Southland District Council gets a boost from community work

8 September

Community Probation Services staff met with Southland District Council Mayor Frana Cardno today to formally hand over $16,000 in funding assistance for community work placements.

“This provision of funding is part of a venture between the Department of Corrections and the Southland District Council which aims to develop community projects that give offenders the opportunity to give something back to the community,” says Invercargill Service Centre Manager Roger Scheele.

The funding will go towards the purchase of tools, safety equipment and meeting some of the travel costs.

“Southland District Council is recognised as the largest local external provider of Community Service placements to the Community Probation Services (CPS) and this funding recognises our commitment to further developing our partnership with the Council.

“The Council undertakes work throughout Southland District, and CPS will be working with the Council to assist with providing various community work projects in all these towns and areas,” Roger says.

Community work sentences require offenders to do unpaid work in the community for non-profit organisations as reparation for their offending. Over the last year, 9,804 community work hours have been completed on Southland District Council projects, including clearing recyclable material from collection points, maintaining track networks through Council managed reserves and clearing vegetation and track structures such as culverts, bridges and viewing platforms.

Southland District Council Chief Executive David Adamson says the Council looks forward to working with Corrections in the future on new community work projects.

“Giving offenders the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and developing some work skills can help turn their lives around and help them become good citizens,” he says. “Community work projects are a great way for offenders to give something back to the community.”

Annually, New Zealand communities benefits from over 3.7 million hours of labour supplied through community work sentences.