Cultural boost for Housing Corp, staff

Press, 26 September 1989, Page 2

Cultural boost for Housing Corp, staff

By

JANE DUNBAR

The Christchurch branch of the Housing Corporation is Tuning a compulsory multi-cultural course as part of its efforts to become more culturally sensitive.

The branch’s 140 staff will attend the four-day course over the next few months.

The first group of 20 staff had just finished the four sessions and the feedback had been extremely positive, said the corporation’s training coordinator, Mrs Pat Havighurst. Initially, some staff had not liked the idea of a compulsory course. But the first group had been enthusiastic when asked to comment on the course. Their comments included praise for the “clear viewpoint of race relations,” the “non-con-frontational approach,” the help offered on Maori pronunciation, and being given a new perspective on the Treaty of Waitangi.

The four seminars will be on one day a week for four weeks. The first two will be taken by Project Waitangi co-ordinators, the third by the corporation’s Christchurch Maori

advisory officer, and the fourth by Pacific Island representatives and other ethnic groups.

The courses were successful because they were not deadly serious, said Mrs Havighurst. No-one was made to feel guilty about anything; instead people were given information so they could make up their own minds. The Housing Corporation’s Christchurch manager, Mr Brian Wilcox, said the course had been introduced because a significant number of the corporation’s customers were of'Maori or Pacific Island descent.

The corporation had realised it was not culturally sensitive enough, and that the needs of many customers were not being met.

Staff with Polynesian language skills were now being employed, as well as special advisory officers.