Community Information Day

Leitrim County Council, as part of their delivery of the Healthy Leitrim Programme and in conjunction with An Garda Síochána Community Engagement & Crime Prevention Units worked together with Leitrim PPN, Leitrim Development Company & Muintir na Tire to host a Community Information Event on Thursday 23rd March at The Bee Park Resource Centre, Manorhamilton.  It was a very well attended and informative event and great feedback from it.  Pictured are PPN staff with some secretariat members.

Meeting for those with an interest in Climate Action, Environment, Heritage, Biodiversity and Agriculture

A meeting of community & voluntary groups interested in influencing policies in climate action, environment, heritage, biodiversity and agriculture was held on  Wed 29th March in Drumshanbo. There was a good attendance with the idea of setting up a Linkage Group for this interest group. Next meeting will be on 24th May in Drumshanbo at 7.30pm

An Chead Chruinniú Eile (Next Meeting)

Secretariat Meeting, Thursday 20th April in Leitrim Development Company at 7pm.

Progress to date for the Leitrim Local Economic & Community Plan (LECP)

The consultation process has been complete.  KPMG gave a presentation to the LCDC on 8th March 2023,  (5 PPN members on the LCDC committee) as per guidelines, giving updates as follows:-

• Consultation Overview
• Community Survey
• Business Survey
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Workshops
• Written Submissions
• High Level Goals.

The High Level Goals were approved and KPMG are now in the process of developing objectives, actions and outcomes.  Again this will be presented to the LCDC (as per guidelines) for approval.

Plenary Meeting - Save the Date

(All members group County Meeting) Thursday 18th May, Ballinamore 7-9pm

Linkage Group Facilitators Needed

Last call for anyone interested in training to be a facilitator for a Linkage Group.

Would you like to receive formal training on group facilitation skills and lead a group towards influencing policy at the local level?

April Training for PPN Members

• Building an Effective Marketing Strategy 7-9pm (online) 4th April
• Voluntary Committee Skills/ Roles and Responsibilities 10am-1pm (online) 18th April
• Canva Training for designing posters, social media posts - no experience necessary 11am-12pm (online) 18th & 19th April

Happy Easter To All from the Secretariat & Staff of Leitrim PPN

Collaboration and Innovation Fund 2023

The Adult Literacy for Life Collaboration and Innovation Fund is now open for applications. This is a new fund of €1 million to support the Adult Literacy for Life (ALL) Strategy.
The fund is for collaborative and innovative activities that:

address unmet literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy needs; develops literacy awareness; and work towards creating a more literacy-friendly society for everyone.

The fund is managed by SOLAS and the ALL Strategy Programme Office. The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 14 April 2023. 
Public, non-profit, community and voluntary organisations can apply for a partnership project. You need two organisations to apply with one being the lead partner. The maximum grant available to the two organisations is €50,000 and there is no minimum amount to be awarded. If your application is successful you must spend the funding by the end of 2023; and submit a report on the project.

This fund is for projects to support literacy, numeracy and digital literacy that will impact the following 12 priority groups named in the ALL Strategy:

• Older Adults (55+)
• Members of the Traveller Community
• Persons with Disabilities
• Low-paid Workers
• Carers
• One-parent Households
• Incarcerated Persons and Ex-Offenders
• Persons Recovering from Addiction
• Long-term Unemployed
• Migrants
• International Protection Applicants
• People with Language Needs

Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme Funding 2023

Great to see that the Peatland Community Engagement Scheme of the National Parks and Wildlife Service is now live.

Community groups and projects can apply until 5th May for projects related to raised bogs, blanket bogs and fens.

Funding of up to €40,000 is available for protected sites and up to €20,000 for non protected sites.

Active Citizenship & Equality Based EU Funding

The Access Europe team is here to provide you with support and advice around these and other EU funding project applications. europe@wheel.ie to begin your EU funding journey.

Fund to tackle vacancy and dereliction in Rural Ireland

Minister Heather Humphreys has announced a new €13 million Fund to tackle vacancy and dereliction in Rural Ireland.
The major initiative will see dozens of old buildings transformed into multi-purpose community facilities.
Local Authorities to be provided with €500,000 in funding to purchase up to three properties each for re-development.

Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission: Grants Scheme 2023/24

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s 2023-24 Human Rights and Equality Grant Scheme is now open and accepting applications until 3.00pm, Wednesday 26 April 2023. The purpose of the grants scheme is to support projects by civil society and trade unions that promote human rights and equality. A total of €400,000 is available for projects. This year the Grants Scheme will support projects under the following strands.

Strand A: Advancing Access to Justice and Rights

Strand B: Promoting the Eradication of Ableism, Ageism, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia and Transphobia

Funding is available for small and general grants:

Small Grants up to: €6,000

General Grants up to: €20,000

The Commission also runs three Grants Information Sessions this month. The sessions will provide details about the Grants Scheme including its themes, criteria and the application process. The Sessions will take place on the Zoom Platform.

Register to attend by emailing rsvp@ihrec.ie with the date of the session that you would like to attend in the subject line:

11am-12.00pm, Friday 24 March 2023 – ISL Interpretation Available

14.00-15.00pm, Tuesday 28 March 2023

11am-12.00pm, Wednesday, 29 March 2023

2023 SuperValu TidyTowns Competition now open for Entries

 

The closing date for receipt of entries for this year’s competition is Wednesday, 10 May 2023.

