New Pasifika Community Hub

After eighteen years of concerted work and effort, we are proud to announce that development of new Pan Pasifika Community Hub can begin in central Hamilton.

This has been made possible by the recent approval of $2.137 million in funding from Trust Waikato.

The Pan Pasifika Community Hub will be developed and managed by K’aute Pasifika Charitable Trust. K’aute Pasifika deliver a large number of effective health, education and social service programmes to the Pacific community. Currently these programmes are delivered from a myriad of locations which are not purpose built and therefore present challenges in terms of location, accessibility and suitability of the facilities themselves.

The hub will enable K’aute Pasifika to better support the holistic wellbeing of Pacific families through the continued delivery of these programmes from a purpose built facility. As well as a head office for K’aute Pasifika, the hub will include a medical clinic, K’aute Pasifika’s nurse-led services, social workers and a Pan Pacific Early Childhood Centre.

There are also opportunities for allied health to co-locate to include a pharmacy, midwifery, physiotherapy and a podiatry clinic. Although the Hub will be Pan Pasifika, all ethnicities will be welcomed as this will be a place of inclusion and for all community.

The Pasifika Community Hub will enable Pacific communities to:

The development of the new hub is estimated at $10.6 million. The K’aute Pasifika Hub project team advise that the funding from Trust Waikato will provide much needed seed funding for the project and will act as encouragement for other funders to get behind a great community initiative.

“We are thrilled that the Pasifika Community Hub can now begin development. A centralised and accessible Pasifika centre will mean that we can better support the holistic wellbeing of Pacific families, increase our connectedness and cultural identities, and celebrate and support academic, sporting, creative and leadership potential,” says Leaupepe Rachel Karalus, Chief Executive of K’aute Pasifika.

“The Pasifika Community Hub and the funding from Trust Waikato enforces the value of our Pacific cultural identity and heritage and our place in the Waikato Region and nationally. As a minority group, for our Pacific communities this is momentous,” says Rachel.

The Pasifika Community Hub will serve not only Pacific communities in the Waikato region but also Pacific communities in the Midlands Region through the Aere-Tai Collective which is made up of K’aute Pasifika’s Pacific provider partners:

Trust Waikato is honoured and privileged to support the development of this new Pasifika Community Hub.

“We are very happy to be an early funder of this project,” says Dennis Turton, Trust Waikato Chief Executive, “This donation has come from our Significant Capital Projects Fund as we believe that by providing a centralised and well-resourced Pasifika centre this will have hugely positive impacts for Pacific communities across the Waikato.”

“This centre is a real tribute to the tenacity, resilience and vision of the people from K’aute Pasifika and the wider community. We look forward to this project developing and contributing to this place of importance for Pacific people to gather, celebrate and access the facilities they need to prosper,” says Dennis.