From Tiny Seeds to Big Ideas

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Spring has sprung, and just as the seasons change throughout the year, our After Schools clubs have been exploring themes of growth in order to encourage the kids to see how much they also grow and learn over the space of the year. Miriam, our Senior After Schools Club leader, shared:

“The theme of growth stemmed as an idea after one of the children in my club asked me to record their heights to see how much they grow over the time they spend in club. This got us thinking about how we can help the kids recognise all the areas they can grow in, not just physically, but mentally, socially and emotionally as well.

In both the Junior and Senior clubs, we started with a time capsule activity. Each child wrote about their favourite things at the time, what the weather was like, and what they think will be different in 6 months’ time. We locked it away, and it won't be opened until the last week of club in June 2026, just before our summer holidays.

We then measured each child up against the wall and took note of their heights, so we are going to see how tall each of us gets across the year. We talked about what helps someone grow as a person, and what might hold them back. After sharing ideas, we drew the outline of two of the kids in club, one named Ms Excited to Grow and the other Mr Does Not Want to Grow, and filled them with all the things we came up with. It was great seeing all the kids get so involved in what makes someone grow vs what stops someone from growing. They came up with all different ideas, ones that me nor any other adult in the room could come up. One of the outlines quickly filled up with all the different ways we can grow, and we still refer back to it today.   

On another day, we challenged ourselves to try new fruits and vegetables or retry some that we didn't like the first time. All the kids loaded up their plates with different fruits and veg, and gave each one a try (whether it was covered in chocolate or not is irrelevant). One girl was so excited about trying new foods that when she went to the Juniors club to collect her brother, she was telling Lorna all about it which just shows the impact of something we can consider small at times.  

We then built on what we had learned about growth by exploring how plants grow, and what they need that we also need. Each child planted their own seeds to look after and help grow over the coming months, as well as planting some beautiful flowers to fill the back area with some bright colours.” 

Lorna, our Junior After Schools club leader, shared:

“The stand out moment for me, would be seeing the love and attention the young people gave to their plants. One young person even started the trend of giving her plant a hug and a kiss every day to help it grow!”

Our wonderful weekly volunteers, including those with us for the year through the European Solidarity Corps, also noticed how invested the kids became in the theme and activities, sharing:

"They all were mad into the gardening, I've never seen them all take part in one activity together like that! The kids love to go out and check on the plants and see if they're growing each day.” 

It’s brilliant to see the enthusiasm and creativity from the children, and perhaps a good reminder to us all that we have the opportunity every day to make choices that help us grow and flourish.

Youth Justice in Action: Court Accompaniment Training Across Ireland

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Dowling and Golden with Niall Collins (Minister of State at the Department of Justice)

When people think of Youth Justice work, they often picture community outreach or mentoring. But a less visible, equally important part of our work is supporting children and young people through the court process. For many, walking into a courtroom can feel overwhelming and isolating, which is why our Youth Justice Workers stand alongside them to offer guidance and support. 

In collaboration with Victim Support at Court (V-SAC) and with input from the Probation Service, our Youth Justice team members, Ashling Golden and Shauna Dowling, have been delivering Court Accompaniment training for Youth Justice Workers across Ireland. Funded by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, this training is being rolled out nationwide with the goal of equipping more than 500 Youth Justice Workers by the end of 2025.  

The training introduces a new system where Youth Justice Workers accompany young people before the courts, offering informal support and clear explanations of court procedures. At the most recent training session in Limerick, Minister of State Niall Collins attended and shared: 

“Legal terminology and language, court processes and procedures, the flow of legal argument and what can and cannot be said in Court can be difficult or even impossible for a layperson to navigate and understand. Many young people who are engaged with YDPs (Youth Diversion Projects) may come from a background of educational disengagement or disadvantage, which can negatively impact on their ability to understand the Court process.

This Scheme aims to assist these young people and ensure fairness in the justice system.” 

Read more here 

As expressed by minister Collins, many young people in our justice system are educationally disengaged or disadvantaged, therefore by helping Youth Justice Workers provide this kind of support, the training plays a vital role in ensuring that young people are not left to navigate the court system alone. 

Court Accompaniment training in the Absolute Hotel, Limerick, August 2025.

youth workers from Crosscare who completed the Court Accompaniment Training.

