Growing connections at Hutt City Council’s inaugural Marketplace
George Lajpold, Healthy Families Hutt Valley Practice Lead
Hutt City Council is the lead provider for Healthy Families Hutt Valley. Their contribution to building a future where Local Government collaborates with citizens, to create thriving environments involves enabling the community to take ownership of their own health and feel empowered to improve their health and wellbeing.
Hutt City Council recently hosted their inaugural Marketplace event, designed to help elected members and Hutt City Council staff understand the full range of what each team does and the services they provide to support our community to thrive.
Eddie Edmonds, Healthy Families Hutt Valley Manager enjoyed connecting with elected members and share how we’re creating healthier environments for our community’s wellbeing.
“With lots of new people at Hutt City Council, it was a great opportunity to meet and catch up with key business areas of council, showcase the kind of work we do and discuss the gaps and how we can work together for collective impact” says Eddie.
Healthy Families Hutt Valley is part of the Connected Communities business area at Hutt City Council. The teams in this business area share the same focus points of:
• helping our communities feel safe and connected
• unlocking greater access to resources to strengthen our local communities
• embedding Sport Recreation and Play in the community to increase physical activity and wellbeing
• creating a healthier Aotearoa by addressing the systems and environments that impact our health and wellbeing.
• leading a holistic approach with neighbourhoods, harnessing the collective impact of all those on the ground
• having one aligned and coordinated programme of activities and giving voice and action to our communities of interest
Mel Laban, Head of Connected Communities with Cr Naomi Shaw
“What’s special about this business area is the cross-collaboration between the teams and taking a ‘one team, one council’ approach to align our focus areas so that our community can thrive” says Mel Laban, Hutt City Council Head of Connected Communities.
Local Government is in a unique position to influence health and wellbeing of whole populations, and through changing our environments to support improved mental wellbeing and resilience, nutrition, increased physical activity, more people being smokefree and reducing the harm from alcohol, we’ll give our communities the opportunity to thrive.
Together, we can be a place where our natural resources, culture and heritage complement our vibrant, inclusive, and diverse communities, and we will continue to work alongside Hutt City Council to drive sustainable change, so that our rangatahi and whānau live happier, healthier lives.