Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie MLA has urged communities in North Belfast to grasp the opportunity to create a legacy of community renewal from EU funded initiatives.
The Minister was speaking at a celebration event to showcase the collaborative work of three strategic initiatives to improve ICT skills and resources, accessible transport and provision of youth services in North Belfast. The initiatives, implemented by North Belfast Partnership, with funding from the EU Urban II Programme, are being delivered through six Community Empowerment Partnerships (CEPs).
Participants at the event joined in a series of interactive workshops on the three themes and learned how they are being delivered. The finale to the event was a programme of fun recreational activities, including creative music workshops, radio production and a soccer tournament for young people from across North Belfast.
Key speaker, Ms Ritchie called upon the community sector to maintain focus on the important task of rebuilding communities in North Belfast. The Minister said: “regeneration is not just about bricks and mortar. It is about local communities and Government working collaboratively to bring about real and lasting change.”
The Minister praised those involved in the task of regenerating North Belfast for embracing a vision of positive change in the area. Ms Ritchie said this represented real progress and reflected “the success of local people and local communities, working together to tackle local issues and problems.”
Echoing these sentiments, Murdo Murray Chief Executive of North Belfast Partnership said: ““The Inner North Belfast Urban II Programme in general and today’s celebration of the joint CEP led initiatives are testament to the commitment of the people of North Belfast to work together with, between and across communities, collaboratively with Government to make a serious and sustained attempt to tackle disadvantage and improve the overall living standards of the poorest within North Belfast”.
Urban II represents a £12.4 million investment focusing on regeneration in disadvantaged areas within inner North Belfast. The event showcased three collaborative working initiatives dedicated to community transport, ICT literacy and youth services representing an investment of over £1.1 million of that fundingThese programmes are helping to alleviate serious problems such as access to employment, ICT resources and skills , as well as provision of services for young people who make up a quarter of the North Belfast’s population.
The North Belfast Partnership’s delivery of the EU Urban II programme has also earned endorsement from Northern Ireland’s three MEPs, who have all praised the work of the programme and its benefits to the regeneration of North Belfast.
In a statement Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson said: “Urban II European funding in North Belfast has made a tremendous contribution to social and economic cohesion in the area and paid testament to those in North Belfast Partnership who have worked tirelessly to deliver the programme.”
Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún commented that Urban II “has helped communities to look together at the challenges they face and to work together to meet those challenges”, describing Urban II as “a testament to the drive, the spirit of resilience and the imagination that has kept North Belfast communities going through the worst of times.”
Independent MEPJim Allister QC added: “The work of Urban II is an example of good practice from an EU perspective – strategically targeting resources into an area of need in order to bring about safe, viable and sustainable communities that the work of Urban II is an example of good practice from an EU perspective.”
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