From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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Photo caption: Minister of State with responsibility for Integration Joe O’Brien pictured with representatives from some of the projects awarded funding: Eastwall For All, CityFarm Ballymun, Donabate Portrane Community Centre CLG, Bohemians Football Club.
The Minister of State for Community Development, Integration and Charities, Joe O’Brien, today announced the 111 community projects set to receive funding under the Communities Integration Fund 2023. Through this Fund, a total of €509,415 will be made available to support local community-based organisations across Ireland to play a greater role in welcoming and integrating migrants and refugees.
The Communities Integration Fund has been in place since 2017 and arises from Action 51 of the Migrant Integration Strategy, which calls for funding to be made available to local communities throughout Ireland to promote the integration of migrants and refugees. Since its inception, the Communities Integration Fund has supported over 820 projects, with grant funding totalling €3.82 million.
Welcoming the announcement, Minister O’Brien said:
"Over the years the Communities Integration Fund has been a critical source of small grant funding for many local community groups across Ireland working to successfully integrate migrants and thereby help develop vibrant and diverse communities. I am delighted to be in a position to award this funding to the successful applicants for this important scheme as I regularly visit community groups up and down the country and see first-hand how small grants such as this can kick-start small but vital local projects which in turn make a massive difference in people’s lives.”
The Communities Integration Fund 2023 open call for proposals ran from 15 February - 15 March 2023. Just over €500,000 has been made available in 2023 to support local projects through grant funding of €1,000 - €5,000 per successful project.
As in previous years, calls for proposals were grouped under ten themes aiming to promote inclusion and diversity:
As this Fund is intended to support the integration of migrant and host communities, all successful applicants have demonstrated the ability to involve both migrant and host communities in the activities proposed. The maximum grant available is €5,000 and the minimum grant is €1,000.
