Acorns Early Years Service opens its doors!

We are delighted to announce that our newest service is now open in Manor St. John, Lisduggan, Waterford City.  The service provides high quality early education and care for children age 9mths to 12 years and currently has an intake of 28 children under 3 years of age. As the service expands over the next 12 months it will create 96 additional  affordable childcare places for the area. Acorns Early Years’ Service is committed to ensuring every child has access to quality early education and in doing so will cater for the full range of childcare programmes funded through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. We look forward to seeing the service grow from strength to strength over the coming months.

Respond Support opened its first independent office in the Dublin Region on January 2018.

Announcing the opening of their new office in the Axis arts & community resource centre based in Ballymun, Albert Perris CEO of Respond Support noted “Having an office in Ballymun will strengthen our presence in the greater Dublin region as we seek to grow and develop new services there.  The Office, located in the heart of the Ballymun Community, will provide administrative and management support to existing and new services planned in the region”.

Respond Support today announced it is to be the Key Service partner in the provision of Refugee Resettlement services in counties Waterford and Kilkenny. Working closely with the Department of Justice and Equality, with both local authorities and a range of other agencies,  Respond Support will work over the next two years with Syrian Refugees settling into the community.  Translators, Intercultural workers and Resettlement Support staff will take up their posts in the coming weeks, to commence service delivery in January.

 “ We look forward to be working in partnership with the Department of Justice & Equality, Local Councils and local Statutory agencies in the delivery of the Resettlement Programme. The situation in Syria has been described as the worst humanitarian crises of our time and we look forward to working with and assisting the families to settle in and integrate  into their new communities.”

David Parslow , National Manager of Specialist Services

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Respond Support announced the opening of a new Early Years centre based in Manor St, John, Lisduggan, Waterford City. The centre will provide number of full time part-time places.

“We are delighted to bring this purpose built state of the art facility back into full use to serve the local and wider community of Waterford City. We have ambitious plans to maximise the value of this facility, through developing a range of integrated services to serve families in the local and wider community. “

Albert Perris, CEO

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IMPACT

• 725 Participants availed of our Family Support programmes
• 290  attended our Day Care Centres for Older People each week
• 330 children attend our Early Years services daily
• Over 200 young people attend our afterschool services daily

Following a recent strategic review and period of deliberation and reflection on our role in the Accredited Education sector, on current and future needs, the development in recent years of other providers and partnerships responding to professional housing training needs, and the sustainability of a small specialist college, a decision has been taken to close Respond! College, after the current cohort of students have completed their studies. 

Respond College was established to provide specialist accredited training to the housing and community sector in Ireland and was one of the first accredited institutions to provide accredited professional housing training in Ireland.  In recent years a number of important providers have expanded their offering and delivery in this area including the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), and the Housing Agency.

During the operation of the College, a large number of student cohorts engaged in a wide variety of specialist training courses such as Housing and Estate Management, Community Development, Community Healthcare and many other Community related courses.

Respond College played an important, timely and innovative role in the development and introduction of professional training to housing professionals in Ireland.  Respond College has been a key advocate and outlier in the professionalization of the housing sector in Ireland over the past decade and has contributed significantly to the professional development of housing staff, community development professionals, housing associations and housing bodies. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners, staff and students who have worked with Respond! College over the years, and in particular to wish the current class of 2017 well in their final Year.

Albert Perris

CEO, Respond Support

Dear Colleagues

Please join me in congratulating the following staff members on their recent promotions in Respond Support:

David Parslow –  National Manager for Family Support and Specialist Services (immediate effect)

Tom Power – Director Of Services and Service Development (effective June 1^st)

Lorraine Fleming – Administrator and PA to CEO Respond Support (effective July 2017)

Bonnie- HR Manager