Projects of Violence Free Waitakere

Violence Free Waitakere is a project dedicated to the primary prevention of violence in Waitakere.

It was established in 1998, initally as a collective response of the agencies involved in responding to the incidence and effects of violence in the city, to the challenge of preventing the violence from happening in the first place. The project name at that stage was Zero Tolerance to Violence Waitakere. One of the first projects was the establishment of a charter and then to collect signatories to that charter from the wider community of schools, businesses and individuals.

Over the ten years that it has been operating, the project has spread into other areas of activity which include partnering with community action organisations  as varied the Ranui Action Project, Kelston Community Trust and the Massey Matters Team. In each if these areas, community awards ahve been extablished... The Dob in a Do-Gooder awards in Ranui, Kelston Pride, and the Massey Marvels.

The Violence Free Begins with Me Schools project was begun in 2004 in Ranui. Reports of its most recent pilots at Bruce McLaren Intermediate are on the VFBWM page.

Other projects have been taken up, the Promoting Great Parenting stream of Te Korowai Manaaki was the next large piece of work we took responsibility for. This was based on a study conducted by the Waitakere City Council "Great Start Waitakere / Te Korowai Manaaki" It was focused on safety for the under fives in our community. The Ministry of Social Development SKIP project proivided the funding for this work.  Out of this stream, the Toddler Day Out and Great Parenting Fairs began in partnership with the Early Childhood Education Network.

Other projects in this stream are those focued on Fathering and also the Parenting For Peace Expos which are held in the Malls of the city to promote the resources and services available for parents.