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2017 Theme - Keeping Children Safe

Held at Massey YMCA, Saturday 13 May, 2017

Project Report Prepared by the Project Team

VIOLENCE FREE COMMUNITIES INC

PO Box 21920, Henderson, Waitakere 0650

Ph 09 8374849

Email: admin@violencefreecommunities.org, www.violencefreecommunities.org

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Contents

Summary …………………………………………………………………………... 3

The Families who came ………………………………………………………

4/5

Promoting to Families ………………………………………………….. 6

Participating Organisations ……………………………………………….. 7/8

Meeting our Objectives ……………………………………………………… 9

Our Partners ……………………………………………………………………… 9

Our Supporters …………………………………………………………………. 10/11

Recommendations ……………………………………………………………. 12

TDO Objectives Create an opportunity for free family fun for children under 5

Create opportunities for childcare providers, social services from the NGO sector,

councils and government organisations to work together;

Increase awareness of positive parenting strategies;

Increase understanding of and access to social services available to support parents;

Increase visibility of culturally appropriate services available to groups that traditionally

do not access them;

Encourage safety considerations being integrated into everyday activities and

environments, social attitudes and behaviours to prevent injuries;

Develop an understanding of the importance and value of Early Childhood Education,

and increasing access to Early Childhood Education.

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Summary Toddler Day Out & Great Parenting Fair (TDO) is a busy,

free, family-fun event that offers early childhood education

(ECE), social and health services an opportunity to promote

their services to hundreds of Auckland families with young

children in a fun and supportive setting; and as well, to

network amongst themselves.

The event gives families of under-fives links to services,

resources, and advice around their children’s

developmental stages and enables their children to

flourish, as well as what to do as parents and where to get

help that sustains them as parents. ECE and other

supportive services offer a secure base for growing

children, connects families to community and creates

resilience, contributing to violence-free communities.

Now in its 13th year, this year’s event held at the Massey

Leisure Centre on Saturday 13 May 9am – 2pm, attracted

4,500 people, and 25 participating organisations. The

weather could not have been kinder to us and the day was

a huge hit both with the stallholders and the attendees.

“Toddler Day out was an amazing activity to be a

part of. To see the community come together under one roof was an amazing feeling and

seeing the interaction between stallholders and public was great. The level of information

shared and gathered was beneficial for both parties.

The venue, Massey Leisure Centre, provided all the needs for a great event location – easy to

find and easy access.

Children were entertained throughout the day with a myriad of entertainers and we had them

all up dancing on the stage for a long period of time. The interactive rooms and messy play

areas gave children the opportunity to get their hands dirty and have a go.

To coincide with NZSL week we were lucky enough to have Merge NZ as part of the event who

took the time to talk to each of the stallholders in sign language which of course then was

translated for them. They also lead story time on the stage and taught children some basic

words in sign language.

The event could not have happened without the strong contingent of Volunteers including the

Raise Up Crew from the YMCA, Volunteering Auckland and Green Bay High School. The

support of Violence Free Communities and Massey Leisure Centre was second to none.

I look forward to taking this event to the next level and continuing my involvement to make it

bigger and better.” Shelley Cunningham (Project Leader)

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The families who came . . . Over 125 families completed our evaluation surveys on the day. To gain a picture about who came, our

data has been extrapolated from this information. Most of the families who came this year had children

aged between 19 months to 3 years, and 97% use an early learning education service. They were mostly

from the local neighbourhoods of Massey, West Harbour, Henderson, Te Atatu South, Ranui and Glen

Eden; with 86% in total coming from West Auckland, with the balance coming from other Auckland

neighbourhoods.

By far the largest ethnic representation came from Asian nationalities –

43%, this being a 25% increase on last year’s event. 35% were Pakeha,

8% Maori, 3% Pasifika, and 11% “other”.

Only 61% of respondents stated that English was their first language

spoken at home.

Our representative survey sample suggests the event attracted a

diverse ethnicity, however future improvements can be made in our

efforts to reach Maori and Pasifika families.

Those families who have been

before . . .

