NORTHSIDE Partnership hosted a Seeds of Success event in the grounds of the Coolock Community & Enterprise Campus to mark the start of its 25th anniversary year.
It was joined by 25 of its staff, community partners, clients, local businesses and elected representatives to plant 25 trees – one to commemorate each of its years in existence delivering employment and education opportunities.
Attendees at the event heard from Ciara Hurley, originally from Darndale and a past participant in Northside Partnership’s Challenger Programme.
The programme supports young people from disadvantaged schools in Dublin 5 and 17 to stay in school and complete their Leaving Certificate.
“Challenger began my lifelong love affair with education,” said Ciara.
With tremendous support from her parents, Ciara described her journey to become a primary school teacher. Today, Ciara’s life has come full circle and she now works as a teacher at Our Lady Immaculate Senior National School in Darndale where she is a wonderful role model to her students about the possibilities open to them if they dream big and work hard enough. Northside Partnership was established in 1991 with a remit to tackle long-term unemployment in the Dublin 17 area although its work and footprint has grown enormously since that time. Today, it provides a range of employment, education, enterprise and local development programmes for people in Dublin 3, 5 and 17 and parts of Dublin 9 and 13.