About Us

The Western Bay of Plenty has a proud social service heart. At its core, in the Western Bay of Plenty approximately 240 organisations work daily to improve the wellbeing of individuals, families and our society. Many of our fellow New Zealanders struggle with isolation, poverty, mental illness, addiction, housing, food insecurity amongst other issues and each one of the good folks working in the social service sector are dedicated to the task of making life that much easier and better for everyone.

Our purpose is Tiakina te anamata, mā te tūhono i ngā tāngata me ngā wāhi o te inamata. Taking care of tomorrow: connecting people and place today. This commitment drives our support for various communities across Aotearoa New Zealand, including initiatives like Tū Mai Digital. Through Tū Mai Digital, we offer internet connections and surplus Mercury laptops to individuals identified by social providers, fostering digital inclusion and empowerment. Working with other great people and organisations is an essential part of who we are. We retail electricity, gas, broadband and mobile services.  Mercury is helping to move Aotearoa New Zealand to a low emissions future through generating electricity from 100% renewable sources: hydro, geothermal and wind.

Council supports community-led projects targeting a community need. Council will support this by leveraging existing resources and creating partnerships with businesses, social service providers and the telecommunications sector. For Council, the programme provides an opportunity to connect people with services we already provide and partnerships we already have in place (such as Skinny Jump, available through our libraries). Tu Mai Digital also provides a way for Council to repurpose its digital devices (laptops) that would otherwise become e-waste.

Council has been supporting Tu Mai Digital to take the step from being a ‘pilot’ programme to becoming an established programme. This collaborative partnership is another example of Council working with local community providers to meet needs.

We have a strong focus on families with many of our services provided at the centre, these include after school care and school holiday programmes, Pregnancy and Parenting Classes, adult and community education classes, senior programmes, and engagement with youth.

Accessible Properties is New Zealand’s largest non-government registered and accredited community housing provider. We operate nationwide, managing more than 2700 properties around the country. Accessible Properties is a profit-for-purpose, charitable organisation, wholly owned by IHC New Zealand that has been in housing for more than 60 years.

Poutiri Charitable Trust was established in 1997 to contract and develop Māori Health Providers in the Bay of Plenty region to deliver health and wellbeing services. Today Poutiri delivers hauora services in Te Puke and supports a network of 12 hauora providers throughout the Bay of Plenty.

Families Achieving Balance Charitable Trust is a self-help agency that provides free social service to vulnerable families and whanau in Tauranga Moana, supporting them to work towards positive change and find balance in their lives. Our qualified social workers work with individuals, youth and families.
 When working with clients we engage with other family members, where appropriate, to create a holistic approach to tackling their problems and achieving goals.

Huria Trust  works hard to provide support to whānau Māori within the hapū of Ngāi Tamarāwaho and those of the wider Tauranga & WBOP communities. Huria Trust is committed to the advancement of Health, Social, Education and Cultural services to the communities it serves. Our services are delivered by experienced and trained staff with strong networks and the capability to guide, advocate, support and empower whānau to access the many different services within our community.