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CANAL COMMUNITIES PARTNERSHIP

Canal Communities Partnership is a local development company serving the communities of Bluebell, Inchicore, Rialto, Islandbridge and Kilmainham. Established in 1997, the Partnership's aim is to address disadvantage, social exclusion and long-term unemployment. The Partnership is funded by the Government under the National Development Plan 2000–2006 and is one of 38 Partnership companies nationwide operating in areas of serious disadvantage.

• Mission

Canal Communities Partnership is a development organisation committed to proactively encouraging, facilitating and supporting the delivery of locally focused and tailored provision of statutory and other economic educational and social resources to all communities in the area. It embraces, encourages and practises the concepts and values of Partnership, inclusion, participation, integration and equality in order to achieve its objectives, and aims to eliminate disadvantage, social exclusion and long-term unemployment through holistic programmes and actions.

• Customer Charter and Quality

The Partnership is comitted to providing the best quality service to our clients and customers. To view our commitment to quality click here. Feedback on our service is always welcomed. If you wish to view our Customer Charter in order to contact us with your comments or suggestions please click here.

• Management

As a local development company the Partnership is managed by a board of directors consisting of local community representatives, representatives of the main statutory agencies operating in its area, representatives of the social partners and two local city councillors.

• The Area

The Partnership area is compact and, at the last census in 2006, had a population of 13,332. (See map). Although relatively small, the canal communities have experienced considerable disadvantage. The area has, for example, a significant elderly population and about half of its adult population left school before the age of 16. The Census of 2006 showed an unemployment rate of 13.3% in the Partnership area. There is a significant concentration of local authority housing in the Partnership area and some estates have experienced complex and interrelated problems of poverty, bad housing, unemployment and drug misuse. Change, however, is underway with important state/community regeneration initiatives in train in some of the area's most affected flat complexes.

• The Work

To address these complex and deep-rooted difficulties, the Partnership operates under three broad headings:

Services to People Who are Unemployed
Community Development
Community Based Youth Initiatives

You can find out more about our work from this page.

Services to People who are Unemployed
People who are unemployed have access to services through the Canal Local Employment Service Network as well as being provided with supports in the areas of Enterprise, Adult or Complementary Education, and Childcare and Early Years Development.

Community Development
The Community Development team provides technical support to local groups and assists them in developing skills and capacity to address disadvantage. The Team also supports groups in attracting funds and resources and encourages community responses to the needs of marginalized groups. An equality agenda is promoted throughout its work.

Community Based Youth Initiatives
Under this initiative issues of educational under-resourcing are prioritised along with promoting a co-ordinated response to the needs of children and their families. This is done through supporting innovative responses to educational underachievement, assisting after schools and community interests to source extra resources and building networks between groups and agencies working with children and young people.