According to Youth Justice Workers who have completed the training:

“I was glued to the training from the very start, loads to learn and loads to consider.”
- Cork Participant

“I thought I would just learn about the court systems which I did but also how to deal with challenging situations I hadn't really considered beforehand.”
- Dublin Participant

This work aligns with our fourth Strategic Goal: advocacy to affect change, by ensuring young people’s voices are heard directly and continuing to work towards a shift in societal attitudes on how young people are treated in court; placing their rights and humanity at the heart of Youth Justice in Ireland. 

2024 in Focus: Celebrating Growth

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To read the full report click here. Hard copies are available on request at our offices.

We’re delighted to share our 2024 Annual Report, reflecting on a year of meaningful impact and growth at Solas Project. Alongside celebrating the difference made through our programmes, 2024 marked the launch of our Five Year Strategic Plan: a roadmap that will guide our work through to 2028.

In the report, we also presented our definition of youth work and the three key principles that shape everything we do: relational, relentless, and a commitment to radical social change.

In this blog, you’ll find a snapshot of the year with key statistics from across our programmes, reflections on the launch of our strategic plan, and a closer look at how these core principles are brought to life in our day-to-day youth work. Our statistics revealed that in 2024, our programmes reached over 900 young people, with 265 involved in long-term youth work engagements. While numbers can never fully capture the depth of relationships and the growth we get to see in young people, they do help give a picture of our reach and areas of impact.

EARLY INTERVENTION AND SCHOOLS WORK

  • 720+ hours of direct contact with young people in our After Schools Clubs and over 4,200 hot meals served.

  • 200+ pupils took part in the Solas@School Business Programme, and 352+ in the Sports Programme.

  • 7 schools participated in our annual Community Business Final at Griffith College, with 158 pupils attending to support their classmates as they pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges.

SOLAS@SCHOOL COmmunity Business Final at Griffith College

COMMUNITY-BASED YOUTH WORK

14 Liberate Young Leaders took part in research and met with decision-makers, including at our “Meet the Candidates” pre-election events, to share their views and advocate for change.

  • 250+ young people engaged with Liberate programmes, 115 of which were intensive, long-term youth work engagements.

  • 2,800 contact hours of youth work across the year.

  • Over 60 first time engagements in the project.

  • 70 young people went on overnight residential trips.

New Programmes and Skills Development Included:

  • DJing, Instrument, & Voice Lessons

  • North South Conflict Programme

  • Barbering, Hair & Nails

  • Sexual Health

  • Outdoor Education

  • Film Making

  • Grinds

  • Barista Training

An overnight camping trip became a powerful turning point for a Rua young Person. Click here to Read the full story on our blog.

YOUTH Justice

Rua (D8 and D12)

  • 53 young people in programme

  • 2,502 hours of contract work

  • 413 sessions of targeted outreach

“The camping trip was one of the most engaging activities we did together and became a significant turning point for the young person. Activities like this not only provide practical skills, but also open up opportunities to experience life outside their own environment.”  - Jamin, Rua D12 Youth Justice Worker 

TRY (TARGETED RESPONSE With YOUTH)

  • 26 young people throughout the year.

  • 3 graduations.

  • 10 young people completed Fighting for Change.

Compass (Prison Programme)

  • 206 prison sessions.

  • 58 young people engaged in prison/detention.

  • 22 young people engaged in community.

10 young people completed Fighting for Change, a 6-week boxing programme featuring inspiring talks, personal development workshops, and training sessions.

Young people from The Yard took part in The Fumbally Christmas Market, selling their handcrafted goods from the woodturning shop.

Social Enterprise

  • 18 young people engaged in The Yard.

  • 14 young people successfully completed the full programme.

  • 87% attendance rate.

As part of the 2024 redesign of The Yard programme, we expanded our offerings to include barbering alongside our woodwork, personal development, and employment readiness modules. To support this exciting addition, we completed renovations to the workshop space, equipping it with professional barbering stations and tools.

Click here to read more about our Strategic Launch event on our blog.

Strategic Launch

The highlight of 2024 was launching our five-year strategic plan, Never Give Up: 2024–2028. The title reflects one of our core beliefs at Solas Project: to instil hope in our young people so they never give up on believing they can live a full and fulfilling life, and to commit ourselves to never giving up on any young person. We believe every young person is worthy of love, of someone who believes in them, and of being invested in.

Unprompted, this was beautifully expressed by one of our young people at the launch:

“The difference for me between Solas Project and other services is that they don’t give up, they actually care. On my days when I’m broken and down and feel like I have nobody, Solas is the place for me to go…it’s that little safe space so I’ll always be grateful to them forever.”

