Our work is for a fairer Canterbury where vulnerable people are protected.

Current Major Projects

Other Projects

Prison Reform

We believe the crime and punishment debate needs to be depoliticised in order to remove the unhealthy influence of penal populism. We are involved in prison reform and justice in a number of ways. Firstly as key partners with the Howard League – PIS and literacy, and Pathway Trust.

We also advocate directly, working with Canterbury Corrections on a case-by-case basis.

For more on any of this work, or to volunteer to teach literacy or numeracy in prison, please contact us.

Community Organising

We are passionate about helping local communities to speak and advocate for their own needs. Click here for independently conducted research into the capacity building and empowerment value of our last community organising campaign.

This is the sort of project we would like to see parishes and community groups take on, and we would love to help.

University of Canterbury

We work with the University of Canterbury in a number of ways, but in particular helping to teach courses related to civic engagement and social change.

Zero Carbon Act

We’re a big fan of the Zero Carbon Act because it’s calling for meaningful climate action at a policy level, rather than placing the burden of mitigating climate change on individuals and their communities. Find out more

Past Projects

SCHOOLS CIVICS COMPETITION

We’ve run a number of competitions around an important social issue for school students and youth groups across the country. The competitions were a chance for students to research, reflect, take a stand, and feed back to MPs the conclusions they come to on the subject for the year. For each competition, resources have been included to fit in with the NZ curriculum and remain useful after the competition has closed. Find teaching and learning materials from past competitions on our Resources page.

THE LIVING WAGE MOVEMENT

We are key supporters of the Living Wage movement in Christchurch. The Living Wage movement believes that workers should be paid according to what it costs people to live.

HOUSING

We have produced New Zealand’s leading research on healthy rental housing standards and continue to advocate for the recommendations made at the end of the report. To know more, visit paperwalls.org.

SLAVE-FREE SEAS

In 2013 we met (literally) boatloads of Indonesian fisherman who had been abused and underpaid while fishing in New Zealand waters. Since then, we’ve worked to change New Zealand law to protect everyone working in our waters. Read more about our success on this issue here.

PARS

We helped to govern and lead Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Services (PARS), who have been doing great work with prisoners in Canterbury and around New Zealand for years. To read more, visit prisonersaidnz.org.nz.