DNP staff at our End of Year Review day

Winter 2024 e-Bulletin

Welcome to our Winter newsletter!

We're excited for a vibrant Winter and we're looking forward to the New Year ahead. We have lots of news, training opportunities and upcoming events for you.

If you know of any other group or individual who would like this info, please feel free to send them this email.

We would love to hear from you if you have any feedback or comments.

Warmest wishes,

Roisin Coyle

Dublin Northwest Partnership's (DNP) Community Food Club Finglas finished on the 6th December. It was our zero-waste, community sharing initiative. The objective was to bring people together through food and through our Community Shop that offered 12 items for €5. The Food Club offered cooking classes, food waste talks, air fryer classes, Christmas wreath workshop and much more.

FoodCloud collated the impact from our partnership with them and shared this data for the September to December period of this year.

Aine Coleman, one of our Community Food & Nutrition Workers, collaborated with FoodCloud again to organize a Community Food Sharing event on the 17th of October. They brought the community together to look at ways to reduce food waste at home and had a panel discussion to mark the day as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Then the FoodCloud Zero Waste Food Truck provided a delicious lunch using nutritious surplus food. 

We’ll be starting up another Food Club in early 2025 at St Helena’s Resource Centre, Finglas. If you’re interested in signing up, contact Aine Coleman on 0858003999. 

Katelyn Comerford, aged 19, participated in DNP's Employment Skills Programme in July. Upon successfully completing the three-week, part-time programme, Katelyn decided to pursue a carpentry apprenticeship. Schira Reddy, our Programmes Training Coordinator, worked closely with Katelyn to build her confidence and provided her with information on Pre-Apprenticeship courses.

In September, Katelyn commenced the Carpentry Pre-Apprenticeship course at Plunkett College, which required her to arrange a work placement with a qualified carpenter. Maria McLoughlin, DNP's Employment Liaison Officer, assisted Katelyn in contacting several carpentry companies. Mark Cusack Carpentry & Design, based in Finglas, offered her a work placement, one day per week, while she attended her pre-apprenticeship course.

Mark Cusack expressed his satisfaction with Katelyn’s progress, stating, “She works really well with the other carpenters on site, she follows instructions accurately and is eager to learn. I look forward to offering Katelyn a full-time carpentry apprenticeship in the New Year. As a local employer, I would highly recommend that young people take advantage of the Career Guidance available from the Dublin Northwest Partnership. My company looks forward to continuing our collaboration with the Partnership to help young people in Finglas and Cabra develop the skills and experience needed to complete an apprenticeship.”

For further information regarding Career Guidance and Employment / Apprenticeship supports available, please contact us on 01 8361666 or email info@dublinnorthwest.ie

DNP's Social Prescribing Link workers, Pauline Mc Guinness and Cathy Smyth, work with the people of Finglas and Cabra, to support your wellbeing. They offer a free, confidential service to help you through listening, guiding, and linking you in with activities, groups or services that will improve your Social, Physical and Mental Wellbeing.

This FREE Service is proving to be very beneficial to all who use it. Give them a call and find out how they can support you. 

Stefan Isbanda, one of our Community Food & Nutrition Workers, ran a new cooking course for men, "Man Made Meals", in the Ballymun Family Resource Centre. It started on the 15th of October, and ended on the 19th of November, on International Men's Day. The men used their cooking skills to make two dishes for the celebration on the 19th, with a Halal option also to reflect and cater for the diverse group in the class. There was an average of 12 participants per session, with each participant getting a branded Man Made Meals water bottle and certificate.

The next Man Made Meals in Finglas will start in late February. If you're interested, text Stefan Isbanda for more details on 085 800 4138.

Our Community Development section combined delivered over 40 training events and workshops in 2024 alongside individual mentoring to Local Community Groups (LCGs).

Training provided included: Canva Training, Restorative Practice, Influencing and Lobbying Workshop, Writing a Successful Grant Application, Area Profiling using Pobal Maps, Project Management, Charities Regulator Governance Code, Pre- Election Information Workshop, Basic Social Media, Community Leadership Programme and Public Presentation Skills.

Participants at each of our workshops/events evaluate the training and have an opportunity to provide details on additional training needs. This feedback is invaluable as it helps the development of our quarterly training calendar.

