New campaign to save Ballymun initiative for young people

A CAMPAIGN to save a local initiative that’s tackling inequality and child poverty in Ballymun has been given a boost following a meeting between local politicians, Government officials and funders.

Supporters of youngballymun are running a campaign called ‘Cherish All Children: 100 faces, 100 stories’ to highlight its work  tackling the causes and effects of child poverty. 

Despite strong local support, those managing the project have been told by the Department of Youth Affairs to prepare for closure.

Last week elected representatives from the Dublin North West area met as a cross party group with officials from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and a representative of Atlantic Philanthropies, a main funding body of youngballymun.

The cross party group, which included TDs Roisín Shortall (SD), Dessie Ellis (SF), Noel Rock (FG) and Cllrs Paul McAuliffe (FF) and Andrew Montague (Lab) outlined their “grave concerns” about the possible closure of youngballymun.

Time is running out to save youngballymun and project officer, Hazel O’Byrne, fears closure may happen before the next Programme for Government is agreed.

“Because of the current political uncertainty, it’s difficult to know if child poverty will be on the next Government’s agenda,” she said.

“youngballymun is a whole community change project for children and it works because there is a whole community around children from pregnancy and birth, effectively encouraging their development based on the local, national and international evidence of what works for children.”

As part of its ‘100 faces, 100 stories’ campaign, youngballymun is sharing a picture and quote every day on its Twitter and Facebook pages. The pictures focus on the importance of addressing child poverty, and the success youngballymun has had while addressing this.

People of all ages and backgrounds are taking part and the faces include children, parents, teachers, and health care staff from the Ballymun community. 

Some well-known faces are also featured including Sr Stanislaus Kennedy and Danny McCoy of IBEC. Representatives from organisations such as Social Justice Ireland, St Vincent de Paul, the Children’s Rights Alliance and ISPCC will also be contributing.  

Following last week’s meeting, local politicians said Government officials have agreed to try and source funding to maintain youngballymun up to July 2017 and would know if this was possible within two weeks.

In a joint statement the cross-party group said: “youngballymun is an area based change strategy to combat child poverty and disadvantage. By working together with local education and health services and supporting parents, it is transforming life for children and families in Ballymun. It would be disastrous for the local community if this very successful project was to close.”  

The group added that it was unacceptable to consider closing the project and said any attempt to do so would be strongly opposed by all the elected representatives and the local community as a whole.

The cross party group is aslo writing to the Taoiseach to request him to secure the necessary funding as a matter of urgency.