University of Otago researcher and Brockville resident Dr Rose Richards Hessell made that comment on Thursday after a talk on the Brockville Community Development Project.
"Poverty sucks. It grinds our people down.''
Achieving greater "economic stability'' in Brockville had to be part of community moves to take a "step forward'', she said.
Her work as a volunteer in the project's management group had been an "absolutely amazing'' and "humbling'' experience.
She later shed a few tears when paying tribute to past leaders in Brockville, including the late Rosina Wiparata and Syd Adie.
Her talk was part of a series of public health seminars given at the university's preventive and social medicine department.
Community development was when a community was empowered to take greater control over the conditions affecting their lives, she said.
The Brockville project was funded by the Department of Internal Affairs in 2011 for three years, and many initiatives were undertaken.
Key priorities were identified, increased physical activity promoted, and the environment cleaned up.
A 50-year plan, not simply a three-year intervention, was needed in communities like Brockville, Dr Richards Hessell said.
The community would benefit from more Crown funding being provided to re-employ at least one full-time community development worker to help mobilise local skills to meet local needs.
"We were just getting started.''
Dr Richards Hessell is co-director of the university's Cancer Society Social and Behavioural Research Unit.
Figures on the project's internet site show 3400 people live in Brockville, and 48.6% of residents aged 15 years and over have an annual income of $20,000 or less.
