Young Social Innovators aims to be in half of Irish secondary schools by 2020

Young Social Innovators, the group that encourages young people to develop innovative ideas in response to social issues, today said it wants to bring its programme to half of all Irish secondary schools by 2020.

Supported by Ulster Bank, the group’s programme already features in almost a third of secondary schools, and Young Social Innovators says that 120,000 young people have helped create solutions to social issues like homelessness, poverty, racism and immigration since the initiative was founded by Sr Stanislaus Kennedy and Rachel Collier in 2001.

The latest iteration of the programme was launched today by education minister Richard Bruton, who noted that it gives students “the chance to get involved in real life issues”, and said that it helps realise the government’s vision of making Ireland “a global leader in innovation and education”.

Ulster Bank’s chief executive, Gerry Mallon, said today that the group was the perfect partner for the bank, given it “gives young people in our communities the opportunity to be part of positive societal change”.

The introduction of a national missing person’s day and the creation of a national youth mental health film festival are just two of the successful projects that have come from the programme.