100,000 native plants to help grow local careers

The programme is a collaboration of Te Rā Nui – Eastern Porirua Development(external link) partners (Kāinga Ora, Porirua City Council and Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira) along with local jobs and skills providers Le Fale, Mahi Toa and Rāranga Building Careers.

“Te Rā Nui has always been so much more than building warmer, drier homes for eastern Porirua,” says Will Pennington. “It’s about working in partnership to also help enhance things like education, job opportunities and training, public transport, water infrastructure and local amenities, so our local residents can live their best lives.”

Local cadets who have joined the Environmental Cadetship Programme

The recent removal of non-indigenous pine trees from two local parks (Bothamley and Cannons Creek Park) to enable Te Rā Nui to undertake key infrastructure upgrades in the area has provided an opportunity to create a local cadetship programme.

“The revegetation work undertaken by the local cadets, along with stormwater, wastewater and drinking water upgrades, will significantly improve the local environment, something the community has felt very strongly about since the formation of the large-scale project,” says Will Pennington.

Each year, Le Fale - Jobs and Skills Hub and Mahi Toa will be referring around 10 local residents to the programme, who will then be supported by the Porirua City Council Parks team and local iwi business Rāranga Building Careers to earn NZQA qualifications and on-the-job training.

“Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira enthusiastically supports the upskilling of our people and enhancement of the mana and wellbeing of our taiao. This initiative accomplishes both and is an example of what’s possible when we work together. Historically, residential development in Porirua was detrimental to our environment, and this as an opportunity to remedy those harms and set an example of how to do better for both people and place” says Helmut Modlik, Chief Executive Te Rūnanga o Tao Rangatira.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker says the cadetship programme is already an all-round success story – for the Te Rā Nui partnership, for our local jobs and skills providers, for eastern Porirua, and for the region as a whole. "The programme provides training and employment for local residents, enhances our environment, and uses plants from the Porirua City Council Sievers Grove Nursery in eastern Porirua. One of the cadets has already moved into a full-time role with the Parks team in Porirua City, which is a fantastic outcome," she says.

Want to get involved?

The Environmental Cadetship Programme still has spaces available. Anyone in eastern Porirua who is interested in learning more about the programme or finding other local employment opportunities is encouraged to reach out to either:

Le Fale – Jobs and Skills Hub
8 Warspite Avenue, Cannons Creek
info@lefale.org.nz
https://www.facebook.com/Lefalejobandskillshub/(external link)

or

Mahi Toa
https://www.ngatitoa.iwi.nz/employment(external link)
mahitoa@ngatitoa.iwi.nz

or

Rāranga Building Careers
Website: https://raranga.net.nz/(external link)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Raranga.BuildingCareers/(external link)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/80273285/admin/feed/posts/ (external link)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raranga_buildingcareers/(external link)