! Your registration for Love My Community is almost there! Paper registrations To complete your registration please deliver the pull out form from the previous four pages and any responses to the questions in Part Three: More Community on Page 12 on a separate piece of paper. Please package, address and deliver the pull-out form and questions from Part Three to: Love My Community co Depot Artspace, 28 Clarence St, Devonport, Auckland, 0624 Online Registrations To complete your registration online please save this PDF to your desktop, then reopen it and complete Part One and Part Two on Page 10 and Page 11, when these sections are complete save and close the PDF. When you have completed this process please attach the PDF you have saved and any documents you have created to answer Part Three, to an email and send to: linda.blincko@depotartspace.co.nz Your registration may take some time to process, but it will be responded to as soon as possible.
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“In mid-2013 a moderate-sized survey of 350 Aucklanders showed that those surveyed are still unsure whether the governance reforms have benefited the region or their local community... In terms of the impact on local communities, substantially more Aucklanders surveyed (30 percent) felt the effects have been negative� — The State of Auckland Report, 2013, AUT University School of Social Science and Public Policy Socially and politically Aotearoa, New Zealand is going through some big changes impacting the way in which we relate to one another and even creating serious threats to the survival of community as we know it. Here are ten major threats communities are facing in today's environment, maybe you have seen their effects on your community. Love My Community has been initiated in direct response to these dangers so that communities may work together to overcome them. 1) Inadequate resourcing/inequitable distribution of resources Many community and charitable groups are feeling the pinch as funding is redirected or reduced for all of the well-beings (mental, environmental, social, physical). In many cases this reduction in funding means simply that community needs are not met. Affluent areas will provide for themselves. The deprived will go without. 2) Competing communities When communities are set against each other to compete for (e.g. to compete for funding) they are at risk of becoming isolated from one another. Communities and their members are more vulnerable to exploitation or discouragement when they become insular in this way. Love My Community encourages community groups to communicate with each other, to share knowledge and to offer encouragement. 3) Increased accountability Despite recent funding cuts there is a notable increase in paperwork for community groups in applying and being accountable for small amounts of public funding. This consumes time and resources for existing groups and makes it difficult for new community initiatives to begin and for any group to thrive!
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community in danger? “Education, healthy food and clean water should have never been the dominion of any Walmart like monopoly.” — Jeff Pickering
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4) Community 'education' Imported information and opinions replace local knowledge and imported 'experts' or 'success stories' are imposed, consulted or celebrated in the place of local wisdom and talent. 5) Poverty Forcing people to move from their homes and their communities. 6) Gentrification Displacement of established communities by wealthy others or new affluent migrants. 7) Dormitory suburbs People are being forced to leave their communities for work as it becomes concentrated in urban and industrial/technological environments. 8) Council mismanagement Inflicting debt incurred by mismanagement of council funds on ratepayers e.g. The Kaipara council's attempt to charge ratepayers double for a period spanning 5 years to repay debt incurred by council's mismanagement of waste water (still being contested in court). 9) Commodification Community is under threat in the Western world through the commodification and colonization of culture by the systematic removal of intrinsic substance and meaning, in favour of fiscal (financial) reward. Love My Community recognises the intrinsic value of community outside of fiscal opportunity, without ignoring the reality that many groups need to profit to exist. 10) Technology It may sound far-fetched but technology is changing the way we relate to ourselves and to one another. Naturally there are positive attributes to the advancement of technology, but a lean towards dependency on technology provided/controlled by governments and corporations should always be considered an Orwellian째 concern. 째Orwellian - is an adjective describing the situation, idea, or societal condition author George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It connotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past.
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“All the issues facing the planet are acted out in miniature here.” — Nigel Brown
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working together
How does love My Community work? It's easy to become a Love My Community member to empower and show support for your community and share with other communities all around the country. You can choose any level of involvement suitable for you and your community. For example you may wish to simply hear about what other communities are doing through the Love My Community news, you may wish to: • Promote services or goods your community has to offer • Build relationships with other community groups to form an exchange of classes for example, or supporting one another in addressing concerns in your community
• Get behind the project itself and encourage others to join • Display a Love My Community sticker to show your support Love My Community also offers certification to those individuals and groups which fulfil 3 or more of the community criteria. This certification works like the 'Heart Foundation Tick' or the 'Fairtrade Certificate' by awarding you and your community with posters and other goodies to let people know what you are about. The basis of Love My Community is sharing and working together so your feedback, questions and comments are always welcome. It would be great to hear about what you think of this project and what ideas you may have to see it into the future.
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“For things that bring us together not apart. We should think about these things in thinking about the New.” — Stuart Houghton
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