Local Faces: Jonathon Doyle
By Hayden Moore
JONATHON Doyle grew up in Jobstown, it is part of his identity, and through Citywise Education, he has witnessed his community take charge of its future through education.
“There has always been a low progression rate to third level studies around the area,” Doyle tells The Echo days before he and his wife Aoife are expecting their second child.
CEO of Citywise Education, Jonathon Doyle, has witnessed his communty take charge of its future through education
“In the last census, 29 per cent of people from Tallaght went on to third level education and if you look at Jobstown and Brookfield, it’s only five percent who hold a degree.
“But for those people who come to Citywise, over 80 percent go on to to third level education - now, that’s just whopper.
“There is a cyclical nature around here of having no plan when you leave school.
“The old way would be people saying ‘where are you going to work, have you got an apprenticeship?’.
“People still go down that route but you’re seeing a lot more people having a plan today.
“You see someone coming through our doors with one of our programmes when they’re eight-years-old and then in the flash they’re filling out a CAO form for third-level education.
“I was in Citywise when I was young and they were very supportive of me, maybe pushing me a little bit to have a look at college or to focus on school and getting me thinking about the future.
Jonathon Doyle
“They helped me become more decisive.”
Whether it be through their clubs and leadership, STEM or fast -track academy programmes, Citywise Education creates a clear pathway for young people.
Citywise has become a focal point in creating greater pathways through education and extra-curricular activities for youths in the community since landing in the heart of Jobstown in 2004.
From Kiltalown, Jonathon grew up in a single-parent household along with his two brothers and first stepped foot through the doors of The Durkan Centre aged 17 seeking some guidance and a desire to work in his community.
After St Thomas’ National School, Jonathon graduated from Mount Seskin Community School with enough points to enrol in an Undergraduate Degree in Community and Family Studies in NUI Galway.
Jonathan Doyle would like to challenge ministers and politicians to come out and have a look at Citywise because they do need to receive some sort of State funding
All throughout, the St Anne’s GAA Club member remained involved with Citywise.
After the great John Keogh, who was instrumental in growing Citywise in Jobstown over the years, stepped aside as CEO in 2019, the opportunity arose for Jonathon to take over.
A product of the benefits of Citywise, Mr Doyle believes everyone can achieve their potential.
“I suppose if I can do it, anyone can really.
“I’m from Kiltalown, brought up in a house with my two brothers and only my mam. I’m just like the kids who walk through these doors today.
Jonathon Doyle
“Everyone is able to achieve their potential, I am in no way unique.
“The way we look at it is, people come into Citywise with all the information, we just give them the confidence.”
Now at the helm, the 33-year-old is driven to grow Citywise into other disadvantaged communities.
“When I took over as CEO, I had a vision for five years and I want to see more Citywise [education centres] in communities around Dublin,” he tells The Echo during a phone interview.
“What I’m doing is looking at the model to see how it works and figuring out how to replicate that across other communities such as, maybe, Ballymun or Finglas.
Jonathon Doyle
“The key to it is that it’s local people coming into the building and they act as these role models for children coming through.
“If they see lads from around the corner working in the community, going on to third level education, it’s a positive role model for them.
“Citywise wouldn’t work as well if it was people from outside the community running the place.
“What I want to do is develop a programme to go into communities, train local people up and let them take the brand and go with it – we’d just be facilitating it.”
Jonathon did pinpoint a shortcoming for his plans – funding.
“Look we can fundraise in the community or through other philanthropic funding, it’s easy for people to buy into the paying for activities,” he says.
“But it can be a little bit more difficult to fundraise for staffing.
“I want to challenge ministers and politicians to come out and have a look at Citywise to see what we’re doing here because we do need to receive some sort of State funding.”
He added: “The drop out rates are so high in the area for first years in college.”
“If we were supported by the State, we could provide programmes to support our first years because unfortunately once they hit 18, we’re limited in how much we can support them.
“We want to provide a place for first years to come here and socialise, and get the additional supports they deserve.”
As mentioned, The Echo managed to nab Jonathon as he was getting ready to enjoy some quality time with his wife Aoife and daughter Clodagh before child number two arrives this week.
The couple met 12-years-ago and despite hailing from two rival GAA clubs, St Anne’s and Thomas Davis, and surviving all the stick they’ve received from friends – they wed in 2018 after managing to purchase a family home in 2016.
“We bought a house in Seskin View in 2016 and that was obviously a big deal, I was the first one in my family to break that cycle of renting a housing or living in social housing,” Jonathon says.
“It was just the four of us here in Kiltalown when I was growing up, my mam, me and my two brothers, Ian and Darren you know?
“Jobstown today is very, very different than the Jobstown I grew up in and I have really seen the place grow over the years.
“I love Tallaght and more specifically, I love Jobstown. I love the characters that you see around the place, I love the people of Jobstown.”
By subscribing to The Echo you are supporting your local newspaper Click Here: Echo Online.
