The first service offered by the trust was an interpreting service in May 2000. That still operates today under the Decypher brand, along with a host of other services such as refugee settlement support, a community driving school as well as refugee driver training, bicycle safety education, migrant employment, computer training and more.
Claire, Ellie and the HMS Trust team were thrilled to win the For Purpose Award.
“We first started an award application a few years ago, but I stopped when I realised we weren’t ready yet,” Ellie said.
But this year, they were ready.
“One of our board members, Richard Cain, says we’re Hamilton’s best-kept secret. And I’d have to agree,” Claire said.
The trust has been updating its strategic plan and has put in a significant amount of work over the past 12-18 months, including understanding they needed to do more to promote its brand and to focus on its communication and storytelling.
“We felt our story needed to be told, and we thought the awards would be a great way of showcasing what is going on quietly behind the scenes,” Ellie said.
“It’s a bit scary putting yourself out there and being unpicked a bit, but as a leadership team, we thought we had strong evidence as to why we should put ourselves out there.”
One of those reasons is the work that’s gone into capturing vast swathes of data from the work the trust does.
“We’ve been in a state of growth, and we knew we needed one centralised system to capture the data… all that evidence that demonstrates the impact the trust has on people’s daily lives. One of our strengths now is great data. We can see the number of people we are supporting and the good outcomes.”
Having that data now means the trust can respond when they can see there is demand for a particular service.
“We can drill into how many people are coming to us for driving lessons, for example, and we can see how long it takes for lessons and how many get their licence. We can see how many people are coming into the centre each year and what support we’re providing them. It helps us understand the priorities in the community.”
And while it means the trust can respond to trends in the data, it’s also superb evidence when it comes to providing accountability reports for the various contracts the trust delivers on behalf of the Government.
“For many of our contracts we have to demonstrate what we achieved, so as a ‘for-purpose’ organisation, it clearly demonstrates our relevance and ability to deliver, and, as such, our contracts often get renewed,” Claire said. And that, in turn, means financial stability and sustainability for the trust long-term.
Claire said entering the awards “was a valuable opportunity to shine a light on the importance of supporting ethnic communities to settle well – this is diversity and inclusion in action”.
And the judges who visited the trust agreed, saying: “HMS Trust is doing great work and people need to know about it! We were impressed by so many things you are doing – from the positive culture that so obviously is present in all of the staff, to the strategic initiatives you’ve undertaken to design your services around addressing the evolving needs of migrants, the way you measure and report on the impact you’re making, the financial resilience you’ve built through your user pay services and multi-year contracts, and the innovation you displayed during Covid. You also live and breathe diversity, and it shines through.”
The application and judging process was a valuable reflection exercise for the trust, giving them space to think about the impact over the 23 years since the trust began. Prior to Covid, they were in a huge growth phase where they saw, on average, 700-800 new clients register at the centre each year. That plateaued during Covid, when the trust had to adapt to provide other services as demand dictated. Now, with the borders open and migrants returning to New Zealand, the trust is set to get busier again.
“We worked out that we’ve helped around 17,000 people in the time we’ve been operating,” Claire said. “That doesn’t include translation services, and since we didn’t have great data to begin with, it’s probably more.”
Since 2004, the trust has been based at the Settlement Centre Waikato on Boundary Road, in what was the former Marist Rugby Club rooms. As the demand for services has grown, the trust has begun to deliver support to migrants and former refugees settling not only in Hamilton, but other parts of New Zealand too. That means they now have a huge, dedicated and passionate team consisting of 40 permanent staff, more than 220 casual interpreters, and more than 200 volunteers across their local, regional, and national service providers.
“Our building is packed to the gunnels,” Ellis said. “It’s almost like, how many elephants can you put in a mini?!”
Which is why the centre is expanding.
“In the new year, we’ll be going out to tender to expand and refurbish the centre. We now have a footprint on Claudelands Park we can build within. That’s a big milestone for us. We’ve gone through resource consent for the building, and various iterations of the building and landed on a design. The next phase, with support from funders and the community, will be bringing it to life,” Ellie said.
