Amy Rice is a young leader working with Tāmaki Regeneration Company to deliver New Zealand’s largest regeneration programme in Tāmaki.
What does service to the community mean to you?
The word ‘community’ in and of itself reflects the reciprocal nature of how we come together as people and the responsibility we have within our communities to serve in ways that will enable us to thrive as a collective.
Service to my community looks beyond the now and seeks out ways I can bring about an impact throughout my lifetime, both locally and wider, that will shift both present and future outcomes for the better.
How does your work make a difference?
I have the privilege of working within a space that works directly with community, with whānau, with local businesses, schools, community leaders and with mana whenua to deliver outcomes that are so much bigger than the homes we build. Unlocking the efficient delivery of quality homes, at a pace required to meet the needs of the community, but also to ensure we are designing homes that reflect the way whānau live here.
Beyond the physical build, the work we do enables an affordable housing programme which creates generational impact and shifts equity outcomes for the many who step through this journey. It delivers warm dry homes, improves life and health outcomes and enables a community to find connection in the places and spaces they move through.
What achievements are you most proud of?
It’s the whānau outcomes that sit at the core of it all. To be able to play a role in shaping and leading the way we work to unlock, design and deliver more warm, dry, functional homes for so many is the biggest reflection of success.
That sense of achievement, purpose, and the emotions that arrive when you have the privilege of being a part of that handing over of keys. Keys to a home where a whānau are taking their first steps into better health and life outcomes, into generational equity shifts through home ownership, and into a place where they hold a deep connection to their surrounding community. Many times it’s a moment of disbelief for a whānau who never thought it would ever be a possibility. Who take their time to touch the walls and breathe in the spaces they will build memories for many years to come. It’s a gift to share that moment, and a constant reminder of why we do what we do.
We all enter public service with a purpose for community at the heart of what we do. No matter where you work in the Public Service this will always be challenged, pulled, stretched and questioned. Allow it to be.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
The really challenging stuff. The bits that are hard to untangle, that we have to work through. I’ve learned that if it asks you to dig your deepest, and stretches your zone of comfort, then it’ll also offer the most learnings and growth, and provides the most impact to the outcomes we’re trying to achieve.
It’s not always the favourite at the time, but it becomes the favourite when you look back at it.
What are 3 words you would use to describe your work?
Challenging and cup filling.
What advice would you give to someone starting their career in the Public Service?
Arrive with purpose and allow that purpose to evolve and be expanded. We all enter public service with a purpose for community at the heart of what we do. No matter where you work in the Public Service this will always be challenged, pulled, stretched and questioned. Allow it to be.
This is where the true growth lies, this is where the most knowledge is found and where the greatest skills are developed. It builds understanding, it builds resilience it expands your knowledge, teaches you adaptability and allows you to step into spaces and places of real impact. Lean in.
