About Us

The key areas of work to achieve our objectives are:

1. Social Regeneration
2. Economic Regeneration
3. Physical Regeneration

Management Structure

The Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park CDP has a management structure incorporating four main components:

1. A Management Committee (Core Group). Reviews and evaluates the work of the project on a monthly basis by identifying future priorities and areas of focus. Made up of representatives from statutory/voluntary organisations, this Group has an important role in issues relating to staffing, funding, policy development, programme development and the maintenance/upkeep of the project´s premises. The current management group is Brian O´Sullivan,-Chair, Susan Stephenson,-Community, Caroline Murphy,-Community Childcare, Alexis Theodor,-Community, Biddy Farrell,-Community, Lisa Mc Govern,-Community, Marian White,-CDP, Nocola Theodor,-Community, Emma Campbell,- Youth service, Chris Furlong,-DLRCC.
2. Day-to-day management responsible for managing the project and keeping the Core Group informed.
3. A sub-committee structure provides opportunities to work through various aspects of the project´s activities and to ensure its ideas are implemented in an effective and efficient manner. There is a sub committee for each of the main elements within the overall project - Childcare, Youth, Substance Use and Awareness, Adult Education & Training, Wimmins Space, and Fundraising, Homework/Study Support, Community Employment, Child-minding, Music and Photography.
4. A Project Workers Support Group meets on a regular basis, and its main focuse is on team building, identifying training needs, the political development of the project and dealing with issues emerging from the work of the project workers/staff.

Staffing Structure

• Core workers employed on an ongoing basis through the financial support received from the Department of Community Rural and Gaelteacht Affair´s Community Development Programme. This support enables the project to employ a Project Co-ordinator and Administrator.
• A Community Employment scheme Funded by FAS since 1994, this programme employs a full-time Community Employment supervisor, two part- time assistants, and a team of 37 part-time Community Employment workers who deliver a range of activities and services within the Resource Centre.
• A core team of childcare workers (part-funded by The Health Services Executive and developed in close conjunction with Barnardos) are involved in a range of childcare activities within the project. The equal opportunities childcare programme.

Guiding Principles

• Core workers employed on an ongoing basis through the financial support received from the Department of Community Rural and Gaelteacht Affair´s Community The ongoing work of Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park Community Development Project (CDP) is informed and directed by the following guiding principles:
• Enabling people to work together in order to influence change and exert control over social, political and economic issues effecting their lives
• Challenging the nature of relationships between the users and the providers of services
• Presenting alternative ways of working - dynamic, innovative, flexible and creative in approach
• Developing participative processes and structures, which include and empower marginalized and excluded groups within the community
• Working in solidarity with those experiencing social exclusion
• An approach to partnership as a means to achieving Justice and Equality
• The development, promotion and implementation of strategies that address discrimination and promote equality of outcome, participation and opportunity.

Objectives

The CDP is active in community development at local, regional and national levels. The committed individuals who make up this organisation work in partnership as volunteers, activists and workers in a wide range of programmes. The objectives of the project are:

• to combat poverty and marginalization in the local community
• to be a resource and a back up to local interest groups by providing expert advice, information, support and training
• to ensure that locally identified needs are met by enabling the flow of communication between statutory groups and community groups
• to assist groups in working more effectively in identifying needs and responses
• to integrate development in key areas of need.

Summary

Earlier research showed that Mountwood/Fitzgerald Park was among the most disadvantaged areas in Ireland. Through the work of the Community Development Project in partnership with Families, Statutory, Voluntary and Community agencies this is changing.

The Project does everything in its power to provide all of the people in the area, from the youngest to the oldest, with positive options in education, work and recreation, tailored to their needs. Our pre-school child care programmes, our other services for parents and our new focus on the needs of older people provides an integrated and comprehensive knowledge base that works.

Our Study Support and Homework programmes are provided by a committed team of qualified teachers and third level students from UCD and the St. Vincent de Paul. The Youth Service in Dun Laoghaire, in co-operation with the local neighbourhood Youth Project, and our own Outreach program we work in an integrated way to serve the needs of young people in the area. The Wimmins Space is a valuable resource for women who want to use existing resources to assist with personal development.

The Community Employment Scheme run in conjunction with FAS has helped many people to move into well paid employment in both the public and the private sector. Our management team is guided by principles that are derived from community development, using the existing strengths of the local people and building on them in co-operation with others to improve the lives of all.