The Neurofibromatosis (NF) Association of Ireland are taking part in a nationwide call to ‘Shine a Light on NF’ and bring attention to a genetic disorder that affects more than 2,500 children and adults living in Ireland and 2 million people worldwide.
The worldwide NF community are recognizing May 17th as World NF Awareness Day and they’re hoping to raise awareness for this genetic disorder that currently has no cure. Over the years, hundreds of landmarks around the world have helped them Shine a Light on NF. This year the following buildings will be light up in Blue or Blue and Green for our association, the Mansion House and Convention Centre in Dublin, Kilkenny Castle, Bunratty Castle in Co Clare and King John’s Castle in Limerick.
The disorder is Neurofibromatosis, or NF, which is a genetic disorder that causes tumours to grow on nerves throughout the body, and may cause blindness, deafness, bone abnormalities, disfigurement, learning disabilities, disabling pain and cancer.
NF Ireland aim to be a voice for NF patients and their families. Our primary aim is to inform sufferers and their families of the disorder, supporting them and letting them know they are not alone with the condition. The organisation provide support and information on Neurofibromatosis to patients, families, and healthcare providers.
Depending on the individual needs of our members they do our very best to provide them with the most up to date information on their condition. Much can be done to effectively manage NF1 and help affected individuals lead full, healthy lives. Thanks to advances in NF1 research, new discoveries about the condition are being made every year.
They have met tons of other people living their lives and fighting NF with strength, dignity and even a sense of humor in Ireland. NF is a rare disease, and one of the most important things they can do is raise awareness and talk about what it means to live with NF.
NF is classified as a rare disease, and to see such visible support on such well-known landmarks will lead to tremendous excitement and pride among the entire NF community throughout Ireland.
The Neurofibromatosis Association of Ireland are a resident Carmichael resident organisation. May is NF Awareness Month and they are inviting other members of the Ireland community to fight with our family by learning more about NF at www.nfaireland.ie or contacting us at our Helpline: 085 702 0024 or Email: info@nfaireland.ie
May is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month. Huntington’s disease is a rare and hereditary disorder of the brain which causes people to deteriorate physically, cognitively and mentally – yet there is little awareness of the condition and its impact on families.
This year all four voluntary organisations that support people impacted by Huntington’s disease across Ireland and the UK are working together to raise awareness of the impact of Huntington’s disease, not just on individuals but on families, over generations. Family members from each region are sharing their stories and contributions in a collective ‘Family Matters’ campaign throughout the month of May.
The Huntington’s community is delighted to have the support of George Rainsford and Sarah Winckless MBE for the Family Matters campaign. George is an actor who plays Dr Ethan Hardy on Casualty, and who is involved in a storyline about Huntington’s at the moment. Sarah is an Olympic medallist and double world champion rower from the UK.
As a Resident Carmichael organisation, Huntington’s Disease Association of Ireland is very grateful for the contributions received to date, and for the messages of support from the wider community including one from the Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups. You can find out more about the Family Matters campaign at https://familymatters.com
You can keep up to date with all of their news from their website , and their social media channels including: Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram.
Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality are set to host ‘The Art of Witness’, as part of the Mother Tongue Festival 2021. The Art of Witness will be a presentation of creative practice and an online panel discussion exploring themes of language, identity and culture on the island of Ireland. In conjunction with the Annual Mother Tongues Arts Festival 2021, Smashing Times are looking forward for the event set to take place on Friday 14 May 2021 at 7.30pm.
Mother Tongues Arts Festival 2021 will have a programme of over 40 artists, and primarily will take place online, as has been the case for some time during the ongoing pandemic. Mother Tongue believe this will allow participation at the heart of their programme with the Walk A While initiative.
The Mother Tongues Festival remains the largest Irish Festival celebrating linguistic diversity throughout the arts. Until 2020, the weekend-long Festival took place on the 21st of February to celebrate its founding organisation’s first birthday and UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day.
This year, the programme will take place throughout May 2021 in conjunction with World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. The Festival will feature a dynamic programme of art workshops, school visits, film screenings, and a series of events available in 20 different languages. To learn more about the 2021 Mother Tongues Festival and to get your tickets, visit their site here.
