Funding educational programmes outside of Dublin exceeds €2.1 million.

Members of the Irish Funds Council, basis.point and Cork Chamber of Commerce meet with participants of the Foróige NFTE programme

A recent road trip to Cork, in association with the Irish Funds Forum highlighted the manner in which we, basis.point, as a community can positively impact and shape the inclusive and diverse country that we would all like to live in.

Cumulative funding for educational programmes outside of Dublin has hit an all-time high of over €2.1 million and now represents 52% of our grant allocations. This geographic diversification more accurately reflects not only the areas in which our patrons are based but also relects those areas in Ireland where the need for our support is greatest.

Geographic distribution of cumulative funding 2016 – 2022

Socioeconomic background remains the core determining factor of educational and social inequality (Cahill, 2020). Our initial focus on early interventions in the IFSC heartland in partnership with ELI and Archways are showing positive outcomes.

Learning from these experiences and thanks to increased funding from our Patrons, we are expanding both the scope and geographic reach of our programmes, offering these same supports to young people and their families outside of Dublin.

In addition to these early programmes, we now offer educational support outside of Dublin through Limerick Youth Services, Teen-Turn, Barnardos, Foroige, and Business in the Community.

Our recent road trip focused on the success of our partnership with Foróige which began in 2017. Funding from basis.point enabled the roll out of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme to young people in Cork for the first time. Across the four-year lifespan of the project, 761 young people have participated in the programme, changing their mindsets, growing their confidence, and building their skillsets and aspirations.

Take inspiration from their stories, each shaping the future of the Ireland we live in!

Food Fund is truly inspirational and an example of social enterprise at its best. A group of visionary students from Terence MacSwiney Community College, Knocknaheeny, who receive hot meals through school each day, recognised that others could benefit from the unwanted meals.

They now visit and gather the unwanted hot meals from 4 DEIS schools in the area and deliver them to Cork Penny Dinners. They have helped gather over 7,000 meals which would have gone to landfill!

Know your buttons project was about teaching young people about consent and boundaries. The young entrepreneurs from North Presentation Secondary School, Farranree, produced leaflets with phrases on how to handle challenging situations.

They are planning on running gender neutral workshops to help young people have a language around consent.

And then there is Jessica Griffin who attended the Cork Life Centre and wrote a book called One piece Missing, about how young autistic children can handle school, travel, crowds.

It has sold out and she is now doing second book. All the illustrations are hers. She is an incredible artist and alongside her writing is now doing a 3rd level course in design.

Each of these young people have overcome disadvantage in its various guises. They have discovered a new strength.

Each one has found their voice.

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