Youth Work Definition

Finally, we shared our definition of youth work, clearly articulating our approach and belief in how and why it plays a vital role in challenging injustice and inequality:

At Solas Project we achieve our vision and mission through the youth work process as we believe that youth work plays a key role in challenging injustice and inequality. Our youth work approach is based on developmental relationships of shared power, that start wherever young people are and strives to create a sense of belonging for every young person no matter their background, beliefs or behaviours. Through action, partnership, and critical social education, we support young people to develop skills to overcome the societal inequalities they face and to create a brighter vision for their future.

Building on the achievements of 2024, we’re excited to carry this momentum into the years ahead, seeing our strategic priorities come to life and creating opportunities for even more young people.

Click Here to read the full report

Stories of Impact: Honouring our Volunteers

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This June we had the delight of hosting our annual Volunteer Celebration. This is an event we look forward to all year because not only do we get to show our appreciation for all the time and effort of our volunteers, but we also get to hear about the impact being made by volunteers throughout many of our different programmes.

A big thank you the Liberties Hyatt Centric Hotel for hosting us this year; they are a brilliant example of the ways both individuals and organisations in the community support us, as many of their team have volunteered with our Solas@School Business programme and over the past few years have hired several of our young people at the hotel.

One of the things we value most is the wide range of skills and life experience our volunteers bring to their roles. During the evening, we had the chance to hear powerful stories from volunteers involved in our Early Intervention & Schools, Community-Based Youth Work, and Youth Justice programmes.

EARLY INTERVENTION & SCHOOLS

Each year we are grateful to have three European Solidarity Corps volunteers helping in our After Schools Clubs. Klara from Germany shared one of her highlights from the Juniors Club:

“I am happy whenever I see a (sometimes cheeky) smile on their little faces and their excitement about the little things and when they are curious and want to know everything, are just honest or share what they are interested in or very good at. And sometimes they come up to you, take your hand and walk away with you to play or show you something.” - Klara, ESC Volunteer

Another student on placement with us shared about her experience:

“I loved building trust and friendship with the kids and earning their trust! Feeling like you made their day a little bit better is the best thing ever. Besides that, the warm organisation that Solas Project is, it feels like a little family, especially when you’re living abroad!” - Celine, Student Volunteer

COMMUNITY-BASED YOUTH WORK

From our Liberate team, we heard from Carol, a volunteer mentor with the Step Up mentorship programme. Carol was interviewed by her mentee and gave a lovely glimpse into what a typical evening looks like for them—from baking and board games to heartfelt chats and space to vent and reflect. When asked what the best part of getting to know her mentee has been, she shared:

“Everything. The best part about getting to know you is seeing how much you’ve grown. And apart from that, all the fun we have!”

This sentiment was echoed in the feedback and stories from some of our other volunteer mentors:  

 “My highlights are the wide and varied conversations that we have, the persistence and ability to reset and reimagine when things don’t go quite as planned, and seeing a once shy and quiet mentee take to confiding in, or slagging his mentor!” - Ciarán, Step Up Mentor

YOUTH JUSTICE PROGRAMMES

This year our TRY programme piloted a new Peer Leadership programme, a 12 week course that gave participants an inside look at what youth work really involves. From day-to-day responsibilities to broader topics like child protection, drug awareness, and leadership development, the course covered a wide range of skills and knowledge.

As part of the programme, participants also gained hands-on volunteer experience across different projects. This opened up exciting opportunities for cross-programme collaboration, including when Mason, one of the Peer Leadership participants, joined the Liberate Transition Group as a volunteer—putting his learning into practice in a meaningful way. In his own words:

“All the kids were fantastic! I had only planned to be a part of the group for a few weeks to teach a bit of music but now I’m planning to go to college in September to study Youth Work and Community Development and I’m staying on with Solas Project to volunteer with the same kids for their summer projects.”

VOLUNTEER MILESTONES

The evening also celebrated some incredible volunteer milestones. We honoured Vinny for over 10 years of dedicated support in our After Schools programme, and acknowledged the contributions of volunteers stepping into new roles, contributing to our Compass prison programme and bringing fresh energy and enthusiasm to Solas@School Sports.

It was a powerful reminder of the lasting impact of volunteering, not only on the lives of the young people we work with, but also on the volunteers themselves, who often find great purpose, joy, and connection through giving back to their community.

