One year after the launch of the National Centre for City Connects Ireland (NCCCI), momentum for City Connects is growing thanks to its dedicated staff and community partnerships. Since 2020, City Connects has been implemented in 10 primary schools in the North East Inner City (NEIC) section of Dublin, Ireland, with more schools joining this fall.
“Every time we expand into a new context, it looks different while maintaining all the core elements of the practice,” said City Connects Executive Director Mary Walsh. “Ireland is a great example of that.”
Plans for further expansion this fall include the implementation of City Connects in eight post-primary schools, the equivalent of middle schools in the U.S. The new schools include six mainstream secondary campuses and two community-based, high-support campuses. The enrollments will include children who have attended one of the 10 City Connects primary schools.
This growth “tells us that the original pilot program has gone well,” said Walsh. “Many people in the government, in schools, and in the community have been convinced this strategy works for Irish students. We’ve demonstrated that City Connects is useful and provided additional support the schools and students don’t currently have.”
The NCCCI is based in Mary Immaculate College (MIC) in Limerick. MIC educates 40 percent of Ireland’s elementary school teachers. City Connects’ work in the country is funded by the Department of Education. The City Connects staff in Ireland now includes NCCCI Director Eucharia McCarthy, National Director of Implementation Gerry Cullen, a Program Manager, and a researcher.
McCarthy and Cullen recently participated in a breakfast event attended by 80 City Connects’ community partners—an impressive figure considering that the initial number of school partnerships in Ireland was in the single digits.
One partnership making an impact is Word Warriors, an after-school creative writing program run by the organization Fighting Words. It includes workshops, games, and activities in which volunteers support students in creating their own written work, be it a short story, script, song, poem, or comic strip.
“At the end of the eight-week programme, each member will have been encouraged and supported to challenge themselves and create something they can be proud of,” Programmes Co-ordinator at Fighting Words Mark Davidson said. “The programme is totally free for participants and, as with everything we do, the emphasis is on fun, participation, and confidence building.”
Community partnerships are critical to providing support for students’ strengths and needs. Coordinators often serve as a conduit to these partners, strengthening ties between schools and organizations. That includes large partners like Basketball Ireland, the national governing body for the sport.
According to Basketball Ireland’s NEIC Development Officer Shane Maughan, City Connects is “working miracles” in relation to getting children involved in basketball.
“Over the last number of years, the City Connects coordinator has become the main point of contact between schools and Basketball Ireland,” Cullen said. “City Connects has also helped plan and facilitate inclusion days, taster sessions, inter-school competitions, and in-school and after-school basketball activities. The Coordinators help plan and schedule all of the activities, and they promote these among all students, ensuring no one is left out.”
MIC’s president Dermot Nestor observed about City Connects in Dublin’s NEIC that, “[The students’] confidence is growing, they are making new friends, and, most importantly, they are having fun!”
President Nestor also commended the tireless work of the City Connects Coordinators at various campuses, saying, “The levels of professionalism and personal investment they bring to the task of connecting [students] to individualised sets of supports and services is remarkable and transformative.”
“[President Nestor] is hugely committed to City Connects and to social inclusion, everything that we do,” said McCarthy.
On a recent trip to the U.S., President Nestor took time out of his itinerary to travel from Washington, D.C. to Boston to meet with Boston College’s president, Father William Leahy, the dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Stanton Wortham, and City Connects Executive Director, Mary Walsh.
“In our meetings that day, [President Nestor] learned so much about us, even though he already knew a lot,” said Walsh. “He gets the reason City Connects is important, and he values our partnership.”
That partnership is being recognized at the highest levels of the Irish government. Speaking this March at the launch of the NEIC Initiative’s 2024 Progress Report and Strategic Plan 2024–2027, Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said,
“City Connects is a prime example of how a successful pilot programme launched in the North East Inner City can influence national policy. Education is a great leveller and this important programme is helping to ensure that students receive the services and resources they need to thrive and reach their potential.”
