Last Tuesday (13 October 2009) saw the start of a brand new collaborative approach to tackling unemployment.
20 men from the Swords area, aged between 30 and 45 are the first group to attend the Men’s Pitstop Programme, which was officially launched by Sporting Fingal Community Trust, and is spearheaded by the Swords Strategic Partners, (Fingal LEADER Partnership, the H.S.E, the Community, Culture and Sports Division of Fingal County Council and Football Association of Ireland) with enhanced training introduced by the Sporting Fingal Community Trust.
The aim of the programme is to educate and re-train the participants and to teach new skills that will help them get back into work and get involved with their local community.
The Pitstop programme runs 3 days per week over 8 weeks. Morning sessions focus on issues like CV preparation, career direction, job sources and mock interviews, as well as healthy eating and men’s health issues.
Afternoon sessions deliver practical sports training courses (Kick Start 1, Kick Start 2, Refereeing course and a FETAC-approved Stewarding course) that provide participants with skills they can use straight away to get back into employment. Once the course is completed, each participant will link up with local football clubs and start to use their new coaching skills straight away, bringing a recognisable benefit to the community.
Speaking at the launch, Stephen McGinn, Programme Manager with the Sporting Fingal Community Trust said “It was clear that there was a specific target group of unemployed men, who had mostly been in long-term employment, and who now unfortunately found themselves out of work.
“The aim of the Community Trust is to use football as a vehicle to deliver a range of training initiatives, and we felt this was an excellent opportunity to teach people useful, practical skills such as their coaching and refereeing badges, or the stewarding courses. In addition to the medium to long term training offered in the morning sessions, the skills will help to get participants back into employment quickly. ”
He continues: “The input of all of the agencies involved was essential, in order to get a balance in the programme, and I would like to thank the partners for inviting the Sporting Fingal Community Trust to help design and deliver this unique and progressive programme.”
The Men’s Pitstop programme runs for 3 days a week in the Rivervalley Community Centre, Swords from Tuesday 13th October to Thursday 3rd December.