"We’ll never forget what’s her name"

Colleagues making presentations to Marian Vickers, former CEO of Northside Partnership. She and her husband Aidan have moved to Kerry to open a Bed & Breakfast. She was with Northside from the beginning.

-  Marian Vickers got project going with a hundred pounds

- Retirement event marked a quarter-century of development

BY BEN PANTER

It’s been 25 years since Marian Vickers was handed a cheque for a hundred pounds with which to begin her adventure with Northside Partnership Company in Dublin.

Denis Leamy, CEO of Pobal, Gerry Kearney, the retired secretary general of the former Department of Community, Equality & Gaeltacht Affairs, Marian Vickers who has retired from Northside Partnership and Clodagh McDonnell, Principal Officer, Department of the Environment, Community & Local Government (as it was known until recently).

“Today, Marian and the Partnership are synonymous,” said chairperson Lorcan Ó hÓbain, at a party marking Marian’s retirement. She was the company’s one and only CEO until now.

NEWS FEATURE: Community reps negotiate with officials

- Talks continue over small but significant detail of reform plans

Allen Meagher reports:

Talks are continuing between Government officials and representatives from the Irish Local Development Network (ILDN) the representative body for the country’s Local Development Companies (LDCs).

15,000 employed and 70,000 trained

Brian Carty of the Irish Local Development Network

- Survey of local development companies indicates

Over an 18-month period, Local Development Companies (LDCs) directly supported an estimated 15,000 people to find their way back into paid work, placed around 70,000 people on training courses and provided support to about 10,000 small business start-ups. Many if not most of these people were long-term unemployed.
 
The Irish Local Development Network (ILDN) has just published the results of a survey for 2010 and the first six months of this year. The survey covered just over half (27 out of 51) the LDCs in the country and our headline figures are based on a doubling of the numbers. The actual national impact may be slightly lower or indeed higher.

International local development perspectives

LDnet.eu

A new website called ‘LDnet’ focuses on “local development” work across Europe and further afield. The site is being added to all the time and includes an up-to-date article on local development in Ireland.

It looks at a new pilot project recently launched in six US cities by the Obama administration called ‘Strong Cities, Strong Communities’. It also examines the pros and cons of British prime Minister David Cameron's ‘Big Society’ approach to supporting communities, and much more.

W: ldnet.eu

15,000 employed and 70,000 trained

- Survey of local development companies indicates

 

Over an 18-month period, Local Development Companies (LDCs) directly supported an estimated 15,000 people to find their way back into paid work, placed around 70,000 people on training courses and provided support to about 10,000 small business start-ups. Many if not most of these people were long-term unemployed.

 

The Irish Local Development Network (ILDN) has just published the results of a survey for 2010 and the first six months of this year. The survey covered just over half (27 out of 51) the LDCs in the country and our headline figures are based on a doubling of the numbers. The actual national impact may be slightly lower or indeed higher.

Supporting local businesses - A RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME TASTER!

The Local and Community Development Programme is one of around a dozen programmes administered by Local Development Companies (aka Partnerships) around the country.
One of the better-known programmes is LEADER (or to use call it by its proper title, the Rural Development Programme). 
Here's just one example, from Kerry, of how the North East Kerry Development used funding from the Rural Development Programme to make a real difference for a small business in Ballybunion that employs eight seasonal staff.

NOTE: The upcoming edition of 'Changing Ireland' out this June will include a 2-page feature on the RDP. As well as supporting small local businesses, the RDP also funds projects that engage in community development, tourism interests and heritage work.

New Resource: National Programme Contacts Database

We've compiled a contacts database of staff throughout the Local and Community Development Programme and it’s ALL HERE (meaning if you click here you'll download the full Excel document):

If you're looking to contact all the rural social scheme staff in the Programme, this should help. It doesn’t matter who you’re looking for – we’ve them all listed: LCDP staff working with YOUTH, JOBS CLUBS, MEDIATION, FINANCE, ETC. You’ll find them here on our database.

Note: The database is 85% complete – if your Local Development Company’s listing is incomplete please fill out this form and return it to us!

- Allen Meagher, editor/manager, ‘Changing Ireland’.

28 pages of news, debate and updates - OUR LATEST EDITION!

Yes, the latest 'Changing Ireland' is out and it features:
- 6 pages of Sector news
- A Community Work report from Palestine
- Volunteering while unemployed
- New Programme: news, debate & updates on the new Local and Community Development Programme
- Social Enterprise Offers A Real Solution for Ireland

- An interview with former Community Minister Eamon O'Cuiv
- Plus letters to our agony uncle Help Me Horace!
HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT? ANY STORY IDEAS FOR OUR SUMMER EDITION?
THANKS TO everyone who contributed to the current edition and to those who suggested ideas and/or critical advice.