Entry to the competition will only be accepted by email to tidytowns@drcd.gov.ie

NPWS Grants for Small Recording Projects 2023

Ireland has a long tradition of natural history recording. NPWS recognises that the recording community needs support to maintain and enhance its expertise in species identification and recording.

The primary aim of these grants is to support and encourage the current network of naturalists recording in Ireland and to develop the next generation of specialist recorders. Grants are aimed at volunteer, unpaid recorders, or groups, societies and associations of recorders who have limited/no access to financial supports for their work.

This is the fifth year of the grant scheme and so far it has supported over 70 projects run by individuals and groups. Grants have covered the entire range of Irish natural history including site recording of biological groups (e.g. moths, other terrestrial invertebrates, bats, plants, marine organisms), support for publications and updating of web sites, and support to purchase specialist survey equipment.

NPWS is pleased to announce that the 2023 scheme is now open. Applications are being sought from the recording community for Irish natural history-related projects.  Applications must be submitted to biodiversitypolicy@housing.gov.ie, with NPWS Grants for small recording projects 2023 in the subject field, by 5pm on 31st March 2023.

CLÁR Funding

Clár or Funding for Small-Scale Rural Projects is a targeted investment programme which provides funding for small-scale - infrastructural projects in rural areas that have suffered the greatest levels of population decline.

The 2023 CLÁR Scheme is now open.

The Measures being funded under the 2023 CLÁR Programme are:

Measure 1 : Developing Community Facilities & Amenities - will be administered by the local authorities in consultation with local communities

Measure 2: Mobility, Cancer Care and Community First Responders Transport

Measure 3: “Our Islands”

Measure 2 and Measure 3 will be administered directly by the department.

Measure 1

Applications will only be accepted directly from Local Authorities under Measure 1. Please contact your Local Authority for an application form and further information.

Applications are being accepted directly by the Department in respect of Measures 2 and 3 via email to CLAR@drcd.gov.ie

Scheme Outlines and Application Forms in respect of these measures can be accessed below.

The deadline for receipt of applications under Measures 1 and 3 is Tuesday 6th June 2023.

The deadline for receipt of applications under Measure 2 is Friday 12th May 2023.

For further queries please contact CLAR@drcd.gov.ie

Community Buddy Training with Cycle Against Suicide

The training will take place: 

April Tues 18th, Thurs 20th and Tues 25th, Thurs 27th 

over 4 evenings* 7-10pm

*All 4 training evenings must be attended in order to complete the training. 

Training to become a Community Buddy is through Peer-Support Wellbeing Programme.

Training is delivered via Zoom and free of charge for anyone already volunteering in a club or association within their local community. 

The Cycle Against Suicide Peer-Support Wellbeing Programme is an intensive training centered around a structured but supportive conversation in a safe and non-judgmental space. Peer-Support allows an individual to discuss how they are coping or not coping and working together with a trained peer-mentor to co-produce ways of moving forward to overcome the challenges.  

Moths Ireland Conference 2023 

A great event this summer for moth and biodiversity enthusiasts!

Watch this space for a series of bogland biodiversity webinars and events during April and May...

SDG National Stakeholder Forum: 25 April

The next meeting of the SDG National Stakeholder Forum is taking place on Tuesday 25 April online and in-person in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin from 10.30am – 4.30pm.

The meeting will focus on Ireland’s 2023 Voluntary National Review.

The Voluntary National Review is a progress report which reviews Ireland’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It will be presented to the United Nations in July.

A draft of the report will be shared in advance of the Forum meeting and stakeholders will be invited to share their views and recommendations as part of the break-out sessions held on the day.

A chapter on Leaving No One Behind has been included in the report based on the outcomes of the January meeting of the SDG National Stakeholder Forum.

Everyone is welcome to attend April’s meeting and every effort will be made to meet the needs of all participants.

Registration for the event will open on the 3 April.

Enhanced Community Care 

Enhanced community care is a new initiative from the HSE that will enhance and increase community health services.

SDGs and the Oireachtas

Officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications were recently invited to a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate and Environment to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Attention Communities Of North/South Leitrim and North/South Roscommon

Are you interested in setting up a Community Responder Scheme and becoming a Community First Responder in your community and don't know how to go about it and need the proper information. Carrick on Shannnon Rapid River Responders are having an information night on Thursday 6th April in Landmark Hotel Carrick on Shannon at 7pm at their launch event. As part of this Launch event Liam Stewart Community Engagement Officer from the National Ambulance Service will be in attendance to give a brief talk on the advantages of having this valuable asset within the communities in which we live and will provide the relevant information to help with forming the scheme including training etc.We are asking for 2 community representatives from within the Leitrim and Roscommon areas to come along to this talk and find out more about the schemes and meet some already established CFR volunteers who provide this life saving asset within their communities. We will also have some suppliers of Defibrillators and other equipment on the night. Hope to see you all there.

World Health Day  7 April 2023 

WHO’s 75th anniversary year is an opportunity to look back at public health successes that have improved quality of life during the last seven decades. It is also an opportunity to motivate action to tackle the health challenges of today  ̶  and tomorrow.

Join WHO on a journey to achieve Health For All and to motivate action to tackle the health challenges of today and tomorrow. If you are organizing an event for World Health Day 2023 or the WHO 75th anniversary, here are the campaign assets.