Meadowood Community Centre is based in Unsworth Heights on Auckland’s North Shore.

We are a charitable, not for profit organisation.

I manage the Community Centre to provide community driven activities and forums that connect and empower our community.

I have attended several ANCAD LiiFT Aotearoa training sessions with the most notable ones for me being: Governance and Health and Safety Responsibilities of Boards, and also Grant Seeking and Writing workshops.

Being new to the centre manager role, I appreciated the insights gained from the Governance sessions. I fed back the information to my board and it helped to lift our governance understanding and hasten us to review Health and Safety policies.

The workshop on grant applications has been so valuable because it has changed how I apply for funding. Post the course, my grant applications are better prepared, the budget section more professional and my responses to the application questions are more succinct. I feel better equipped in my role now.

The training sessions provided by ANCAD have also been a great way for me to network with other community organisations out there. I have stayed in touch with a few of the people that I’ve met on these courses and we swap notes, collaborate on new projects, support one another and share information.

Without the courses that ANCAD offer, and Simon’s friendly, approachable and helpful manner, I would feel more isolated, less equipped and less confident in my role.

Sian Bonner, Centre Manager, Meadowood Community Centre