Hurunui’s status as a welcoming and inclusive district has been made official.

Hurunui District Mayor Marie Black signed the Welcoming Communities Statement of Commitment in Council’s Chambers on Tuesday 18 April.

The signing completes Council’s Stage 1 accreditation for Hurunui as a Welcoming Community.

Hurunui District Marie Black acknowledged the ceremonial signing as a milestone for the district.

“Welcoming Communities provides our district with the opportunity to build on our gains in creating a vibrant community where all have the opportunity to participate in civic life,” Mayor Black said.

“It’s brilliant to see Hurunui getting to this point in the programme. By affirming our council’s position today to agree to work as one community, newcomers to the district will be supported to develop wider ownership and an important sense of place for their new community.”

Hurunui joined the nationwide Welcoming Communities – Te Waharoa ki ngā Hapori programme last year. The programme is led by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) in collaboration with the Ministry of Ethnic Communities and the Human Rights Commission, and brings together local government and communities to make places more welcoming for newcomers, migrants and international students, with funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Hurunui District Council Welcoming Communities facilitator Natalie Paterson said joining the network of 31 other councils signed up to the programme provides a valuable opportunity to pool resources and ideas.

“It’s great to look at how similar communities in the South Island, which have similar demographics, are navigating this space,” said Paterson. “In Hurunui, we’ve been asking our migrants ‘what is missing in this space?’.”

Paterson said a Welcoming Communities advisory group had been set up last year to drive the development of a welcoming plan for Hurunui.

“The next step is to get out to our communities and do a stock take of where the needs are and to listen to our newcomers’ and migrants’ experiences,” said Paterson.

Advisory group member Sandy Velmonte, who originally hails from the Philippines, said that arriving in a new country was never easy.

“Going on holiday to another country is hard enough, never mind working and living in a new country. My family was fortunate to have had so much help but not every migrant is as lucky. This programme will make migrants’ lives so much easier,” Velmonte said.

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