Among the artists and panel members for Smashing Times’ The Art of Witness presentation include are award-winning writer Féilim James and Noelle AcAlinden to name but a few. Féilim has won several awards including the Arts of Council of Ireland Literature Bursary Award and Professional Development Award and an Arts Bursary from Dublin City Arts Office. The aforementioned Noelle McAlinden is a visual artist, creative advisor, mental health campaigner, curator and cultural broker. There will be Richard Edgar; an Author and Historian and Kwasie Boyce, the Artistic Director of M.A.D. Youth Theatre, Dundalk.
Smashing Times explain that “Across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Europe and beyond citizens of all backgrounds and cultures are finding ways to come together to create spaces where culture works to strengthen social ties”.
Smashing Times will work with Mother Tongue 2021 in order to bring together a panel of artists, creatives and communities from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to share artworks and generate dialogue on how the arts can be used to explore themes of language, identity and culture in relation to equality and rights and to imagine alternative ways of living and engaging with others in understanding, trust and peace on the island of Ireland and beyond.
Smashing Times are a resident Carmichael organisation. You can check out their site here. To keep up to date with the social media platforms, check out their Facebook here, and their Twitter here.
Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality is dedicated to the promotion, study and practice of the arts, human rights, climate justice and gender equality. Smashing Times is an international award-winning organisation working with artists, citizens and communities to create collaborative art practice in local, national, European and international settings.
Their mission is to lead the development of the arts to promote and advance equality and human rights and to connect citizens to the arts, human rights, climate justice and gender equality.
Independent Living Movement Ireland (ILMI) are inviting people to check out their upcoming webinar “Everything you wanted to know about disability but were afraid to ask!” which will take place via Zoom on Wednesday 5th May 3pm.
May 5th was designated by the European Network on Independent Living as European Day on Independent Living and this event is part of ILMI’s celebration of this date.
The webinar will be a unique opportunity for people to listen and informally learn about the social model of disability an how that informs the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Disabled activists will discuss the use of language and the role of Disabled Person’s Organisations (DPOs) and how the social model of disability can inform the implementation of the CRPD.
The ILMI are happy to be joined by Minister of State Department of Children, Disability, Equality and Integration with responsibility for Disability Anne Rabbitte TD who will open the webinar. Meanwhile. MC for the webinar will be Peter Kearns and will feature a short input from special guest Speaker, Maggie Cameron who is a freelance Disability Equality & Diversity Trainer with experience of developing Disabled Persons Organisations in Scotland.
This webinar is a unique opportunity for anyone who wants to listen directly to disabled activists and hear about the issues facing disabled people through an equality and human rights lens. Anyone with an interest in equality, human rights, community development, policy development and building an inclusive Ireland should attend to begin to explore how we collectively need to think about disability in Ireland.
They are inviting:
- Politicians,
- Policy makers,
- Public servants,
- Community Development Organisations,
- Trade unions,
- Equality and human rights organisations
- Local Area-based partnerships
- Disabled activists
The ILMI are asking everyone to to circulate among your colleagues and contacts who you think would benefit from listening in. To attend, please register via info@ilmi.ie by Tuesday 4th May at 12 noon.
Smashing Times are delighted to present an online panel discussion ‘Creative Voices for Diverse Narratives’ as part of the Imagine Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics.
The aim of the discussion is to support the telling of different stories and to build connections between diverse communities. Creative Voices for Diverse Narratives panel discussion takes place online on Monday 22 March 2021 at 7pm.
Panel members include Mary Moynihan, writer, director, theatre and film-maker and Artistic Director, Smashing Times; Noelle McAlinden, Visual Artist, Creative Advisor and Mental Health Campaigner, Curator and Cultural Broker; Richard Edgar, Author and Historian, Dave Randall, Musician and Writer and Dr Stephen Herron, Researcher, Academic, Cultural Anthropologist, and Community Relations Facilitator with Smashing Times.
This event is presented as part of Creative Connections; a cultural, arts-based project using creative processes of theatre, film and new digital technologies to promote reconciliation and positive community relations between people and traditions in Northern Ireland.
Imagine Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics is a non-profit charity, with no full-time staff or offices. Each March they organise a week-long series of events aimed at engaging people in political/cultural discussion and debate in the broadest sense. The festival seeks to cover a wide spectrum of issues including, but certainly not limited to, mainstream political debate.
The speakers for the event are diverse and hugely exciting for all those lucky enough to get a ticket for the online event. Mary Moynihan is a writer, Director, Theatre and Film-Maker, Artistic Director of Smashing Times.