Bespoke mentoring is provided to LCGs. This intensive mentoring is provided by subject matter experts who are members of the DNP Mentoring Panel and members of the Community Development Team. Cost of this mentoring is covered by DNP. In 2024, mentoring was provided in relation to Governance, Public Presentation and support to Board Members to understand their roles and responsibilities.

Aine Coleman presented at the Community Food and Nutrition Worker’s Symposium on the 7th of December. She discussed the importance of including wrap around supports when delivering and developing Community Food initiatives. 

School Talks and Nutritional Talks

Stefan Isbanda gave nutritional talks and cooking demonstrations in local schools. Subjects ranged from general nutrition, to optimizing nutrition for athletes, and healthy pitta pizzas were cooked in the air fryer. Stefan also gave nutritional talks for We Can Quit groups, focusing on smoking and nutrition. He brought along some healthy snacks and the participants learned how to make a ''date bark'' recipe, as a healthy alternative to a chocolate bar.

Here are our Community Food & Nutrition Workers, Stefan and Aine, with Minister Joe O'Brien and our CEO, Niamh McTiernan, at the "Addressing Food Poverty" workshop in September with the Irish Local Development Network. Niamh gave the opening address and Aine discussed our roll-out of Community Food Clubs and the importance of wrap-around services.

We're looking forward to introducing new programmes of training and employment support in 2025.

These programmes will include:

·        CV Workshops

·        Interview Skills Workshops

·        Guide to Employment Choices

·        Confidence in the workplace

·        Pathways to Employment – Warehouse & Construction

·        Pathways to Employment – Introduction to Admin

·        Employer Series including Employer Inputs, site visits and work placements as a progression from the above programmes

If you'd like more information on any upcoming training and employment support, contact Schira on 085 8371532 or email courses@dublinnorthwest.ie

The Network meets every 3 months, with each session consisting of a networking session followed by presentations and discussion. Attendance is consistently strong with broad representation including statutory, voluntary and community organisations. Our final meet up was on Wednesday, Dec 11th in the FAST Centre on Wellmount Road.

The agenda for the day was a consultation on the DNP strategic Plan (Strategy 2025-230 ) facilitated by Dr Maria Quinlan. Maria is a sociologist and founder of Pink Flower Research, a research and strategy consultancy which uses innovative sociological methods to help explore and understand both social and organisational challenges.

This was a really important piece of work for DNP and we greatly appreciated your attendance and participation.

Would you like to improve your knowledge of nutrition to cook healthy meals?

We have another course of Healthy Food Made Easy starting in St Helena's Family Resource Centre, Finglas, on the 10th of January. It will run for 6 weeks.

If you're interested, contact Audrey on 085 8624002.

Our 2025 Social Inclusion Seminar will take place in the Crown Plaza Hotel, Northwood, Santry on Friday 7th February, from 9am until 1pm followed by lunch.

Some of the Local Community Groups, who received the Community Grant in 2024, will give a presentation about their Social Inclusion initiatives in 2024. This event is a celebration of the work of LCGs in Dublin Northwest and an opportunity to find out about the 2025 DNP Community Grant.

Guest speaker to be confirmed.

Click HERE to register your place for the seminar

Contact Person: Patricia Whelan, patricia.whelan@dublinnorthwest.ie Tel: 085 876 4034

Photos from our last Social Inclusion Seminar

In November 2024, DNP held a Funding Expo to assist Local Community Groups to access funding from different sources. With presentations from funders and DNP staff, Local Community Groups were given as much information as possible to allow them to complete an excellent funding application.

Funders, such as the Ireland Fund and the National Lottery, explained to groups what they are looking for in a funding application. There were also presentations on Grant Application writing, Area and Group profiling and Census Data and Project Management.

Feedback was very positive as is evident in this testimonial:

“The three members of our committee discussed the Funding Expo we recently attended. We all agreed that it was very informative, easy to understand and provided us with a great opportunity to network with other charities and agencies attending there. 

We also agreed that we would love to be able to attend a funding Expo on a yearly basis because we found this one so beneficial. Would that be a possibility?"

