Minister for Community Development, Integration, and Charities, Joe O’Brien yesterday (Tuesday, March 7) announced the expansion of the Empowering Communities Programme (ECP) to the Cherry Orchard area.

The programme aims to empower local communities to craft their own response to area-based poverty, social exclusion and the resulting consequences, with the support of the relevant Local Community Development Committee (LCDC).

As part of this programme, a Community Engagement Worker will be recruited for Cherry Orchard to develop and facilitate relationships between community stakeholders, community groups and statutory agencies and structures.

Ballyfermot Chapelizod Partnership (BCP) welcomed the announcement, saying: “Cherry Orchard has experienced many challenges. The Empowering Communities Programme will facilitate street-level engagement with residents to identify and develop actions to strengthen the community as a whole as well as improving the quality of life of those living locally.”

CEO of BCP Anne Fitzgerald added: “The development of the programme will build on other initiatives funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development in Cherry Orchard, including the Social Inclusion and Community Activation (SICAP) Programme and the work of the Cherry Orchard Development Group as well as aligning with and complimenting other funded initiatives in the area such as the HSE’s Sláintecare Healthy Communities programme and the Tusla-funded Family Matters area-based childhood programme.”

Speaking at the launch, Minister O’Brien said: “The ECP targets specific small areas with an intensive, one-to-one approach led by community engagement workers, tackling the very significant impacts of poverty and disadvantage in local communities.

“We have seen the effects on communities when people are deprived of a voice. No one knows better what the specific challenges facing Cherry Orchard are than the people of Cherry Orchard, who experience the consequences of these challenges in their daily lives.

“Being a part of the Empowering Communities Programme will ensure the voices of the Cherry Orchard community are foremost in addressing the issues impacting the local community.”

He also acknowledged the vital role that Community Engagement workers play in the programme.

“Building relationships within and between local communities is critical to tackling social exclusion and disadvantage and the new engagement workers here in Cherry Orchard will ensure the programme is driven by the community first and foremost,” Concluded Minister O’Brien.

The ECP programme initially focused on 14 small areas across the country experiencing significant disadvantage, which are identified using the Pobal HP deprivation index.

€2 million funding was initially secured to design and implement the programme, and additional funding of up to €150,000 has now been approved for the expansion of the programme to Cherry Orchard.