The Beginning - How Homeless Young People Influenced the Beginning of Young Social Innovators

The Beginning

Rachel Collier, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Young Social Innovators

Rachel Collier

Rachel Collier co-founded Young Social Innovators (YSI) with Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy in Ireland in 2001 She worked as CEO for 21 years to give young people, particularly teenagers, access to doing and learning about social innovation. YSI is now a national organisation with an international reach which has brought social innovation education toover600post-primaryschoolsand160,000teenagers

AsaCommunicationsGraduate,sheworkedwithSr StantohelpestablishFocusPointin 1985whereshemanagedcommunicationsandeducation SheservedontheBoardofits sister organisation, Focus Housing Association and was Managing Director of Focus Ireland,aresearch,developmentandeducationorganisation Followingthat,andpriorto establishingYSI,Rachelworkedasaconsultantprovidingserviceswithaparticularfocus on strategic planning and training for Boards and staff within the not-for-profit youth, communityandsocialservicessector

The Beginnings of Young Social Innovators

Young Social Innovators (YSI) and the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) began their lives as projects of Social Innovation Ireland (SII), a non-governmental organisation set up by Sr Stanislaus Kennedy with the financial support of Philanthropist Chantal McCabe. Its purpose was to look at new and emerging needs in Ireland at the beginning of the twenty-first century and to devise innovative responses to these. The issues looked at were older people, immigrants, and young people's engagement in social issues.

Initially, Sr. Stan recruited a Board of Directors for SII – a group of people with strong belief and trust in her work Sr Stan always had a gift for getting the right people for the job These included people primarily from the business community, such as Barbara Patton, John Cunningham, Gillian Bowler, Ann Riordan, Larry Tuomey, who worked on many of her Boards and, of course, the wonderful Chantal McCabe Geraldine Hegarty began working as CEO of Social Innovations Ireland and later worked with ICI and YSI.

I worked with the original board and as a consultant with various social services, boards, and youth services. SII asked me to do some initial research on the emerging needs of migrants coming into Ireland at the time, exploring what was happening and what was needed

During the 1990s, large numbers of migrants were landing on our shores, and this was a new phenomenon in Ireland As a country, we were not prepared for this The legislation was underdeveloped and many people who may have been travelling here for work and escaping economic poverty from outside the EU could only access Ireland through the asylum and refugee system, which was not suited to their purpose. The Immigrant Council of Ireland was established as a response to this under the umbrella of SII.

I also felt at that time, Irish society did not recognise young people's contributions to help change society for the better Teenagers received a lot of bad press and were viewed as problematic in many areas at the time They were rarely heard or listened to in their communities unless they were causing a disturbance I put a proposal to the Board of Social Innovations Ireland, and they liked it This was the beginning of what was to become Young Social Innovators, YSI.

Fig 2 Chantal McCabe, Philanthropist and Founding Director

Fig 1 Sr Stan and Rachel Collier Co-Founders of Young Social Innovators

My Early Influences

In the early 1980s, I registered for the first Communications Course in Ireland, founded and developed by the great Lelia Doolin and her colleagues Michael Morris. I was part of the second batch of students, so we were all very much in experimental mode.

The course, a three-year Advanced Diploma in Communications, outlined everything I was interested in; photography, videography, sound, film, communications theory, broadcasting, philosophy, psychology, sociology, languages, and so much more. It was one of the most inspiring times of my life and influenced what was to come later Lelia introduced me to YSI's Co-Founder, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, or Sr Stan as she is known, in 1983 I ventured down to the convent in Stanhope Street where she lived and, having seen her on TV talking about poverty and social justice, I was excited to meet her. She was cheery and more fun than I remembered on TV! I began working with her, committing three months to help her with postgraduate research on homelessness amongst women in Dublin, which she had started at UCD Almost 40 years later, we still collaborate on work and are good friends.

