£7.4m investment set to tackle disadvantaged communities

NIO Minister Des Browne has announced a £7.4 million programme of measures to tackle disadvantaged working-class communities across Northern Ireland.

Targeted at improving health, education, physical and community regeneration, the measures are intended to build trust and confidence in disadvantaged communities and tackle poor public services in these areas.

Mr Browne said: “A major obstacle to building trust and confidence is the involvement of our young people in street violence. I want to use successful experiences from last year to catch their imagination and interest and provide them with alternatives to street violence."

Among the allocations are:

• a £3 million Fund to give local communities the opportunity to develop their voice and leadership potential
• £500,000 to allow the Education and Library Boards to provide enhanced youth intervention programmes
• a further £2.6 million over the next three years through the DSD’s ongoing Outreach Programme to allow 14 individual projects across the Province to test new approaches to meeting community need through various needs
• £750,000 over the next three years to modernise post offices in urban deprived areas



• £350,000 to improve the physical appearance of communities
• £250,000 to underpin the work of organisations such as Mediation Northern Ireland in east Belfast and other community interface areas.

Mr Browne added that local communities needed to be "stimulated" in order to tackle the disadvantaged and challenge less effective public services.

"I am determined to explore new ways to allow communities and their representatives to work more effectively in partnership with government departments and statutory agencies," he said.

"Local people have the knowledge and potential to build stronger communities and I am committed to providing the support and resources to allow people at a local level to develop the skills and leadership that will make a lasting impact in their communities."

(MB)