DCU’s Access to the Workplace Programme and DCU’s Changemaker Schools Network Programme have received additional funding from ReThink Ireland’s “Boost-it” Education and Mental Health Fund, which was established to support existing Rethink Ireland awardees to stay engaged with young people for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
Both programmes were also recipients of the ReThink Ireland Children and Youth Funds in 2019, which saw 14 awardees receive €9.5million in funding from philanthropic funding and the Government of Ireland’s Dormant Accounts Fund.
Speaking on the additional funding, Jason Sherlock, Director of Development at DCU Educational Trust, said:
“Young people are really feeling the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on their daily lives, from experiencing educational uncertainty to having less social interactions with their friends, peers and even their families. This additional funding from ReThink Ireland’s Boost-it Fund is crucial for both DCU’s Access to the Workplace Programme and DCU’s Changemaker Schools Network Programme to ensure they can support young people and help them to navigate through this crisis.”
DCU’s Access to the Workplace Programme is a bespoke student summer work placement programme that offers fully paid, professional work experience in leading Irish companies for DCU Access students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This funding will allow for the expansion of the Access to the Workplace Programme so that more students can benefit from life-changing and confidence-building work placements.
The DCU Changemaker Network is a progressive network of schools and stakeholders with a mission to reimagine, co-create and lead transformation in education by developing, amplifying and sharing the skills of empathy, creativity, leadership and teamwork. These skills are the defining pillars of a DCU Changemaker School and are taught, lived and practiced within the DCU Changemaker Schools Network.
ReThink Ireland’s Boost-it funding will support coordination of the Network and, given the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the recruitment of schools, teachers and young people to take part in the programme through the use of the network’s website, webinars and online communication technology.