'Changing Ireland' in the media

RTE Radio One's 'THE BUSINESS' (April 12th, '09)
(Skip to just shy of half-way through the PODCAST if you want to get straight to our 7 mins)

'THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST' was charmed by our going green and also by “the magazine’s quality, optimism and can do mentality” ? Stephen Price, SBP

RTE's 'MORNING IRELAND' went walkabout with 'Changing Ireland' in Moyross

THE LIMERICK BLOGGER on 'Changing Ireland' marking its 25th issue

Who produces 'Changing Ireland'? The bulk of the articles are written by community development workers or volunteers. Production is overseen by an editor and a voluntary editorial board. The magazine is produced in Moyross, Limerick, by Changing Ireland Community Media Ltd, the not-for-profit company responsible for the project. The all-volunteer board members come from around the country and have a wide variety of experience and a sound understanding of social inclusion issues. The work is primarily funded by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. Board members: Gearoid Fitzgibbon (chair), Ellen Duffy, Jim O'Brien, Viv Sadd, Breda Lymer and Kay Flanagan.

'Changing Ireland' packing and distribution team

'Changing Ireland' Facts

In a Nutshell: Established in 2001, based in a refurbished bungalow in Moyross, Limerick and managed by volunteers, 'Changing Ireland' is the national magazine of the Government's main community-focused, anti-poverty programme, the Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP). It's editorially independent and gives people on the margins a voice.

The company's main work is its print magazine which is for sale in Eason outlets and goes directly by post to over 5,000 workers and volunteers on the ground and in social inclusion posts in Government.

The magazine is the most popular publication in the Community & Voluntary Sector.

It employs 1.5 core-staff, with close to 30 people involved in running the project and in production.

It's got a sense of humour (since most of the work we focus on is deadly serious).

It's readable, to-the-point and of practical use to readers.

The magazine highlights proven solutions to supposedly impossible social problems.

'Changing Ireland' magazine aims like Community Development to be challenging and empowering.

It gives activists, workers and volunteers on the ground a chance to show what works, highlight the positives and raise thorny issues in the expectation of influencing policy. They provide the news and often write it themselves.

It focuses on 'participation', 'empowerment' and 'best practice'.

Community Development is a key tool in challenging the causes and reducing the effects of poverty and disadvantage. It's been proven that taking the long approach of Community Development is usually more effective, better value and better for communities than trying to change people and behaviour by simply buying more police cars.

Our funders are the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.

‘Changing Ireland’ publishes weekly news online and the print magazine is published on a quarterly basis.

Publication began in 2001 and since 2008, it's been printed using vegetable inks and on 100% recycled paper (excepting the cover).

The magazine is packed by local teenagers.

Since 2010, the magazine takes advertising. For details including our ratecard click here.

The not-for-profit company overseeing the work is managed by a voluntary board of management. The full company title is Changing Ireland Community Media Ltd.

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Mission Statement:

‘Changing Ireland’ champions Community Development. It enables over 24,000 readers (via print and online) to network more effectively and learn from each other as it promotes Community Development in Ireland. It focuses in each issue on work by the projects in the Local and Community Development Programme. It is intended to be readable and interesting and is written by community workers in various parts of the country - so that it reflects the experience of tackling poverty and exclusion at community level.

Contact 'Changing Ireland'

Editor: Allen Meagher. Administrator : Tim Hourigan.

Postal Address: 'Changing Ireland', c/o Community Enterprise Centre, Moyross, Limerick

Office site: Unit 3, Sarsfield Business Centre, Moyross, Limerick

Tel.: 061-458011 (editor) and 061-458090 (administrator).

Fax: 061-325300

Editor's e-mail: editor@changingireland.ie

Administrator's e-mail: admin@changingireland.ie

Comment on NEWS BLOG: www.changingireland.blogspot.com

'Changing Ireland' BACKGROUND:
- produced in Moyross, Limerick

In 1999, the then-Department of Social, Family and Community Affairs and community workers on an advisory board decided to set up a national magazine to promote the work of the Community Development Programme.
The Department thought it best to place the project in one of the communities where community development work was making a real difference.
The Community Development Network (CDN) in Moyross, Limerick won the contract. Doors opened in 2001, an editor was appointed and a voluntary management board from the locality ran the project for 10 years.

One of the founder members of the project, Juan Carlos Azzopardi, said Moyross won the project because they knew what the magazine should do: “We didn’t want it to be all jargon. We wanted it to be about the people in the projects. It had to grab the interest of those working on the ground and we'd experience producing our own local magazine."

In 2001, Allen Meagher was appointed and became the founding editor of ‘Changing Ireland’.
Four years later, funding was increased and Tim Hourigan joined the project as ‘Changing Ireland’ administrator. He has been responsible for the re-launch of the website http://www.changingireland.ie and with developing other online resources such as http://www.moyross.ie
“‘Changing Ireland’ would be just another magazine and would not have the same ethos if based outside the community,” said former voluntary management member and Moyross worker, Tracey McElligott. “The magazine gives communities around the country a voice.”

In early 2011, the CDN shut down as a company (its work was absorbed by Limerick City CDP). Before doing so, CDN helped set 'Changing Ireland' up as an independent company with charitable status. A new board of voluntary management members took over from the Moyross volunteers. The board members are: Ellen Duffy, Viv Sadd, Jim O'Brien, Gearoid Fitzgibbon (chair), Breda Lymer.

