BLUESKIN RESILIENT COMMUNITIES TRUST

by Scott Willis

The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust's capacity to deliver actions to support the Trust's strategy is being enhanced with a growing contribution from dedicated community volunteers, and now four staff (paid and volunteer) at the BRCT office.  We are very happy to announce that Niki Bould (formally a Port Chalmers Community Board member, among other accomplishments) has joined the operations team as BRCT Projects Coordinator. Welcome aboard, Niki!

 

 

BRCT provides governance and support for Blueskin sustainability initiatives requiring a legal body. Recent community meetings organised by BRCT in Long Beach, Warrington and Waitati were all about providing residents with an update on developments in the Trust's Blueskin Wind Cluster  – our core project – and inviting community participation. While this is not the Trust's only project (within the Blueskin Energy Project stable, for example, are: the wind cluster, the Home Energy Advice Service and the Solar Project), it is the one that defines Trust activity. This it does in several ways:

•       As a headline project, it attracts interest, resources and assistance, all of which help to build up our local capabilities and ability to provide or support other initiatives.
•       As a community project it holds the potential to free ourselves from dependence on grants for our community initiatives, and proposes development of a social enterprise to benefit all.
•       As a potential energy infrastructure project it attracts a great deal of community interest on the merits of particular technologies, on costs and benefits, etc.

The Blueskin Wind Cluster project is a key part of BRCT's overall strategy.  Each year trustees and staff renew the BRCT strategy document and we're coming up to that time again. The Trust has a 'Vision', that is a description of our values and long-term goals, as well as a 'Mission' statement and objectives. Strategy, in contrast, is the practice of figuring out the best way to get from 'here' to 'there', or a general plan of action. It is easy, sometimes, to forget the challenges we face – the economic, climate and resource challenges – yet if challenges can be effectively acknowledged, a good strategy is possible. A good strategy expresses:

•         where we are now;
•         where we want to end up;
•         what stands in between;
•         a chosen approach; and
•         a specific course of action.

BRCT is committed to developing good strategy to enable a reasoned approach, based on solid factual evidence, to all Trust action.

Visit us at: www.blueskinpower.co.nz, or at the office at 1121 Mt Cargill Rd, Waitati (on Waitati School grounds). Telephone enquiries can be made on 482 2048.