Community Spirit
A group of local business owners in North East Valley, Dunedin have
banded together to invest their time, expertise and resources to build a stronger
local community. The Valley’s business district is a group of shops along the
main street. There are a wide range of shops, from supermarkets and banks to
butcheries and cafes. The North East
Valley community is also very diverse, with families, students and elderly
people.
Five years ago group of business owners noticed there was a lot of
tagging graffiti and untidiness around the Valley’s shopping district. This had
a negative effect on people wanting to walk the streets and visit the shops, it
was fast becoming an area to drive through instead of visit. The local business owners banded together to
tackle the problem, not just for their shops but also for local community
buildings and fences. The local Pharmacist donated the paint and as a group
they quickly identified the graffiti and removed it, and also nominated two
external shop walls at the Ettrick Butchery and Filidelfios Cafe to develop as
community mural spaces. They spent spare
time in community spaces picking up litter and tidying up and soon found they
were joined by other community groups pitching in and being out on the street
also attracted the attention of the local community.
Since that time the North East Valley has welcomed a local Community
Development Project that the business owners have worked in partnership with. They work together to give advice, lend their
expertise or provide sponsorship to projects as diverse as community dinners,
community gardens, family festivals and local newsletters. The project even helped to link people up to
getting their houses insulated. The
Community Development Project started with the seed of a local school and
community workers trying to understand why so many children were coming to school tired,
sick and cold. He involved many others,
including support from the Ministry of Social Development and created a project
that at its heart has the question "what would improve the life of children and their families in the
Valley?" From this, the Project has been working to
create a community vision for children and families in the Valley.
Cindy King has has owned and operared Inside Out , a recycled
clothing store in the Valley for the past 13 years and has seen her involvement
in community projects make a big return on her investment “Its not just about
cash sponsorship, the projects I’ve been involved in have really strengthened
the community and made it a place people want to live and shop at. Local
business now gets great support from the local community as well, they know me
and are comfortable coming into the shop and not having to travel into
town. I’ve seen big changes in the last
five years, people feel safer and more supported even small things like local
kids knowing who I am and feeling safe to approach me if they need help. Elderly people don’t feel as isolated and are
pitching in as well. We started off
making it visually a better place to be, and now we have really made it a better place to live and its starting to attract new businesses”.
Cindy is regularly approached by local and national organisations and
charities seeking donations. “Things are tough out there at the moment, I can’t
give to everyone. I find instead that I give my time, advice or help out in
kind to projects that strengthen the local community and my relationship with
the local community. My advice to other small businesses in a village community
is to make yourself available to help, get involved and get known”.