Urban Uplift Fund
Promoting equity of opportunity and access to employment for young adults living in Dublin’s most disadvantaged areas
On Wednesday, 3rd May 2023, Rethink Ireland announced the Awardees of its Urban Uplift Fund. This is a €763,000 two-year fund created by Rethink Ireland in partnership with JP Morgan Chase, IBM United Kingdom Trust and the Department of Rural and Community Development via the Dormant Accounts Fund.
The four Awardees will deliver innovative projects working to increase youth employment and youth employability in the green and digital sectors. The Urban Uplift Fund will support up to 200 marginalised young adults (aged 18-30 years) in learning transformative skills for the green and digital economies, helping to give them back their futures.
Awardees
ECO-UNESCO
ECO-UNESCO is Ireland’s leading youth environmental education organisation and works to empower and engage young people to conserve and protect our environment and take climate action. Their vision is a sustainable world where young people are actively engaged in protecting the environment. They work with over 10,000 young people every year through their range of programmes and services to inspire, educate, empower and support them to act.
An Cosán
An Cosán’s WorkAbility – Providing Transferable Skills for Flexible Employment programme is addressing the issues of low education and high unemployment of young adults living in Tallaght West, Cherry Orchard / Ballyfermot and Dublin South Inner City. Ireland’s largest community education organisation, An Cosán, has empowered over 20,000 adult learners since 1986. Its holistic approach encompasses adult education, career coaching, early years’ education, family support, and 1:1 mentoring and counselling.
Now Employment and Training Services
NOW Group is an award-winning social enterprise. Their mission is to support people with learning difficulties, intellectual disabilities, and neurodiverse conditions into jobs with a future. Their co-designed services are participant-led and employer-focused. This project will deliver pioneering approaches and academies which have evolved to meet participant aspirations and labour market challenges and will focus on supporting young people from Dublin Inner City into employment.
Generation Ireland
Generation Ireland is an Irish charity that prepares, places, and supports people into life-changing careers that would otherwise be inaccessible. They do this via a unique model that combines free, online profession-specific bootcamp training, with extensive mentorship support and active matchmaking to roles at employer partners. Founded in 2020, Generation Ireland have since supported a diverse group of approximately 300 learners, each facing significant barriers to employment, with 70% job outcomes for their graduates.
