Wicklow Teenagers Secure €1,700 To Advance Ideas For Social Good.

Students from Wicklow Youthreach and Coláiste Bhríde, Carnew secured a total of €1,700 in funding.

Students from Wicklow Youthreach and Coláiste Bhríde, Carnew secured a total of €1,700 in funding recently to advance their ideas to bring about positive change in their communities.

The teenagers, who are taking part in Young Social Innovators (YSI), pitched their ideas to a Dragons’ Den Panel including representatives from Dublin City Council, The Community Foundation for Ireland, and EirGrid for access to a Social Impact Fund dedicated to advancing teenagers’ ideas for social good.

The "Carry On Caring" team from Wicklow Youthreach asked clients of a Direct Provision centre what they needed support with and were told that they needed bikes so that they could access local shops. The team presented their plan to upcycle bikes from their local recycling centre and received €700 to help with repairs and parts as well as to arrange a training day for the clients to learn how to upcycle and maintain the bikes.

The "Be Aware, Don’t Compare" team from Coláiste Bhríde in Carnew are passionate about addressing the harm caused by comparison culture and want to highlight to young people that edited images online and in print media are not what ‘real’ people look like. They are launching a national petition for a change in legislation to have identifying symbols on edited images and have already been featured on local and national radio and in newspapers to raise awareness of their cause. They are hoping to use the €1,000 they have received from YSI to spread their message on billboards in their local area.

Rachel Collier, CEO and Co-founder of Young Social Innovators, said: “The applications submitted by young people to the Social Impact Fund were of a very high calibre and we are delighted to provide direct support to eighteen inspiring youth-led projects to help them advance their innovations which will make a real difference in their communities. Witnessing the professionalism in which these students presented their ideas was truly remarkable and we wish them the very best of luck. We are grateful to The Community Foundation for Ireland for supporting the Social Impact Fund this year, a fund which is dedicated to advancing youth-led ideas for social good.”