Kilkenny LEADER Partnership held an end-of-year exhibition event in the Mayfair Library on Friday to highlight the ongoing integration work taking place in Kilkenny.
Faces and Stories is a living, evolving project that brings together voices from different backgrounds, united by a shared desire to connect, to be heard, and to understand one another. The project began within the Ukrainian community in Kilkenny as a simple yet powerful initiative – a space where people could express their experiences, memories, and hopes.
Participants from the project, the Conversation Club – including the TY students involved – as well as members of the Kilkenny Community Integration Forum, all gathered for the event.
This year, it was integrated into the KLP Conversation Club project. Through poems, diary entries, reflections and personal writings, people share fragments of the lives they left behind and the hopes they carry forward.
Kilkenny LEADER Partnership began to run Conversation Clubs in 2023. Under the SICAP (Social Inclusion) programme, it proved an important initiative that supports people in building their spoken English skills.
When people arrive in a new country, one of the biggest challenges they face are around communication barriers, which can lead to isolation.
The SICAP team works closely with these new communities, helping them with courses, training programmes, signposting to English classes, CVs and job search supports and other supports. Learning about Irish traditions, values, social norms, and history also emerged as an important part of the Conversation Club discussions. The club is supported by Transition Year (TY) student volunteers.
Also on Friday, Minister of State Jerry Buttimer launched a new national awareness campaign to highlight how Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) connect public bodies and communities across Ireland.
Local Community Development Committees are established in each local authority area to help implement community development initiatives and support community programmes such as the SICAP, Healthy Cities, the Empowering Communities Programme and the Local Enhancement Programme.
The campaign will run for three weeks.
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