I worked with Sr Stan and other graduates assisting her with her research project around the nature and extent of homelessness amongst women in Dublin During that time, we met and worked with a group of young homeless women These women were around the same age as me, and many did not use or want to use existing homeless services, which amounted to a small number of hostel beds No one had offered any alternative solutions which may have better suited their circumstances They were not asked about their needs

However, their voices were listened to throughout this research. From this information, services were designed around their lives, their needs, their opinions, and the solutions they proposed

From this research and work, Focus Point opened its doors in the run-down area of Eustace Street in 1985, which is now in the heart of Dublin's famous Temple Bar district. Focus Point provided new, innovative, and alternative responses to homelessness in Ireland, and those young women largely informed its' work

This approach would nowadays be called design-based thinking or humancentred design. It's a powerful process which puts the insights, behaviours, and experiences of those impacted by an issue centre stage. This design process often discovers innovative solutions which can change understanding, thinking and behaviours and, essentially, even the status quo Testing "user experience", or UX, in the technology world is now a normal process in design. In the 1980's young homeless people, rather than continuing to be seen as the problem, became part of innovative solutions to homelessness – their insights, knowledge, and experiences presented new solutions in the shape of Focus Point (now Focus Ireland)

When we began working on the design of YSI, I was determined to make social innovation accessible to young people.

My experience in school was never great academically – not that I was not learning, but the rote testing system proved challenging Fundamentally too, I did not often see the application of what I was learning in real life. Whether that was geometry, chemistry, Latin or algebra, and if I could not see the purpose of things, I had difficulty understanding them. If I could not visualise information, I found concepts, historical facts, and information hard to retain I didn't know about the different learning styles at the time Some people seemed just plain cleverer than I was!

I was confident that, with the formation of YSI, visual communications and education would work together to play an essential role in social innovation education for young people It did and still does!

In 2006, a talented and influential Communications graduate, Bronagh O'Hagan from Derry, joined the YSI team This ensured that our work was high quality and innovative over the years Bronagh has dedicated years and her multiple talents to helping build YSI into what it is today

I found many things in my work and learning that influenced my thinking, which could be helpful to young people I undertook some quality management training programmes Notably, early on, I took the leadership course run by Eddie Molloy for senior managers and another by IMI for Senior Managers and CEOs.

I found the tools helpful and thought they had a broader application in education. Some of our current tools in social innovation education come from different fields of thought and practice, such as business, human rights, sustainable development, the arts and creative thinking, social justice, community and youth work, innovation and enterprise and others.

One of the most significant influences was my four children I wanted them to grow up understanding and being able to contribute to the world from a young age. My first child was starting secondary school, and what I really wanted for her was to experience value-based learning or learning about the world around her, through the curriculum. Education's basis mainly stayed the same since I was at school yet the whole world had changed around us As I thought of the potential of doing something, I focused on what I would like for them

2001 – A Unique Opportunity

In 2001, we wanted to find a real, authentic way in which young people, particularly teenagers, could contribute to building a fairer, more equal and sustainable world The Social Innovations Ireland (SII) Board suggested a threeyear pilot of Young Social Innovators and provided a small amount of funding We had about 15K for each year for those years. I worked part-time in my kitchen (my cottage industry).

Geraldine Hegarty, CEO of Social Innovations Ireland, also gave generously of her time and expertise, and we had a young student from Melbourne, Australia, Nicole Roger. SII had a small office in Dorset Street, which housed both projects in their early years, the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) and Young Social Innovators (YSI). We both moved from there to an office at 4 Andrew Street in Dublin 2 before eventually moving to YSI's own premises at number 3 Dawson Street, just down the street, in 2008

In 2005 YSI and ICI projects were incorporated. The original Board of Social Innovations Ireland was divided into two separate boards. Denise Charlton, an extraordinary woman who had been the Director of Women's Aid, took up the position as the first CEO of ICI I was always amazed by how she created and built a strong organisation with few resources.

