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COMMUNITY SUPPORT & LEADERSHIP
Rural Firefighting
City Care retains the largest force of
rural firefighters in Canterbury, with
more than 100 staff trained at any
one time.
Last summer was the most
demanding firefighting season City
Care has faced. At one stage we
fought 16 fires in 12 days, and had
crews in the field 24 hours per day
for most of that period. We also
attended several large fires that
needed continuous management for
more than a week.
Pre-apprentice Programme
In February 2004, we employed
24 young people as our second
intake on our award winning pre-
apprenticeship programme. These
new employees are participating
in seven 5-week paid placements
in different occupational areas of
our business. New features this
year include an eighth placement,
with Fulton Hogan Canterbury, an
intake of six school leavers, two
each from our partner schools, and
a reduction of the programme to
nine months. Programme graduates
will qualify with a level 2 National
Certificate recognising the skills
acquired, and most will be offered
modern apprenticeships in a trade
of interest with City Care or
Fulton Hogan.
WINZ continue to provide financial
support for the 18 unemployed
youth taken on this year. They have
also confirmed support for a smaller
scale programme being planned
for Tauranga starting next year, this
time with three external partner
companies.
At the half-way stage of the
programme, 22 of the 24 employees
remained with us.
Schools Partnerships
City Care has this year established
three partnerships with secondary
schools Papanui, Lincoln and
Christchurch Boys'.
The partnerships have enabled
City Care to communicate the real
qualities of careers in the trades to
teachers, students and parents, and
given some students direct access to
workplace experience.
An interesting feature of the
Christchurch Boys' partnership is
a new curriculum initiative where
senior students provide fitness
programmes for our firefighters.
Our staff then train in the school
gym and are monitored to see if they
achieve new fitness standards being
proposed for firefighters.
Child Safety
City Care continues to hold a fund to
support child safety initiatives in our
communities. In the last year we have
continued to provide safety clothing
and radio headsets for people
patrolling school crossings.
Business Leadership
As part of our commitment to
leadership, City Care remains an
active member of the New Zealand
Business Council for Sustainable
Development. This year we provided
project leadership for the Business
Guide to a Sustainable Supply Chain,
and were the liaison representative
for the business council with the
Mayors Taskforce for Jobs.
City Care has presented at a
number of forums on industry skill
development, and in particular on our
experiences with our pre-apprentice
programme.
MAY-04: Samuel Tawa
joins City Care, raising
total staff to 600.
JUN-04: City Care wins Institute of Chartered Accountant's
Award for the best Human Resources reporting in the
annual report awards in Wellington.