As similarly reflected in our previous

years’ statistics, approximately 25% of

respondents had attended previous

TDOs. We asked them what changes

they have made since attending last year

. . . .

“Safety info was

so good before

the arrival of our

new 2 year old”

“Double-checked

safety at home,

discussed safety

rules around cars,

fire safety”

“how we

approach

animals”

“more aware

of dealing with

childhood

illness”

“healthy

eating options

for [my] kids”

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- What they loved, enjoyed the most, and found most useful . . .

What families loved the most was . . .

Great fun for their

childhood

Early childhood

education information

Health and safety

information

Parenting information

The most popular ‘one thing most useful’ was . . .

Having all the information in one place

Activities for the children

Safety information

Gym area

The things that were enjoyed the most were . . .

Gym area and outdoor rides

Entertainment and shows

Watching their children have fun!

98% of respondents said they will recommend the event to others!

How did you rate the day?

“Thanks for this day”

“Love it – it’s wonderful”

“Awesome!”

“A very good first time experience –

definitely coming back!”

“Great support for community”

“Very good exposure to information”

“It’s really good for the family”

“Great event for my babies”

“I hope it can happen more frequently”

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Promoting to Families . . .

Families found out about this event in a range of ways, although most heard about it through facebook

pages, word of mouth, street signage, fliers, and through libraries.

Our marketing and promotions was targeted to the Massey neighbourhood with street signs erected,

distribution of posters and flyers to local families and throughout social service agencies and ECE

networks. A special thanks to the promotional support of all stallholders, Massey YMCA, Massey

Matters, ECE Auckland Network, and Community Waitakere.

Articles in community hubs and networks, radio, Eventfinder, social media, and community newspapers

meant that TDO was promoted more effectively than previously. This year we also invested and paid for

facebook posts and interestingly, this was the highest method of communication that people found out

about the event – at a total cost of only $37!

- See our event video at . . . http://www.violencefreecommunities.org/toddler-day-great-parenting-fair/

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Participating Organisations

We extend a huge thankyou to all participating organisations – for their contribution, engagement and

enthusiasm in the lead up to the event, as well as making the day a huge success for everyone.

We conducted a post-event survey which was sent out to all stallholders. This helps us to assess how

successful the event was for them, as well as guiding

the ongoing development of TDO.

- Their feedback. . .

Q. What were the benefits for your organisation in

participating in TDO?

“We gave out roughly 540 messaging tools about water

safety.”

“It got our name out in the community.”

“Conversations with families; great opportunities to

network with other agencies.”

“By being at TDO we wouldn’t have had the exposure

[of promoting sport in the community] and connecting

with the community.”

“Linking with other agencies, referrals and visibility in

the community”

List of participating organisations:

Auckland Kindergarten Association

Bright Baby Ltd

Edukids

Family Action

Man Alive

Freyberg Community Preschool

Health West

Jemmas Homebased Education & Childcare

Kids Safe with Dogs

Lighthouse at Home

Massey Matters

Nestlings In-home Childcare

NZ Fire Service

Royal NZ Plunket Society

Safety Whare - Royal NZ Plunket Society

Rugasoc

SMART Bus

Spyne Doctors Chiropractic

Te Akoranga Playcentre

Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust

Thrive Teen Parent Support Trust

Waitemata District Health – Child and Family

Watersafe Auckland

YMCA Cameron Pool

YMCA general

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- What participating organisations who have been involved before said . . .

- “We ended up working with a couple after meeting them through last year’s event.”

- “Good visibility in the community and some referrals.”

- “Wider community engagement and parent education.”

- “Raised awareness of preschool library programmes and services.”

- Participating organisations' overall rating of the event . . .

While most participating organisations found their engagement with families and their children was

excellent, they were less satisfied with the value of TDO to their organization. We have received useful

suggestions for improvements

(discussed later in document

under Recommendations) and

will continue to engage with

organisations to find ways to

improve the value of future TDOs

for them.

94% want to be involved in next year’s Massey TDO!

Q. How many sign ups / conversations did

you have at your stall?

