South Invercargill community hub nears $2m funding milestone but needs more than double that

By Evan Harding Stuff / Southland Times Jun 27 2023

A new community hub in south Invercargill will open up learning and ultimately job opportunities for its socially disadvantaged residents, a Ngai Tahu leader says.

The Invercargill Community Connections Charitable Trust (IC2) has so far raised $1.98m of the $4.48m needed to complete the 690sqm Grace Street building project, beside the south city shopping area.

The project will see the former Grace Street Chapel rebuilt into a multi-purpose facility for the community to use.

Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu trustee representative and Grace St project trustee Terry Nicholas said the community hub would be accessible for everyone from the socially disadvantaged to the rainbow community.

It would give the users of the facility a “safe haven”, social connections and belonging, he said.

South Invercargill was a deprived area which would get worse if the Tiwai aluminium smelter closed and the Grace Street project aimed to help make change, he said.

The trust was teaming up with the Southern Institute of Technology at the hub and some of its users would be introduced to new learning pathways and helped to prepare for the workforce.

“Grow their strengths and make them aware of employment opportunities,” Nicholas said.

People would be welcomed to the hub and encouraged; they would be shown there was more to life than being on a benefit and getting caught up in the judicial system, he said.

“We have to have people transitioning into employment.”

Grace St project chair Janette Malcolm said south Invercargill had fallen on some hard times, but there was an opportunity to start turning things around.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, we need long-term thinking with these types of projects.”

At its simplest level the Grace St project would provide spaces for many different groups in the community, but at a more complex level it had the goal of social change.

Malcolm said she had been heartened by the support of the community.

“There’s excitement about what the project will give people in terms of learning and social connection, but there’s also the bigger picture, realising not enough has been done in south Invercargill, for it to have got so far behind.

“If we want a safe and secure future for everyone then we need to do more to help people.”

The Grace Street project, which began in 2020, had so far raised 44% of the project’s total cost, but needs to reach 70% before detailed design work can be commissioned.

Funding has so far come from the Invercargill Licensing Trust [$320,000], Southern Institute of Technology [$250,000], Invercargill City Council [$100,000], Aotearoa Gaming Trust [$200,000], Community Trust South [$75,000], confidential [$500,000], Lottery Community Facilities Fund [$500,000] and private trusts [$40,000].

The public can donate money to The Grace Street Project on its website.

Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu trustee representative and Grace St project trustee Terry Nicholas says the south Invercargill community hub will be accessible for everyone from the socially disadvantaged to the rainbow community.