Rape centres get grant of $4500

Press, 12 March 1985, Page 16

Rape centres get grant of $4500

PA Wellington Rape crisis centres will each get a grant of ?4500, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Mrs Kerens, has told a workshop on distribution of Government funding. The workshop, organised by Mrs Hercus, was held at Paraparaumu, at the weekend.

The grants will come from $150,000 allocated as part of the Government’s commitment to permanent funding of rape crises centres. Mrs Hercus said all centres incorporated or moving toward incorporation would receive the grants. A national collective of rape crisis centres, Maori women’s health groups and other organisations that give counselling on sexual

abuse, will be set up; $lO,OOO has been set aside for this. A special grant of $23,500 has been made for a new project to assist Maori women’s groups working in sexual abuse counselling. The project will be called Te Kakano (the seed) and will be established under the auspices of the Waikato Maori Women’s Health Centre.

Mrs Hercus said centre representatives had asked for an equal division of funds between established non-Maori rape crisis centres and Maori women’s groups working in the area. Although she recognised the great needs for counselling Maori women, the Government was committed to ensuring that most of the first year’s funding was distributed to centres that were already functioning.

The grant to Te Kakano was acknowledgement of the importance of encouraging development of Maori women’s groups based on the holistic health concept, Mrs Hercus said.

About 60 people attended the two-day workshop, including representatives of the Accident Compensation Corporation, the departments of Education, Health, Labour and Social Welfare, the Police, and the Mental Health Foundation.

Mrs Hercus said permanent Government funding of the centres was a first for New Zealand and fulfilled a policy commitment by Labour. Distribution of initial funding would not create a fixed formula for the future and she would meet the steering committee later to work out guidelines.'