This project came about after discussions with the general manager of the Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association and Jeanette Clarkin-Phillips (University of Waikato) about setting up a research partnership to support the teachers at Taitoko Kindergarten in Levin. The teachers were establishing an integrated community centre (the whanau tangata centre) as part of a parent support and development initiative funded by the Ministry of Education in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Development. This initiative in Levin includes a drop-in centre for parents, parent workshops on topics of the parents' choice, a well-resourced whanau room, facilities for infants and toddlers, school liaison visits and liaison with local health centres. The initiative at Taitoko Kindergarten is one of six pilot parent support and development projects. These pilot projects do not include any research components to evaluate the processes and outcomes for teaching and learning, or the level of engagement of the community. This Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project, in one centre, researched these aspects of the initiative in an ongoing action research project. The parent support and development contracts are a relatively new initiative for New Zealand, and this research project was designed to provide information to guide this teaching and learning policy for future initiatives of this nature. The aim of the TLRI research project was to investigate the development of the whanau tangata centre at Taitoko Kindergarten with "teaching and learning in mind." The project had two research questions: (1) What processes and practices have enabled the whanau tangata centre to strengthen relationships with the community and to provide new learning opportunities for the children, parents and whanau?; and (2) What strategies can further strengthen the relationships with the community, and provide enhanced learning opportunities for the children and parents and whanau? (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.) [Support for this research was provided by the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato.]