Funding boost for two projects

The International Fund for Ireland (IFI) has confirmed further financial assistance for two local projects.

Drumgor Detached Youth Project have been awarded £72,272 to extend a youth intervention model that has operated for 18 months in the estates of Drumbeg and Meadowbrook in Craigavon and expand it into the nearby Drumgor and Drumgask estates and to develop work on a cross-community basis with the Parkmore estate.

Shankill Parish Caring Association and Mourneview and Grey Estates Community Association have been awarded £57, 505 to extend a 24-month project and provide further employment focussed activities for young people aged 18 to 30.

The extended project will also seek to work with young people involved in marching bands and will engage with women in the area to initiate cross-community work.

In total the (IFI) confirmed financial assistance worth more than half a million Euro (£459,000) to be shared among nine community projects in Northern Ireland and the Southern Border Counties.

The funding, approved at the organisation’s recent Board meeting in County Leitrim, extends six ongoing initiatives and supports three new projects aimed at engaging with marginalised communities and opening new discussions on complex issues relating to identity and the conflict.

All are supported through the Fund’s Peace Impact Programme (PIP), which assists community groups to develop innovative solutions to sensitive and divisive issues and engage with young people who are vulnerable to paramilitary influence.

Dr Adrian Johnston, Chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, said: “Over the last two years, we have focused considerable effort on reconnecting with marginalised individuals and groups who remain excluded from government and other interventions. The Peace Impact Programme has been a core part of that strategy, enabling 53 community projects to deliver impressive results.”