There is no ‘us and them’
The global cost of living crisis has created something that is often over-looked… loneliness. It leaves many people feeling empty, alone and unwanted, making it difficult to form connections with others in society.
It’s a significant issue in all our communities. None more so than in our capital city, Wellington. With over 3,000 people homeless and 13,000 jobless, for many in Wellington there is a feeling of hopelessness.
But now there is hope and a place: Wellington City Mission – Whakamaru.
Whakamaru will include a 120-seat café, a social supermarket, medical centre, and 35 temporary housing units. But as City Missioner, Murray Edridge, explains, “it’s more than a building, Whakamaru facilitates connects and brings people together in a way that ensures that everyone has a place to go to… and a place to belong.”
But to make the vision reality and to ensure the project could support a community to thrive long term, it required Good Thinking. Good Thinking is a Deloitte initiative where we dedicate our time, skills and capabilities to solving communities’ social challenges.
“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Deloitte. They have guided us through a set of processes that help us make sense of the things we aspire to do.”
Murray Edridge, City Missioner, Wellington City Mission
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Deloitte Partner, Jeff Brandt, explains how Good Thinking was made real, “we helped them with a strategy lab for the whole Whakamaru leadership team. We also ran workshops to define success and an operational readiness programme and we’ve continued to provide on-going support through tools, frameworks and guidance.”
But how do you define success? “We helped clarify what success looks like for the Wellington City Mission team, to align around the critical changes that need to be in place for that vision of success to be realised," says Deloitte Director, Anne Mollineux, “and, to put reporting and structures in place to ensure the team stays focused on the changes that will make the biggest impact.”
The most public-facing opportunity to exhibit a ‘no us and them’ mindset was the café. Deloitte Experience Designer, Jon Irick explains, “because the café’s a place for both manuhiri (those reliant on the Mission’s service) and the whole community to enjoy, the desire is to embrace a unique ‘pay as you choose’ model.
It was important to design and define a welcoming and empowering café experience for all, that does not shame or give judgment on those who do not have the abilities to afford their meal.”
Working together with the Whakamaru team was key, because together changes everything. The insights, the knowledge and the passion of everyone involved led to solutions firmly focused on the whole community. And as Murray Edridge points out, “if we have a city where people don’t belong, or don’t connect, then we fail as a community.”
Our story with Whakamaru doesn’t end here, far from it, as we continue to work together to deliver a place the whole community can enjoy. As Jeff Brandt passionately points out, “all of us can go there, everyone in Wellington… we can mix with people who are different from us, people who have very different backgrounds, and we can enjoy ourselves as fellow Wellingtonians.”
The last word of this chapter comes from Deloitte Manager, Alexandra Tully, “there is no ‘us and them’. We are all one, and by benefitting one, we’re benefitting all.”
Now that’s Good Thinking.
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