Pauline Hazel, DNP Older Person’s Development Officer, met with groups across Dublin Northwest catchment area to map out support available to older people and to identify ways DNP can support these Local Community Groups (LCG) During 2024, Pauline has consulted with 47 groups working in the DNP catchment and in response to feedback organised the following;

Older Persons Events/Information Session held in 2024

Ageing with Confidence – 8 Week Workshop

Workshop Content

·        Assist and facilitate people to explore their own ageing

·        Challenge the myths and stereotyping that lead to ageism

·        Provide information on physical, psychological and social aspects of growing older

Changing Gears - 5 Weeks Programme for the Older Person

Changing Gears is a course that supports people in dealing with transitions or significant life-challenges in mid to later life. It focuses on how we can build resilience, take stock, make changes, and bounce forward in life.

Library in the Community - Staff from Library in the Community facilitated 2 information events

Community Food & Nutrition - DNP Community Food & Nutrition Workers facilitated a healthy ageing event

Older Person’s Information Fair - Various Groups and Organisations that support Older People showcase their services

Ballymun Community Law Centre - Wills and Inheritance and Advanced Health Care Directives information event

Citizens Information Rights and Entitlements of Older people events in conjunction with the North Dublin Citizen Information Services

Arts and Crafts workshop -Sharon Harvey Facilitator 

Sage Advocacy Information event – Sage Advocacy Ireland

Fair Deals Information event – North Dublin Citizen Information Services

Dementia Café Information event - Irish Dementia Café Network

Upcoming Older Persons Events 2025

DNP Older Persons Information Fair

Wednesday March 5th 2025

2:30pm – 4:30pm

Venue to be confirmed

DNP’s first Education Fair took place in Erin’s Isle on November 6th. It was a busy morning with many exhibitors from further and higher education colleges.

The fair was organised by DNP for the DNP Career Guidance Network. There was significant attendance from local secondary schools. The fair was open to all in the community.

If you would like a flavour of the day, you can watch the video below.

For any mature students who may have missed out on attending the fair, you are welcome to contact jo.toomey@dublinnorthwest.ie and she will support your next steps towards college.

Community Kitchen

Dublin Northwest Partnership, in collaboration with Trinity Comprehensive School and Ballymun Family & Child Resource Centre, continues providing cooking facilities on a weekly basis for residents in Emergency Accommodation Centres. It has been a very successful project that has an important impact on people. DNP would like to continue this initiative next year.

Forced to Flee

We collaborated with Trocaire to deliver “Forced to Flee” workshop for LCGs representatives and local residents. This workshop took place on Nov 12th in Axis Centre. Nine people attended. The workshop provided factual information on the situation of refugees and International Protection Applicants in Ireland and it was an opportunity to reflect on the context surrounding the decision to leave your country of origin.

We had a fantastic season of Wellness Workshops from Fitness, Yoga to Gardening and Christmas Cookery classes. We have a new webpage for our upcoming workshops. We'll continue to update it into the new year. Click here to see it.

Feel free to contact Leon Kelly, our Community Wellness Officer, to participate in any of these classes or workshops. We would like to hear from you with any suggestions for future workshops and classes. 

Contact Leon Kelly at leon.kelly@dublinnorthwest.ie or call her at 01 836 1666.

Christmas Cookery Classes at St Helena's Family Resource Centre

Rory Downey, Mary Corridan, Sarah McManus and Niamh McTiernan at the Empowering Communities Showcase in Athlone in September

Community Integration Programme

The Community Integration Programme is a collaboration between DNP’s Empowering Communities Programme and Fairlawn Prospect Hill Community Garden (FPHCG) based in the rear of the Prospect Hill residential apartments. It started in October.

The Community Integration Programme was created with the aim of fostering a safe space for local residents of Finglas South B and those from New Communities (Balseskin Reception Centre) to come together and create links/bond over the joy of horticulture and spending time in nature. Since the beginning of the programme, FPHCG has welcomed 7 residents from the local community and 10 people from New Communities, with nationalities ranging from Jordanians, Palestinians and Congolese, to name a few. The programme has raised awareness about life in Ireland for New Communities. It has also raised awareness among local people about the International Protection Application process and the challenges that people face. The FPHCG have been very happy with the support from New Communities since the start of the programme and are currently planning a cultural trip and broadening the programme to encourage more local residents to get involved. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter



If you have any comments, or suggestions as to how we can improve the newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact

Roisin Coyle

Email: roisin.coyle@dublinnorthwest.ie

Phone: 01 8361666