• What is a Community Committee?
• What roles do Community Committees undertake?
• Being nominated for a Community Committee

What is a Community Committee?

In many places the Community Committee is the local face of the RNZFB. Committees undertake a wide range of activities to support the RNZFB's work and lobby for the needs and rights of blind, deafblind and vision-impaired people. RNZFB staff known as Locality Coordinators liaise and support the Community Committees in their area.

Committees are made up of RNZFB members and sighted people from the local community. This includes families of RNZFB members, RNZFB volunteers, local health professionals or anyone in the wider community who has an interest in supporting the work and aims of the RNZFB.

What roles do Community Committees undertake?

Participating in a Community Committee allows you to:

• Complement the delivery of services to blind and vision-impaired people
• Raise awareness of the needs of blind, deafblind and vision-impaired people in their local community
• Assist with fundraising activities
• Liaise with consumer organisations and community groups
• Liaise with local authorities
• Provide direct support to members
• Coordinate, deliver and maintain talking-book machines
• Help organise recreational activities
• Help organise peer support opportunities for members and/or a telephone tree
• Record local newspaper content on to the Telephone Information Service
• Hold regular meetings and functions for members.

Being nominated for a Community Committee

In addition to meetings throughout the year, each Community Committee holds an annual meeting in or around July. This is when Committee members are elected. Committee members are elected for a 3-year term. The Locality Coordinator for your area can provide further details of who is eligible to serve on a Community Committee of the Foundation. Once selected as a Community Committee member:

• New Committee members sign a confidentiality agreement
• Committee members attend an orientation programme
• Community Committee members receive regular and ongoing support, invitations to recognition functions, certificates for training and long service, refresher training and the opportunity to further participate in the work of the RNZFB as an Associate member
• Committee members are reimbursed by the Committee for agreed expenses.

If you are interested in making contact with the Community Committee in your area, please phone 0800 24 33 33 and ask to speak with the Locality Coordinator closest to you or email: communitycommittees2. When emailing don't forget to include where in New Zealand you live.