Citywise pick up €100k Google Impact Award
By Mary Dennehy
THE important work of a Tallaght education centre in supporting young people to reach and complete third level education has been recognised and applauded on the national stage.
Based in Jobstown, Citywise was shortlisted among 15 national organisations in the Google Impact Awards – an impressive feat that secured all 15 finalists €50,000.
Stuart McLaughlin, EMEA Senior Regional Manager of Google with young people from Citywise, Lauren, Ellis, Jack and Ross
However, the success story didn’t end there for the local education centre, which was also among four organisations chosen for a Judges Award – which netted them an additional €50,000.
The prize money of €100,000 is now back in Tallaght and is being used for Citywise’s Fast Track Academy, which has been running at the centre for the past two years.
The Academy delivers classes, mentoring, career guidance and study support to young people in fourth, fifth and sixth year – and is now following students into college with additional supports.
Since starting, the holistic community model is achieving a 70 per cent plus rate in accessing college, with 98 per cent of the 78 sixth year students who took part in the academy last year going onto further education.
According to Christopher Smith of Citywise, the Fast Track Academy aims in September 2019 to support 180 secondary school students and 70 students in their first year of college – a vision now made possible due to the €100,000 Google win.
“The Fast Track Academy supports young people with third level aspirations”, Christopher told The Echo.
“We are now also supporting young people into their first year of college to try and tackle the college drop-out rate.”
Speaking about the win, Christopher said: “Everybody in the room on the night was a very worthy winner, so the fact that we were able to snatch one of the Judges Awards was amazing… and a huge achievement for us.
“It was also great to have the Fast Track Programme recognised, to have the idea supported.
“We are not just supporting students from local areas who are members of the programme until they go to college.
“We are now extending the programme into college, young people will continue to be members of Citywise… they will continue to be supported in third level.”
The Google Impact Awards also included a public vote, the People’s Choice Award, which was won by Down Syndrome Ireland – with the four Judges Awards being presented to Citywise, SeniorLine, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and A Lust for Life.
Christopher wished to thank Google for the award and everybody who voted and shared the Citywise story online.
“A big thank you to everyone who voted”, Christopher said.
“The great thing about the voting was that past members started sharing their personal stories of their time in Citywise, which helped us extend our reach out into the community.
“It was a great way to get Citywise out there, let people know what we do.”
Citywise works alongside TU Dublin – Tallaght campus in delivering the Fast Track Academy and hopes to branch out to include other colleges such as UCD, Trinity and Maynooth.
For further details on Citywise and its programmes, visit www.citywise.ie