5,000+ people get 'Changing Ireland'?

The printed edition of ‘Changing Ireland’ goes out to 5000 people, mostly by post while up to 2,200 people download the magazine from our website and a couple of hundred purchase the magazine through Eason outlets.

Our readers are drawn from the world of community policing, local development and reach everyone from elected TDs, Senators and MEPs, to students of community development, university libraries, city and county enterprise boards, disability organisations, Pobal staff, NGOs, trade unions, national umbrella bodies, state agencies such as the NESC, the media, RAPID, CLAR, the Rural Development Programme and other programmes.
The magazine is distributed to civil servants working in community-related and social inclusion positions. The magazine goes directly to the homes of a couple of hundred Community Development workers and volunteers who have subscribed independently over the years.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, contact the administrator by email at admin@changingireland.ie or phone 061-458090 to talk to Tim directly. The editor’s number is 061-458011.

Editorial Team Members

Members:

• Viv Sadd, Mahon CDP, Cork.
• Allen Meagher, 'Changing Ireland' editor.
• Juan Carlos Azzopardi, Community Development Network, Moyross, Limerick
• Gearoid Fitzgibbon, Development Worker, North Tipperary Leader Partnership
• One representative, Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Changing Ireland's Editorial Review Meeting 2008.

‘Changing Ireland's work in Moyross

‘Changing Ireland’ is part of Moyross. It is important to the ‘Changing Ireland’ project to be involved in the community in which it is based.
In one month in early 2008, for example, ‘Changing Ireland’ brought journalists from the New York Times, RTE’s Morning Ireland programme and the Sunday Tribune around Moyross to see and hear what the community is doing to better itself.
Moyross has been in the media spotlight and journalists have sometimes written about the area without visiting and meeting residents or people from the community. For example, a photograph showing the street where the ‘Changing Ireland’ office is based also showed the dashboard of the photographer’s car – he had been too nervous to step out of his car to take the photograph.
‘Changing Ireland’ plays its part in countering the stereotyped view of the area, along with other groups in the community.
The media often focus on the visible dereliction, but rarely highlight key ingredients in the community’s difficulties such as the high number of lone-parent families housed in the area by the local authority. Recent figures showed that two-thirds of households here are headed by a lone-parent.
In our tours, we have been able to show there are over 40 active local community groups and most (though not all) residents like or indeed love the area. We highlight the positives while acknowledging the challenges and the number of positives is on the increase.
In 2007, Moyross was included as part of a major regeneration scheme for the city’s disadvantaged areas.
On a practical level, ‘Changing Ireland’ provides regular paid work for some local teenagers. The magazine’s packing and distribution could have been subbed out to a company outside the area, but instead we employ local teenagers to work on the Packing and Distribution Team. For most of them, it is their first experience of paid work.
Also, the magazine’s editor and administrator are involved in local initiatives (for example the 'Horse School' below) and http://www.moyross.ie and it's associated blog and social media page.

Horse School

‘Changing Ireland’ is based in Moyross and being part of the community means being involved locally. The following story comes from the pupils of Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross:

The most educated young people in Ireland about horses are the pupils of Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross.
“There are more horses in Moyross than anywhere else,” said Jeffrey Payne. “We had a farrier and specialists about horses here from the Curragh in Kildare to teach us how to care better for our horses, how to tie good knots, how to clean a saddle and soften it up,” explained Jeffrey, ably assisted by his class-mates, Tony Stanners, Conor and Colm Cantillon, Christopher Higgins, Eric Ryan, Martin Payne, Lee Quinn, John Stanners, Evan O’Keefe and Paddy Llewellyn.

There is some debate among the pupils over whether saddles are really useful. The Irish Horse Welfare Trust ran the course after home-school liason officer, Tiernan O’Neill, set it all up.
“I was so happy when I got my certificate,” said Martin Payne.
Twelve pupils completed the course, including Ger and Christopher Walsh and Danielle Tuite. It took place in February and March over six weeks and the pupils range in age from 8 to 12.
“We’ve even taught our teachers about horses. They were clueless before they met us,” said the class. “For example, they now know that horses like to eat oats, grass, nuts, potato skins and apples. We knew this even before the experts from the Curragh came down.”

• This report was written by the boys named above as part of a ‘Changing Ireland’ local media project.

The EDITOR

Allen Meagher is a member of the NUJ and a former journalism lecturer.
From 1989-1995, he worked as a provincial journalist in Cork, Tyrone, Wexford, Mayo and the Midlands.
In 1995, he moved to the The Gambia, West Africa, to volunteer as Publications Officer with the National Council for Arts and Culture and as a trainer with the Gambia Press Union.
In 1999 he graduated with a Masters in International Studies and went on to lecture in journalism and media for City & Guilds at H.S.I. College in Limerick.
In 2001, he founded ‘Changing Ireland’ with the Community Development Network, Moyross.
Internationally, Allen has reported on development issues from Albania, Brazil, The Philippines and elsewhere.
He has produced work for the BBC, RTE and most of Ireland's national newspapers and was part of an award-winning BBC 'Spotlight' investigation.
At UL and Mary I, he taught sociology and media studies and continues to facilitate media skills training chiefly for community groups.