Our country needs our rural communities to function well - that's where the bulk of New Zealand's income is made. This is something our bureaucrats seem to have forgotten.

With urbanisation, and more people commuting and shopping in town, rural communities and businesses are being undermined. When that happens it makes it more difficult for our primary producers. We aim to turn this around.

We recognise that in most small communities the school plays a central role, and it is the parents behind the school that are it's driving force, so that is why we want to partner with you.

We want to help you galvanise your community resources, make your networks visible and show the world what a thriving place you live and work in. We think this could boost your school roll and community.

To us community is about:
	doing things to help each other
	having fun
	knowing where to get the things you need
	sharing information (and we don't just mean gossip!)
	going to local events
	swapping eggs for jam
	the convenience of buying and selling things locally
	having good mates you can call on down the road

So, what's this got to do with anything?

We know that rural people are on the internet searching for the things they need. And that got us thinking. What could be better than a community that has the ability to rely on itself, shares useful information and has a great place for people to connect with each other?

Why not create a place where people in your community can go and find all the local information they need. Not only that, give them the opportunity to add their own new information too. So we took all the features of what makes a good community, threw in some technology to create Heartland, a very local, virtual community especially for you.

With Heartland, we hope to get your community really buzzing. We are keen to get everyone connected with each other, give businesses and community groups a boost and really promote the think local and buy local attitude.

Heartland is here to meet the needs of your local community. It combines our passion for community with the latest technology to make sure it's not just the townies that get the best out of the internet.

Heartland is designed with rural communities in mind. It has fast loading, simple graphics and is very easy to get around - perfect for the "land that Telecom forgot".