Community Foundation Ireland is proud to partner the National Integration Conference.
Your theme ‘Leaving No-One Behind’ is fully aligned with the mission of the Community Foundation ‘Equality For All in Thriving Communities.’
With our donors, supporters and our 5,000 voluntary, community and charitable partners we believe that inclusive communities are thriving communities.
I want to acknowledge the leadership of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Chair Dr Roja Fazaeli, Brian Killoran and his incredible team not just in bringing us all together, but for being champions for positive change.
This year we gather amid challenging times.
Those who seek to divide our communities have become increasingly emboldened.
Their voices are louder and their tactics disturbingly even more violent.
What they have failed to achieve in any great numbers in the ballot box they now seek to achieve on the streets, outside centres where people are seeking safety and refuge and as we all know online.
Issues facing communities such as poverty and the widening inequality gap which are the fault of policy failures and not migrants are being exploited and abused.
Earlier this month the Community Foundation Ireland together with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) published our latest Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards Research.
There are many findings and it is research I would encourage all of you to use to inform various aspects of your work together.
But one key finding was that amid rising levels of material deprivation we are seeing individuals, families and entire communities dis-engage from civic society.
That is the void where extremism thrives.
The Community Foundation supports the recommendations of the researchers when they call for greater education and awareness around civic participation for all ages, significant investment in community infrastructure such as clubs, centres and playgrounds as well as tackling the root causes of poverty.
We are using these findings to inform our own work. It allows us to make effective grant-making, to offer support in emergency situations and also to continue the advocacy and policy work to deliver permanent change.
These are themes which are also reflected in your programme of workshops for today as well as in the awards which will be presented by a true equality champion Sr Stan.
Those who oppose equality use tactics which grab headlines. Often, they seem to be setting the agenda. Their voices shout-down those of reason and inclusion.
There is no doubt that intimidation is part of their playbook.
Partnership is our answer to those threats. There is strength in unity. There is strength in working together.
We only have to look at the recent successes of migrant candidates in the local elections.
The number of elected councillors from migrant backgrounds has more than doubled – now accounting for 2% of elected officials at local level. A good result and a good start.
Those Councillors, their canvassing teams, the people who put up posters, those who strategize and form policy positions will all tell you that each one of those seats was hard fought for and the result of months if not years of hard work.
Many were spurred on and supported by organisations like the Immigrant Council seeking to build leadership within communities – the most powerful and important voices for migrant rights come from within.
As a philanthropic hub we look for strategic projects and interventions. Where our support and the knowledge we can bring is not only used to respond to immediate need, but to encourage long-term impactful work – like identifying needs in education, creating opportunities for training and work, and getting people into elected office.
Central to all this is partnership and I encourage you to make it central to the discussions, the networking and the conversations you will have today.
As we head towards a budget and a General Election, civil society is gathering and stratigising.
This past week alone we have been with allies advocating at Leinster House, launching research, putting the equality case forward? and seeking policies and actions.
At a time when those of us who are engaged and active in civil society are being targeted and subjected to abuse – it has been hugely encouraging to see the determination, the commitment and the vision of a more equal society remains.
Ahead we will have victories and setbacks. Building coalitions and partnerships is how we succeed – and today I can re-commit that Community Foundation Ireland will continue to play its part, as a strategic ally for change.
Thank You
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