Children’s Promise

Grants Announced

Traveller and migrant families, young people with autism and mothers with difficult pregnancies are among those benefitting from a ‘Children’s Promise Grants Programme’ which has been announced as part of End Child Poverty Week.

Seventeen groups across Ireland are receiving the support to form a new ground-breaking learning network. The network will allow the sharing of experiences in terms of impact, communications and ability to identify solutions to benefit children.

The €1 Million is being provided by the Katharine Howard Foundation (KHF) in partnership with Community Foundation Ireland.

The organisations were selected through a rigorous application process. Each one is responsible for nourishing the potential of vulnerable young children in an area of critical social need.

They include projects to support foster carers, kinship carers and young parents with a care history; mothers and children who have experienced domestic violence and abuse; young families experiencing homelessness; pregnant mothers in difficult circumstances, Traveller families experiencing exclusion; families living in Direct Provision; young children with Autism and young children of prisoners.

Each one has developed a model of support that they to strengthen, or to scale, through the investment and partnership offered by the grants programme.

Katharine Howard Foundation has supported organisations focused on child poverty since 1979, mainly through investment in community-based programmes focused on vulnerable children and their families, through prevention and early intervention initiatives. KHF also concentrates on supporting ‘promising practices’, that respond to a local or regional need, and that find it hard to secure other funding.

Community Foundation Ireland is a philanthropic hub on a mission of equality for all in thriving communities. Since the year 2000 it has with the donors and supporters provided more than €120 Million to 5,000 voluntary, community and charitable groups.

End Child Poverty Week

Both Foundations also support the Children’s Rights Alliance, which this week is leading on End Child Poverty Week and calling for Government to make Budget 2024 a Children’s Budget – one that invests in early childhood education and care to break the cycle of poverty for children. This includes:

• Removing 98% of the cost of childcare for families on the lowest income by increasing subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme for all families in receipt of the Medical Card.
• Funding the implementation of the new early years DEIS model, which would include a focus on wraparound services, provision of food and parental support.

Speaking at the celebration of the Children’s Promise grants programme awardees, Dr Cliona Hannon, CEO of KHF said “KHF is delighted to partner with Community Foundation Ireland in the Children’s Promise grants programme, to support the ‘promising practices’ in these 17 community-based organisations. The support will help the projects to grow their impact over the coming years. KHF and the Community Foundation also partner with the Children’s Rights Alliance on ‘End Child Poverty week’, and the Children’s Promise grants programme is another practical collaboration to prevent and intervene an early stage in the lives of children living in poverty, to enable them to reach their full potential.”

Denise Charlton, Chief Executive, Community Foundation Ireland added

“As a philanthropic hub we are determined to ensure that our equality mission reaches every child.

A moment has arrived if we are to truly end child poverty and disadvantage in this country, we have the resources now all we need is the determination and the know-how.

This funding to 17-groups is strategic and will further inform policy so that we truly become a society where our children all have the opportunity to play, grow and learn.”

The Grantees

Click for the List of Grantees and details of projects.