Taupō community groups better off thanks to ‘good sort’ Angie Hendricks

Angie Hendricks, Taupō District Council community development advisor, receives her Harcourts Good Sort award. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

There are hundreds of community groups doing great work in the Taupō District, and right in the thick of it is Angie Hendricks.

Hendricks is the Taupō District Council’s community development advisor and this month’s Harcourts Taupō Good Sort.

With a 30-year career of working with groups and organisations in Taupō and in central Government and non-government organisations, she says her current role is not so much a job as a “privilege”.

“I get to work alongside groups and organisations to assist with their capability, capacity and their aspirations in a variety of ways. This means that I get to work at the top, and not the bottom, of the cliff.”

The council helps fund many of the not-for-profit community organisations around the district, but Hendrick’s job doesn’t stop there.

She said the most important thing for new and growing community groups was the governance structure, the committee and the decision making.

“We look at their whole level of how they are setting themselves up. We look at the gaps and we try and actually assist them with that ... whether it’s training or connecting people and how to actually grow themselves.

“We are very focused about the wellbeing of our community.”

She knows what the various community groups are trying to achieve, who they are, what they can do and where they can go for funding, so a lot of her job revolves around facilitating meetings with various groups and funders, including the council.

Taupō District deputy mayor Kevin Taylor said Hendricks was one of those people who stood out for their high performance within the organisation.

He said there had recently been changes made to the funding application process and funding policy in the council’s long term plan, which hadn’t reduced overall funding but aimed to target it at council’s core functions.

That’s quite a wide brief. The Local Government Act includes social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing in the list of council functions.

“It’s more around strategic alignment with ‘Council is in this business, not in some other businesses’.

“There are groups who are doing things that are more aligned with the core business of what council exists to deliver which we are better placed partnering with and aligning with than some others. That’s no disrespect - other groups, they do amazing work and all power to them but it’s like ‘that’s great but it doesn’t mean we have to be involved’, that’s all.”

However, part of Hendricks role is to connect organisations with other public and private funding sources.

“I guess helping them – it is a hand up and improving what they are doing in our community, with that one focus of actually looking after our community. It is not like work because it is fun, it’s my dream job.

“I don’t take the trust that they give me for granted, it is a privilege but it allows me to see how best I can assist them.”