Tummy time, modelled on the My Place to Play play mat by
Shauna O'Neill from Ringsend, and her 12 week old daughter Elise.
Are you in a HR or CSR position and considering how to celebrate the season of goodwill at your workplace? Here at NCI, we have a couple of suggestions for you:
Align your CSR with NCI’s Early Learning Initiative
You may recently have seen a news item on a play mat, with specially chosen toys, that can all be neatly wrapped up when not in use and hung up out of the way on the back of the door. This article did not appear in a Christmas gift guide for new parents, but rather as testament to one area of work carried out by the Early Learning Initiative.
Collaborating with the Dublin City North Child and Young People Services Committee (CYPSC) to win funding from the Healthy Ireland Funds, ELI created ‘My Place to Play’. This portable, self-contained play area has now been distributed to over 200 families with babies living in homeless accommodation in north Dublin, thanks to specially trained Focus Ireland staff. Babies now have one trusted, consistent, familiar space that is their own, where they can have tummy-time and learn to roll, and hit their developmental marks at the same time as their peers who are lucky enough to have a home of their own.
ELI do so much more work with families living at disadvantage. Programmes begin at age 0, with Home Visitors reading to and playing with young babies, modelling best practice to parents, through pre-school and primary school, all the way up to ‘Discover University’, where secondary school students who may not have previously considered third level education are given the opportunity to sample life at NCI.
Sustaining ELI’s programmes has only been made possible through the long-term support of very generous partners, to whom the Early Learning Initiative is very grateful.
If your company is interested in supporting this valuable work, contact Mary Anne Stokes.
Give the Gift of Work Experience to a student from the North East Inner City
Mount Carmel Secondary School and Marino College TY students who
recently completed their work experience here at National College of Ireland.
National College of Ireland is working in partnership with the NEIC to find meaningful work placements for Transition Year and Leaving Cert Applied students in 4th and 5th year, who attend schools in the North East Inner City.
Under the project name Opening Doors Opening Minds, the College is asking organisations across Dublin 1 and Dublin 2 to open their doors to young people that would otherwise not have the chance to avail of professional placements. This opportunity will open the minds of those students to new possibilities, careers they might never have considered, and reward them with an understanding of where academic work can lead.
Already Stelfox, An Garda Síochana, the Department of the Taoiseach, A&L Goodbody and Bord Gáis Energy are among the many high profile employers who’ve participated in this scheme – the resounding response is that the companies themselves benefit from the presence of these young people. Could your business provide a position in the New Year?
Give the gift of meaningful work experience: contact John Ruigrok for details.
