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Over £1million has been awarded to three community initiatives in North Belfast, as part of an ongoing Inner North Belfast EU Urban II Community Initiative Programme.
Marie McDonald from Holy Family Primary School and Josh McCormick from Lowwood Primary School in North Belfast join TV star Tim McGarry
The community based projects - the first of its kind to receive EU funding in Northern Ireland - will seek to improve:
North Belfast Partnership is delivering the funding which focuses on the promotion of social and economic regeneration.
The initiatives will be delivered by six Community Empowerment Partnerships and will involve 150 community organisations across North Belfast. This forms part of an ambitious vision to transform North Belfast into a ‘vibrant and safe’ community.
The funded initiatives will be showcased at a major event to be hosted at the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action in North Belfast later this month.
Murdo Murray, Chief Executive of North Belfast Partnership said
"The European Union funding will help improve the overall living standards of those most affected by poverty within North Belfast. By working collaboratively with the Government and across the community a sustained approach can be made to tackle deep rooted problems."
The funding comes on the back of an audit in North Belfast which had identified barriers to employment and learning such as serious shortfalls in the provision of adequate transport networks, ICT resources and facilities for young people aged 5-25 who make up a quarter of the North Belfast’s population.
The most recent statistics from the Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency indicate that sixty per cent of the North Belfast parliamentary constituency population are living in the most deprived areas of Northern Ireland.
A key architect of an influential report which provided a range of recommendations to Government on tackling multiple deprivation in North Belfast, including the establishment of a network of Community Empowerment Partnerships, Rev Dr John Dunlop said:
"This initiative from the North Belfast Partnership helps to overcome the long standing isolation of communities as well as conflict and suspicion between communities which in the past have wasted and weakened the potential for constructive change."
The European Commission approved the URBAN II Community Initiative Programme for Northern Ireland in December 2000. North Belfast Partnership has been appointed implementing body for Urban II in inner North Belfast.
This means that they are responsible for delivery of the programme on the ground. €17m of EU Structural Funds has been awarded to the area.
Over 230 groups in North Belfast have benefited from funding to date.
Established in 1997 the Partnership Board includes representation from the community, voluntary, private and public sectors. North Belfast Partnership takes a leading role in facilitating local area renewal.
Through the development of social, economic and physical regeneration programmes the Partnership aims to increase social inclusion and community prosperity.
The main aim of the Partnership is"to bring people and government together to make North Belfast a place that people and communities will want to live and work in".
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