To celebrate this year’s awardees and highlight social enterprise development in Dublin, the sixth annual Dublin City Social Enterprise Awards ceremony took place last week online, in line with government restrictions. The five awardees received funding from a total pool of €50,000.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu praised the awardees in her address saying “each of this year’s Dublin City Social Enterprise awardees are actively and innovatively working to address inadequacies, contradictions and underlying issues within our city.
“They are delivering change, progress and hope to individuals and communities while also bringing about economic, community and policy benefits.”
The issues that the five awardees are seeking to address include: diversity, social inclusion, disability, unemployment, mental health, family support, old age care, education and sustainability.
As well as addressing these issues, the awardees provide practical help to people who are disadvantaged, those who are particularly far from the labour market or from inclusion in their communities.
This years social enterprise awardees are: Outhouse, The Open Doors Initiative, MyMind, The Great Care Co-op, and ReCreate Ireland.
Jeanne McDonagh of Outhouse – which partners with Technological University Dublin to create employment for marginalised people through their Access and Apprenticeship courses – told The Liberty they were “shocked and delighted” when they heard the news that they had received the award.
“It gave our organisations a real boost and showed that their work was being recognised and will spur them on to do more in the employment space,” McDonagh said.
“The nature and reach of our work has really amplified and we are at full capacity. We will be putting the money towards a position to help us carry out the various projects and programmes we are involved in and support our organisations in their excellent efforts”.
The funding awarded to social enterprises will allow them to further develop their plans and activities and bring the benefits of their social enterprises to more individuals and communities.