Elsewhere, there is Noelle Mc Alinden; a Visual Artist, Creative Advisor and Mental Health Campaigner, Curator and Cultural Broker. Impressively, Noelle is a Creative Adviser, Curator, Arts Educationalist, a former Head of Art and Design in a Post-Primary school and Senior Lecturer for Arts at Fermanagh College of Further Education.
The panel will also include Richard Edgar is an Author and Historian based in Portadown. He has a keen interest in Genealogy and is also a regular contributor to Portadown Heritage Tours. There will Dave Randall; a London based musician and writer. He has toured the world playing guitar for Faithless, Dido, Sinead O’Connor and many others, and has released his own critically acclaimed albums under the name Slovo.
Last but not least there will be Dr Stephen Herron, a Researcher, Academic, Cultural Anthropologist, and Community Relations Facilitator with Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality Dr Herron is one of just several military anthropologists in the UK and Ireland.
Participation in the festival is open to all and while the main debates will not be party-political, groups and individuals are encouraged to debate those ‘difficult’ and contentious issues that normally don’t air in public discussion.
Smashing Times are a resident Carmichael organisation. A theatre company which focuses on promoting diversity within Ireland, their work bands the world together in the most positive sense. You can keep up date with all their work here.
Finally, you can follow their social media accounts too; their Facebook here, and their Twitter here.
Carmichael and The Wheel are set to host a joint event on March 23 which will mark the publication of a significant new report for nonprofit organisations in Ireland. The report will primarily focus in on the training and support needs of community and voluntary organisations, charities, and social enterprises.
The study, Consultation report on the support needs of the non-profit sector, was produced by Sheila Cahill Consulting, co-commissioned by Carmichael & The Wheel and co-funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The report contains the results of new and extensive qualitative research into the support needs of voluntary organisations, community groups, charities and social enterprises, following a wide-ranging consultation which involved organisations representing the full diversity of our sector as well as policy-makers, regulators and funders.
Agenda
Introduction & Welcome |
Diarmaid Ó Corrbuí, CEO of Carmichael |
Opening Remarks |
Joe O’Brien T.D. Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development |
Presentation of the Report and Key Findings |
Sheila Cahill, Report Author |
Response & Context |
Professor Tom Collins, former Head of Education at NUI Maynooth |
Closing |
Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel |
Carmichael and The Wheel hope this timely report will provide important information to any organisation which seeks to support nonprofit organisations and the work they do to advance public good in communities across Ireland.
The report will be circulated to all attendees after the event and will be available online soon after.
This event will be held on Zoom. Meeting details will be sent to you after registration. Please note that this online event will be recorded. To watch, simply sign up the wheel if you have not already done so, or simply log in if you already have an account with the wheel.
CE Positions
Carmichael sponsors a Community Employment Scheme (CE) programme providing quality part-time staff across a wide range of disciplines in nonprofit, community and sporting organisations.
To take up a position on this programme you must be eligible for Community Employment.
Please contact your local Intreo Office for more details.
Position: Grounds Person
Sponsor: Oliver Plunkett’s GAA Club
Sub-Sponsor: Carmichael
Location: St. Oliver Plunkett’s GAA Club, Navan Road, Dublin 7
Download General Operative Maintenance Job Description
Position: Sales Assistant
Sponsor: Carmichael
Sub-Sponsor: Capel St Shop, Caring and Sharing Association
Location: Capel St Shop, Dublin 1
Download Sales Assistant Job Description
Position: Receptionist
Sponsor: Carmichael
Sub-Sponsor: St. Finbarr’s GAA Club
Location: 7 Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra, Dublin
Download Receptionist Job Description
Position: Support Worker
Sponsor: Carmichael
Sub Sponsor: An Siol Community Development Project
Location: 7 Fassaugh Avenue, Cabra, Dublin
Download Support Worker Job Description
Position: Housekeeping
Sponsor: Carmichael
Sub-Sponsor: Carmichael
Location: 4 Brunswick St N, Dublin, D07 RHA8
Download Housekeeping Job Description
Position: Caretaking Facilities
Sponsor: Carmichael
Sub-Sponsor: Carmichael
Location: 4 Brunswick St N, Dublin, D07 RHA8
Download Caretaking Facilities Job Description
Position: Trainee Childcare Worker
Sponsor: Carmichael
Sub-Sponsor: Little Stars Creche
Location: Blackhall Place, Dublin 7
Download Trainee Childcare Worker Job Description
ADHD Ireland continue to host events that inform and reassure all of those interested in the organisation and their work, with two upcoming webinars this month.
