On 11th October 2023, ATD Ireland including community activists Paul, Andrew, Christina and Jimmy attended the Family Resource Centre National Forum in Tullamore. ATD Ireland often work with family resource centres from across the country in our various projects, such as our recent LNOB series 3 project which focused positive local community action. Family resource centres also often carry out projects to mark the 17th October UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The theme of the forum this year was ‘Community Development in the context of the FRC National Programme- What does it look like?’
The conference began with an opening address by Jackie Landers, Chairperson of the FRC National Forum. She expressed disappointment that no allocation was announced for FRC’s during Budget 2024, while calling on the government to resolve this. A need for more government funding and resourcing was a recurring theme throughout the day.
There was then the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Interim Report; October 2022 to March 2023 funded by the HSE, discussed by Grace Kearney, (Counselling and Therapeutic Support National Lead, FRC National Forum), Mike Farrell (Project Manager, Mountmellick Youth and Family Resource Centre) and Sinead Hardiman (Business Manager, Change and Innovation, Mental Health HSE).
Mike Farrell gives case studies of therapeutic supports to children, young people and families.
We then had a presentation from Dr Dave Beck, (Honorary Lecturer in Community Development, University of Glasgow). ‘Making Room for Empowering Practice’. He discussed how community development “is not reducible to service delivery, it is not just engagement, it is not fixing people, it is not working to other agendas, it is not something everyone understands and can do, it is not cosy”.
Following this was a continuation on the topic of ‘Community Development in the FRC National Programme: Perspectives from Family Resource Centres’. Speaking on this were Chris O’ Leary Project Coordinator, Cobh Family Resource Centre and Ann Irwin (Joint National Coordinator, Community Work Ireland). They speak on the difference between an interdisciplinary team undertaking a community development approach and qualified community workers undertaking Community Work Standards aligned with AIEB standards.
Dr Ciara Bradley (Associate Professor from the Department of Applied Social Studies Maynooth University) introduced a panel discussion ‘Back to our Roots’, moderated by Marie Kennedy (Quality, Governance and Compliance Officer, FRC National Forum). The panel included Dr Dave Beck, Chris O’ Leary, Ciara Shanahan (Coordinator, All Ireland Endorsement Body for Community Work Education and Training) and Jane Sutton (Voluntary Board of Management of Gort Resource Centre, & Chairperson of the Employers Collective Action Group). They discuss the need for family resource centres to be engaged in campaigning on local concerns and national issues.
After this saw the launch of the Health and Wellbeing Community Referral Programme, Cork/ Kerry Social Prescribing Service Annual Report 2022 by Rita Bevan (Regional Coordinator Social Prescribing, Cork/ Kerry region).
Clare MacGillivray (Director, Making Rights Real) then gave a presentation on ‘Small places close to Home: How rights- based Community Development can make rights real’. She encouraged the audience to ask themselves, ‘what actions am I going to do to advance community development?’
ATD Ireland then delivered a version of our ‘poverty aware practice’ module. Paul began by introducing ATD Ireland and asking the audience ‘what does poverty mean to you?’ This led to a discussion about how poverty is about not being able to afford your basic needs but is also about much more than economic factors.
Paul then spoke about how ATD was developed/ created in a post war camp outside Paris, this was a very unique model of community development – Charitable serves were replaced by a pre-school, a beauty saloon, a carpentry, a library- all based on the experience and knowledge of the people living in the camp. ATD International to this day is built on these early core values. Read more about this here.
Christina then discussed our poverty aware practice module;
“This is where we speak about how the system discriminates against us. The reason I like speaking to social work students about poverty and discrimination is because we need to educate them on how to help young people through the care system”.
Andrew then spoke about the #Addthe10th campaign
“People treating us differently because of how we look, how we speak, where we live and our wealth- it is hurtful, toxic and it impacts our quality of life”.
Jimmy then shared a new poem; ‘Recovery is the key’. This will feature in our new poetry and creative writing project, ‘Pathways to Participation’. Keep an eye on our social media for more info on this soon.
Recovery is the key
I lived my life in poverty
I came so far
From been living on the street
To making hip hop beats
For the streets
So does anyone know it
That discrimination is not the way to show it
So let’s fight for justice
So let’s fight for life in the homeless services
Then I met my wife
Remember when you fall
You get back up
See people say pull yourself together
So never say never
See discrimination is not the way to go
So welcome to the non-discrimination show
When I look in the homeless person’s eyes,
I see a flashback which takes me by surprise
How can we let this happen to them
We must put poverty to an end
Andrew then spoke a little on his journey as a community activist and how he has gained confidence using his voice to speak out on issues that are important to him. He talked about why this is so important to him and the peer support he has gained from the other ATD Ireland community activists.
Christina then shared her testimony and her experiences of growing in the care system and living in homeless accommodation.
We then invited the audience to join us on October 17th event- the UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty
“On this day we speak up and help families and young people with their voices so the government can hear us and we can put a plan together and put an end to poverty and discrimination for all”.
Christina shared some of her own memories of engaging with her local family resource centre and how they supported her. She then ended our presentation by leaving the audience with a question
“What does your ideal community worker/ support worker look like?”
Mary O’ Donoghue (Project Coordinator- West Clare FRC) led a presentation on the ‘Experience of a Rural Family Resource Centre addressing Poverty’.
The final panel continued the discussion on poverty with a discussion based on the theme of ‘Poverty is the Wallpaper’. The panel was introduced by Anastasia Crickley (Chairperson AIEB), and moderated by Grace Kearney. Panel members included Clare MacGillivray, Rosie McDonagh (Social Impact Manager, Community Foundation Ireland and co- founder of the Hygiene Hub) and Mary O’ Donoghue.
Fergal Landy (CEO of the FRC National Forum) closed the event.
Thank you so much to the Family Resource Centre National Forum for inviting us to speak in Tullamore and for the interesting and insightful conference and for the warm reaction to out presentation. It was an uplifting day and we felt the solidarity in the room. We wish the FRC support as they go through periods of discontentment and struggle as they work to support local people and families. Thank you to everyone we spoke to on the day who took interest in our work- we hope to work further with many of the local groups we spoke to on the day and collaborate on our shared vision and ideas.
Thank you to the ATD Ireland community activists who presented and spoke so passionately as always.
“It was great to see at the FRC conference the drive that people with power have the ability and motivation to change the island that we live on and it was great to see that they recognised the expertise that we have”- Andrew
“We have the same idea of fighting the government of our nation.
To complete this project I am proud to say that we are one and we live in humanity.
“Brilliant team effort and the response from the audience was truly amazing . Well done everybody be super proud of what we achieve”- Paul
