€2m Fund seeks ‘Ground-breaking’ proposals to support young people
‘Time to think anew to break cycle of disadvantage’
Quality and Capacity Building Initiative supported through Dormant Accounts Funding
The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Dr Katherine Zappone, has launched a new €2m fund to support ‘ground-breaking and new proposals’ to support disadvantaged young people.
This fund is open to community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations delivering innovation in prevention and early intervention services for children and young people.
Examples of proposals being sought include the development or scaling up of innovative approaches, practices and resources that support the best outcomes for children and young people.
There will be two strands under this funding measure; the first is a seed strand with minimum funding of €10k. This will support less proven, new and creative approaches to intractable problems facing children and young people experiencing disadvantage in Ireland.
A budget of €800,000 in 2018 will support grants for proposals applying under the SEED strand of the QCBI Innovation Fund.
Under the Scale strand, a budget of €1.2m will support grants that build on existing programmes, models, or approaches that have shown promising outcomes for children and young people.
The QCBI Innovation Fund is specifically designed to support innovative, one-off projects with firm timelines.
This fund is being launched today, Wednesday, 4th April 2018 and will close to applications on Monday 30th April. The administration of this funding scheme is being supported by Tusla.
In launching the QCBI Innovation Fund, Minister Zappone stated:
“Young people can be trapped in disadvantaged based on their background, location and family circumstance. For many it is an unbreakable cycle – often spanning generations.
Many frontline agencies provide valuable support and opportunities to re-start or re-focus young lives. However, there is also a need to think anew, to seek new approaches and to be ground-breaking.
The Quality and Capacity Building Initiative provides that opportunity. It will provide the financial support to those working with our children, young people and families so they can afford to take a step back. Look at the work they are doing – and see if there is a new way.
This is an exciting moment. I urge all involved to seize this opportunity and to use this fund effectively.”
Following the application, assessment and selection process successful applicants will be awarded funding from the period of June 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. All awards are based on funding availability.
Further details on the application process are available on the DCYA and Tusla websites.