150 parents . . . 274 interactions and 120

surveys . . . 50 conversations . . . 60 families

filled out our quiz . . . 13 people interested in

our programme . . . loads of conversations . . .

65 to 70 . . .

71% were satisfied with their interactions

with families.

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Meeting our objectives

TDO continues to be useful and relevant to families with young children.

75% were new families;

Those parents who have been before have made positive changes in their families as a

result of attending a TDO, particularly around child safety;

Our evaluation surveys of families, as well as participating organisations, demonstrate that

TDO objectives have been met to a high standard, particularly . . .

o Creating an opportunity for free family fun for children under 5

o Creating opportunities for community organisations to work together

o Increasing awareness of positive parenting strategies

o Increasing understanding of and access to social services relevant for young families

o Encouraging safety considerations

o Increasing access to ECE.

Our Partners

- YMCA Massey Leisure Centre

Collaborating with the Massey Leisure Centre YMCA was fantastic! It was very satisfying to work

together with the aim to fulfill our shared goals and vision. The YMCA staff’s promotional

efforts assisted us enormously in effectively reaching the local community residents of Massey;

and the administrative, managerial, and event support was invaluable in ensuring a successful

day.

- Healthy Families

The Healthy Families and Smoke Free teams worked closely with us to support this year’s theme

of “keeping children safe”. Their guidance and support encouraged all food vendors to supply

healthy eating options, to promote a ‘water-only’ day for the children, and generous donors

provided boxes of apples for everyone.

Massey Library

We were very grateful to have the library on-site and to have the support and participation of

the library staff. It was a wonderful opportunity to promote this facility to families, adding a

great dimension to TDO, and also to have them involved in the stage shows with Rhyme Time.

“We were very pleased to be in the YMCA doing our programmes on the stage with the

families. . a number of customers came into the library after TDO and said how much

they had enjoyed the day, and we were glad to have some of them participating in our

Rhyme Times. I thought it was a great day, and we would like to be involved again next

year.” Christine Calis, Massey Library

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Our Supporters

The generous support of our funders, volunteers, sponsors and donors ensured the day ran smoothly,

and there were plenty of giveaways for families and children, including free food and prizes.

- Our funders

We wish to extend a huge thankyou to our funders for their ongoing generous support that enables this

event to happen.

- Our volunteers

26 volunteers generously gave their time, skills and support on the day. Our immense gratitude and

thanks to them all, and to Volunteering Auckland, Green Bay High School and the YMCA Raise Up group!

“I was impressed by how well organised this event was for the volunteers, all your documentation made it easy at this end, and fully informed the volunteers.” “We would be interested in any future events you have

where our students can assist through volunteering at

the event, I think our students were quite empowered

by this experience.”

– Fiona Drummond, Green Bay High School

“ I loved it – loved being involved and around the kids

and would be happy to do it again next year.” Nadia

Oxby

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And thanks to our other supporters and donors . . .

o New Zealand Fire Service

o Sign language interpreters from Deaf Aotearoa

o St John Medical Support

o Massey Presbyterian Church for the free car-parking space

o The lively sound and stage crew

o Mama’s Dumplings, Healthy Sausage Sizzle and the Massey Leisure Café

Thankyoutooursupporters

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Recommendations

Almost everyone – both families who attended, as well as participating organisations – loved the event,

rated it as well organized, engaging with the community, and met their expectations of a great day.

However, there were some useful suggestions for next time.

Families want to see more food stalls, and would love to see more TDOs run in different Auckland

neighbourhoods.

Participating organisations had plenty of suggestions for next time, so we plan on engaging more with

potential stallholders in the development and lead up to our next TDO to incorporate their great ideas.

In particular we need to engage more with the Asian community, as well as Pasifika and Maori

organisations and communities. And to meet the needs of participating organisations more fully we will

look at adjusting the layout of the event and consider improvements to the sound system.

We intend to find a more user-friendly way to gather evaluation survey data on the day to make sure we

get as much feedback as we can as this invaluable information helps us to measure and meet our

objectives the best we can.