Engage & Educate Fund 2017
Helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the community to reach their potential and contribute fully to society.
The Engage & Educate Fund is a €450,000 awards fund over three years created by Rethink Ireland in partnership with Mason Hayes & Curran and the Department of Rural and Community Development via the Dormant Accounts Fund.
The Engage & Educate Fund supports projects that empower people through education to achieve their full potential and to contribute to the community. Projects that focus on people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, people with disabilities, and people with migrant status are encouraged to apply. Project activities can also include adult education and physical education for adults and/or children and young people.
Awardees
BLOSSOM GATEWAY
Blossom Gateway is a service for teenagers with an intellectual disability that aims to assist them in preparing for life after school. Through a series of focus groups aimed at parents and teenagers, Blossom Ireland ask the question ‘What type of a service do you need at this point in time?’ Several very clear themes emerged and these formed the basis of the Gateway Programme.
INTERCULTURAL LANGUAGE SERVICE
Intercultural Language Service provides a flexible ‘drop-in model’ that assesses, supports and empowers socially-excluded adult migrants, who otherwise have no access to education, to improve their English to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) levels B1/B2. This level means that a person has enough English to actively participate in society.
READY STEADY CIRCUS
Ready Steady Circus! was founded by the Galway Community Circus. It is a ten-week Galway based programme that uses circus arts as an alternative method of education for students in DEIS primary schools. The project aims to use a circus arts model to stimulate student and teacher learning whilst also promoting key life skills.
RESILIENCE ACADEMY
Resilience Academy is a six-week, school-based programme developed by Pieta House, that builds skills in resilience with second year students in secondary school. Facilitators work with the same cohort for the duration of the programme to build up a rapport with students and increase the likelihood of students confiding in them or simply asking questions.
