Located adjacent to North East Valley Normal School on North Rd, the Valley Project received $65,500 in the most recent Dunedin City Council funding round.
Valley Project board chairman James Sutherland said the funding had enabled the organisation to employ a full complement of staff to work on a broad range of projects and services.
Mr Sutherland said the organisation had shifted its focus from being a "Covid hub" during the pandemic, to now working towards establishing and growing community programmes.
Appointed 18 months ago, Valley Project manager Jen Rodgers kept an overview of activity in the busy organisation, and ensured staff were not overworked and had good work-life balance.
Recently appointed community development co-ordinator Claire Speedy had been learning the ropes of the role and was excited to be working closely with local people and gathering ideas on the services they would like to see.
"That will be my focus for the next few months, to go out there and really get a feel for what people in the community most want from us," she said.
The Valley Project’s Kai Share programme remained a vital service for the local communities, helping 30 families each week with access to food resources.
The Fruit Harvest Otepoti Dunedin group had close ties to the Valley Project and there were two very popular food pantries in the area — at the project’s rooms and at Pine Hill School. Donations of food were always welcome.
Mr Sutherland said the Valley Counselling Service, which provided low-cost counselling for adults and relationship/couples counselling was "going from strength to strength".
"The service operates on a pay-what-you-can basis, which people really appreciate."
A Community Law clinic was also held at the Valley Project rooms on Tuesdays, and a Justice of the Peace clinic on Saturdays.
Another focus for the Valley Project was working to support the biodiversity of native species in Dunedin North through trapping pest species and the OpenVue biodiversity programme.
Jointly funded by the Valley Project and City Sanctuary, trapping co-ordinator Emily Peterson and a team of volunteers have been working to remove possums and rats from back yards in the areas adjacent to the Halo Project.
Working with households in Signal Hill, Opoho, Normanby, North East Valley, Dalmore, Liberton, and Pine Hill, the team trapped 371 possums and 428 rats in 2023. In the first few months of 2024, the team trapped 217 pests.
"We are doing a big possum push at the moment, both to trap them and to track them — it is important to know how many are out there," Ms Peterson said.
"The North Dunedin Shed is helping out by making traps for us, so we can help people to take part."
The OpenVue biodiversity project was led by recently appointed co-ordinator Jennie Wagner-Gorton.
"Our aim at the moment is to really educate the community around why it is important to identify these species in the area," she said.
Ms Wagner-Gorton was also focused on Lindsay Creek, and had a plan for restoring and preserving its biodiversity long into the future.
"At the moment we are working on removing sycamores, which prevent other plants to accessing sunlight and nutrients, and caring for riparian areas."
Sharing news of the many activities, events and programmes coming out of the Valley Project rooms was Valley Voice newsletter editor Krysha Bruzza.
She is on the hunt for volunteer writers to help cover stories on everything from the wild goat population in Signal Hill to intergenerational play at Ross Home.
