Originally funded by the Mount Street Trust Employment Initiative, Building Futures, is now funded by the City of Dublin Education and Training Board and the European Social Fund. The programme is a QQI accredited programme with participants working towards a major award in Community Development with the addition of a QQI level 6 minor award in Training, Delivery and Evaluation.
The programme aims to provide learners with the knowledge, skill and competence to work effectively in a range of community development work settings. This programme also helps develop skills for working in other settings such as training & education and / or progression into further or higher education. Building Futures includes workplace internships which will draw on participant’s life experiences to enable them to become community workers, peer educators, trainers and mentors. The programme also endeavours to use local resources, such as collaborating with key organisations and agencies, for example, the Local Employment Service, Adult Guidance Counsellors and local libraries.
Building Futures has seen fantastic outcomes over the past 8 years, with 86% of their learners progressing to employment, in addition to excellent progression to active labour market programmes and education. Innovative aspects of the programme include providing knitted in employability skills, virtual supports through Google groups, immense support from staff ensuring each learner is met where they are currently at, extensive one to ones, strong emphasis on peer support, financial supports and a programme methodology that facilitates learner’s to utilise their own life experiences in the course work.
The programme is highly ambitious with 9 Level 5 modules aimed at long-term unemployed people. Best of all, our learner’s really enjoy the programme. Individuals interested in participating on Building Futures can be referred through their local Intreo office or can register via www.fetchcourses.ie or by contacting the training section direction. Once registered for Building Futures everyone is invited to a 3 hour taster session. These sessions give people a better sense of the course and allow them to determine if the course is right for them. Everyone who attends a taster workshop is also invited to attend an informal interview to better discuss their individual wants and needs. The learners bring diversity and lived experiences, but it is how those things are respected and developed that makes Building Futures really special.
Although the age range is as broad as their previous educational experience, learners as young as 18 and as mature as 66 have taken part, the one common denominator is that all learners want to set themselves on a path to better their futures. This path comes in the form of progression to third level education and training, employment, self-employment, volunteer work and overall personal development.