Community groups’ expo strengthens connections

In recent times, pressure on the Stuart Island volunteer base has also been affected by the growing importance of tourism within the local economy. With its summer season peaks, local tourism employment opportunities are very seasonal  meaning a larger proportion of seasonal or temporary workers in our community.
Casual workers, usually younger people, are now becoming a larger and larger part of the island’s workforce – especially during warmer months, with ongoing implications for community structure and dynamics.
To date, our local community still hasn’t worked out how to truly incorporate these shorter term community members into the total fabric of Island life. Indeed, many long time Islanders feel that new temporary resident workers aren’t a real part of our community, not in the long-term anyway. A kind of ‘us and them’ mentality has unintentionally emerged.

Given that temporary staff will continue to be a significant group on the Island into the foreseeable future, the community started to get their  heads around how this perceived challenge could be instead be viewed as an opportunity. Working from this new perspective, they began to see things differently.

Read more; Rakiura Community Expo