February 27, 2019
Fisheries trust spreads education pūtea
The new chair of Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust is excited at the way Māori fisheries settlement money is helping improve the literacy, numeracy and leadership skills of young Māori.
Kate Cherrington has taken over the chair from Christchurch urban Māori leader Norm Dewes.
The trust set up under the Māori Fisheries Act was mired for years between iwi and urban Māori about who it was supposed to help, but it is now settling down after the courts ruled in favour of urban interests.
Ms Cherrington says as well as scholarships and leadership programmes for tertiary students, it supports literacy and numeracy programmes for years 8 and 9 children with help from the two Māori whānau ora commissioning agencies.
"We’ve partnered with Te Pūtahitanga (o Te Waipounamu) and Te Pou Matakana. We're thankful for their expertise because they have to connect out to the community with other NGOs, kura and whānau who are running amazing programmes to enhance and strenghten the literacy and numeracy of our children, and not just literacy in English, it's technology, science, we're really going for it," she says.
Te Pūtea Whakatupu has a $30 million capital fund, giving it about $1.2 million to distribute, so it’s essential to find other funders and supporters to come along for the ride.
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