ADHD Ireland, the resident Carmichael organisation, regularly hold events with industry-experts and entertainment figures; always looking to inform and educate all interested parties. On February 25, there will be a webinar titled ‘The Human Microbiome and Neurodiversity’. While on March 4 there will be another webinar, this one titled ‘ADHD Parent Tips and Strategies’.
The February 25 event will be led by Alejandro Arias Vasquez, an expert in this specific area of the human microbiome in terms of ADHD. ADHD Ireland explain in the event biography that ‘this talk will be delivered by Alejandro Arias Vasquez’s one of the leading researchers in the area and his goal is to find genes involved in the variation of brain traits as well as for genes involved in the risk of complex neuropsychiatric diseases’.
The price of this event is just €5, a meagre figure for an event which will be so informative and helpful to so many. To book in for this event simply follow the instructions on this webpage. Following the February 25 event, there will be a parent-focused event on March 4 ‘ADHD Parents Tips and Strategies’.
This event will be headed by Una O’Brien, a speech and language therapist with ‘years of experience supporting families working through the challenges of ADHD’. Una will discuss a range of tips and useful strategies for managing your ADHD child’s routine at this uncertain time and will be open to taking questions either in advance via email to info@adhdireland.ie.
As a follow on from this webinar, Una will be facilitating two 5 week Parents Plus courses, one coming up in February and one in March. There is also a teen course coming up in April. Excitingly, this will be a completely free event, but to book in you must visit the page here. For further events, keep an eye on the ADHD Ireland website here.
ADHD host regular events, so to keep up, they have lots of social media pages to never miss an event. Find their Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter by clicking on the links.
The Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association are taking part in a sponsored silence campaign in a major fundraiser. The IMNDA are hoping to raise funds for their association and in turn, to increase motor neuron disease awareness throughout this campaign.
The resident Carmichael organisation, the IMNDA, will run the sponsored silence campaign which will use the hashtag #Voice4MND. The premise is supporters will stay silent for a total of 30 minutes, in order to experience what it is like to lose your voice like those with motor neuron disease.
The stats show that more than 80% of those living with MND will go on suffer some level of speech difficulty, with many losing their speech completely. Funds raised will go a long way to assist the IMNDA in their help and supports they provide for the MND community in Ireland.
For example, the IMNDA operate a free information phone line for those in need of information and general help with all that comes with an MND diagnosis. There is much more to their work however.
They employed four nurses, they have access to specialised equipment on a loan basis to all clients, once recommended by an occupational therapy etc. The money raised will really go to a multitude of vital services, not least bereavement counselling.
To date, the IMNDA have raised over €23,000, with 49 entrants having stayed silent for a total of 333 hours. As the IMNDA says, sometimes silence is louder than words. To keep informed with all the work of IMNDA you can check out their website here.
Finally, you can check out their social media too, their Twitter here, their Facebook here, and their YouTube here.
The next round of the Carmichael Mentor Programme is now open for applications. To date over 100 CEOs and managers of nonprofit organisations have benefited from the Carmichael Mentoring Programme. We are now launching the next round of the mentoring scheme.
Being the leader of an organisation can be tough anywhere but it is especially true in the nonprofit sector. The value of a mentor is having someone who can ask questions that clarify the situation and can help relieve the anxiety that builds when there is nowhere to articulate the doubts and concerns that the CEO may feel.
The purpose of the Carmichael Mentor scheme is to help meet with this need by using our panel of very experienced mentors who bring a range of skills, insights and backgrounds in a range of sector such as large corporate, SME, public sector and the nonprofit sector. Our mentors are volunteers and will provide confidential one-to-one advice and guidance.
This mentoring round is limited to 12 places and the service for successful applicants is free.
If you wish to apply, please visit https://www.carmichaelireland.ie/what-we-do/supports/mentoring/ for more information and the short application form. The form should be sent to Roisin@carmichaelireland.ie by close of business, Friday the 26th of February.
Carmichael would also love to hear from people who may be interested in becoming a mentor for this programme.
The programme is only available to those working in the nonprofit sector.
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