On Tuesday 19th March Drogheda Implementation Board, in collaboration with the LMETB Drogheda Youth Officer; Louth Local Development; Youth Work Ireland Louth; Boomerang Youth Centre and Café; Holy Family School Completion Programme; St John’s NS; Ballsgrove Youth Club and Extern Intensive Family Support Service hosted an event in St. Nicholas GFC to kick off the ‘Southside Voices’ Project.

The event was attended by young people and adults aged 14+ living in the areas of Ballsgrove, Finian’s Park, Highfield, Rathmullen and Marley’s Lane. Attendees were asked to identify what community assets are already in the area that could be built on and to come up with ideas for projects or interventions that the local community needs. There was huge energy in the room with lots of new ideas generated for ways to support people in the community – including young people, pensioners, people in addiction and people experiencing mental health difficulties.

This project grew out of exploration of a number of actions in the Drogheda Report Implementation Plan by the Family Support, Children, Young People and Education subgroup including Actions 4.5; 4.6 and 5.5 relating to youth / community development and gaps in services for young people. A number of attendees signed up to become members of the project implementation group. Our thanks to all our collaborative partners at this event and on this project, and to St. Nicholas GFC for allowing us to use their community room.

We are greatly looking forward to the next stage in the project which will include production of a graphic illustration of the discussion on the night. If you would like to find out more about this project contact [email protected]