A heartfelt thank you once again to all our amazing volunteers. Keep an eye out for upcoming opportunities to get involved—we’d love to welcome more of you to the team!

Bridging the Gaps: Expanding Support for Young People and Families

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This May marked one year since we launched our Strategic Framework, outlining our organisational priorities for the next five years. Looking back, it’s exciting to see the progress we’ve made, especially in our first two strategic priorities: 

  1. Develop the reach and depth of our programmes 

  2. Identify and address gaps in provision, opportunities, and connections 

These two priorities go hand in hand—as we continue to strengthen our existing programmes, we can better identify where the gaps are and create targeted supports where needed the most. In relation to our community-based youth work, we were able to pilot two new programmes over the past year to target groups we haven’t previously had supports and services in place for.  

Supporting Mothers: The Young Women’s Group

Young Women’s Group Meeting with local councillor Darragh Moriarty

The first of these exciting developments has been the launch of our Young Women’s Group, formed in response to the need for support among a number of young women connected to Solas Project through their children or our Liberate work.

Meeting weekly in the mornings, the group offers a space for connection, fun, and self-care. From ice skating at Christmas to a trip to Dún Laoghaire and a barista training course, the women have shared joyful moments that have helped build strong connections. But it’s not just about the activities—the group has also created space for honest conversations around the realities of motherhood in Dublin 8. In one such session, they met with local councillor Darragh Moriarty to discuss the wider changes needed in their community.

What’s emerging from this group is more than just support—it’s aspiration. For many, this space has sparked a renewed sense of personal potential and the belief that change is possible, both individually and collectively.

Barista Training with Imbibe Coffee Roasters

In the words of one participant: 

“The young women’s group gave me the push to apply for college and gave me the confidence to think that I’ll be able for it. Having a youth worker from the same area that has done the same course gives me hope that I can achieve the same as that youth worker and achieve the goals I’ve set myself.” 

Moments like these speak to the deeper impact of the group: building confidence, inspiring new paths, and quietly planting the seeds of social change—one conversation, one connection, one step at a time.

The group hosting an event for International Women’s Day at Solas Project

A New Transition Group for Young People 

Adventures with the group around the Community

The second key initiative we launched is our Transition Group for young people aged 10–13. This programme fills an important gap for those who have aged out of our After Schools programmes but aren’t yet ready to fully integrate into our broader youth work services, which support young people up to age 25.

With 12 young people currently attending twice a week, it’s a busy and energetic programme—purposefully designed to meet the unique needs of early adolescence. This stage of life brings rapid change, and the Transition Group provides consistent, positive support during a time that can often feel uncertain. 

As research reminds us, young people thrive when they have consistent, caring adults—what some describe as "lighthouses"—to help guide them. 

 “…adolescents benefit most from a parent [or caring adult] who’s a “lighthouse.” This kind of adult keeps the child in bounds whenever it’s a matter of safety or ethics, while allowing them to explore their own decision-making abilities. The role of caring adults who serve as a lighthouse can be life-changing for teens.”1 

Group Outing to Jump Zone

Given that a lighthouse represents our organisation, the analogy feels especially meaningful. The Transition Group offers both support and freedom, fun and structure—becoming a guiding light that helps young people find their way.

The programme focuses not only on fun and connection, but also on building essential life skills—like preparing food and managing time, as well as emotional and behavioural support.  

Playing music together with a Volunteer from our Peer Mentorship Programme

Young people enjoy a wide range of youth work activities, from pool and PlayStation to art and DJing, while also receiving support with homework and learning everyday tasks like making their own wraps and toasties. Outings—like a trip to Smyths to restock board games or bouncing through Jump Zone—offer both fun and valuable learning moments, giving participants the chance to practise decision-making and social skills.  

This group has already made an impact—helping young people stay engaged and supported, rather than slipping through the cracks, by building emotional regulation, self-expression, and confidence. It’s all part of laying a strong foundation for the years ahead.

Looking Ahead 

Over the past year, these new programmes have strengthened our priorities of bridging gaps and building lasting support systems. Whether through creating a safe space for mothers or ensuring young people remain connected, we are committed to evolving alongside the needs of our community. As we move forward, we remain focused on expanding opportunities and fostering strong relationships that empower individuals at every stage of life. 

Citations:

1 Cleveland Clinic, "Adolescent Development," Cleveland Clinic, accessed June 1, 2025, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7060-adolescent-development.