April 22, 2016: The Childhood Development Initiative and Preparing for Life, Northside Partnership have today welcomed a decision by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Atlantic Philanthropies to allocate funding to extend their work until August 2017.
A total of €1.2m has been allocated to the two organisations plus youngballymun, a third organisation funded under this allocation. Each organisation is receiving an equal sum of €400,000.
The funding will allow the Childhood Development Initiative in Tallaght West and Preparing for Life in Dublin 5 and Dublin 17 to continue their work to improve outcomes for children and families for an additional year.
From 2007 to 2013, the sites were part of the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) which received matched funding from the Department of Children and the Atlantic Philanthropies.
Since late 2013 the sites have been match-funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Atlantic Philanthropies under the Government’s Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme which supports prevention and early intervention work at 13 sites across Ireland.
The funding for the sites had been due to finish in August this year. The sites recently made submissions to the Department to highlight the significant benefits of their work and the thousands of children and families who are experiencing better outcomes.
Following this the Department has announced that it is allocating further funds from the ABC programme contingency fund, with is co-funded by the Department and the Atlantic Philanthropies.
In a joint statement CDI and Preparing for Life said: “We are pleased to have our funding extended until August 2017. This will enable the ground breaking prevention and early intervention work and the benefits for children and families to continue in Tallaght West and North Dublin. It will also enable us to continue to further develop our partnerships and share our learning with the newer ABC sites.
“While we are disappointed that the allocation is for less than our current resources, we understand the implications arising from the ongoing wind down of the Atlantic Philanthropies work in Ireland. We will be working with the Department to see if there are ways that the deficit can be bridged.
“We will use the additional monies to continue to deliver as many of our services as possible and will work through a planning process for 2017 over the coming months.
“We will also use the extended period to work with the Department to develop and organise future prevention and early intervention work after 2017.
“We hope that the learning from these pioneering programmes can be mainstreamed into services where the evidence supports this and also targeted at areas most in need when this is approach appropriate,” CDI and Preparing for Life said.
Further Information
Ronan Cavanagh, Cavanagh Communications: (086) 317 9731.
Childhood Development Initiative: www.cdi.ie
Preparing for Life: www.preparingforlife.ie