YSI, where I became CEO, attracted talented, professional, and passionate people. In the summer of 2004, the YSI pilot was ending I discussed with Stan what we would do next It was clear that SII would not be able to continue to supply all the funds for YSI, and we needed to secure new funding. With the information I had about the positive impact of YSI, I began the search for funding which, to this day, never ends! I toured all relevant government departments, including Irish Aid, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (now Department of Rural and Community Development), the Department of Children, the National Office of Suicide Prevention (later the HSE), the Department of Education, the Combat Poverty Agency (later the Department of Social Protection). The Sisters of Charity also supported us

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs came on board and remained the lead Government Department for YSI for many years. With its help, what had been a small project, began to grow nationwide from an initial 11 teachers and 100 students to over 6,000 teenagers within a few years Throughout its twenty-one years, YSI has relied on its funding primarily from Government Departments and agencies. Over the years, this has fluctuated with periods of reduced and increased funding. Corporate funding has played a significant role too. It has been provided at different intervals – such as a title partnership with Vodafone and later with Ulster Bank for fixed three-year periods

Philanthropic funding has also been key to YSI. We began as a small pilot thanks to funding from Chantal McCabe, Philanthropist.

In 2019, another unique philanthropic opportunity occurred. I was introduced to Dr. Tom Cavanagh. He was a man committed to democracy and young people and had a real grasp of the potential difference YSI could make. Dr. Tom Cavanagh and his wife founded the Tomar Trust The Tomar Trust invested substantially in a scaling project with YSI called Growing Youth Civic Participation through Social Innovation in Schools & Local Communities in Ireland. This led to YSI leveraging matched State investment from the Department of Education. This project has enabled YSI to build quality infrastructure, systems, and structure; we have been able to deepen, scale and evidence our work

YSI established a Local Leader team reaching into all counties in Ireland. We created new access points and offerings for children, teenagers, and educators. We were able to better support projects, teams and those faciltiating social innovation with young people, our educators or YSI Guides as we call them On the ground, our Local Leaders have begun to build support networks from different sectors for young social innovators in local areas.

As a result, not only do we see more project teams around the country, but we also see an increase in opportunities young people and teams have to influence positive change in their local areas

As with many social innovations and not-for-profit initiatives, growth and survival dynamics are always challenging. Establishing, sustaining, and growing a not-forprofit organisation has been a precarious business for YSI, particularly in the earlier days

There are many factors to our survival and growth. One has been the people who have believed in the potential of young people and their passion for doing good –people from different places helped - on our board, staff, volunteers, parents, educators, organisations, the media, and partner funding bodies

Defining the Challenge and Purpose

The core challenge in 2001 was to empower young people to contribute to building a more fair, equal, inclusive, and sustainable society, one in which they were respected as significant players in making this happen But what exactly were we trying to achieve? What would success look like? Why are we doing what we do? Would this be a school's programme, or what was needed?

We spent some time developing our purpose, vision, mission, values, and approach to building an organisation This was not going to be a simple task No one initiative would achieve the challenges we faced We identified various things we needed to progress to make a real impact.

We needed to design and develop the following:

Flexibility. Most teenagers were at school but certainly not all Any major initiative had to be flexible both in and outside school settings. There needed to be more space in a jam-packed curriculum at the senior level for another programme anyway. We found, however, that Transition Year and other curricula presented good opportunities to include social innovation

A Framework. Our solution needed to be framed in a compelling, new, and fun way. We decided it would be framed around social innovation learning and practice. Social innovation presented a unique, appealing and potentially fun way of engaging young people in social issues and change But it was not a familiar term within or outside education

A Pedagogy. We needed a language around social innovation learning and practice. The teaching of anything has its own language register. The notion of social innovation education did not exist Recognising this, we set about unwrapping the essential elements, the skills, and the processes around social innovation. Having years of experience working in Focus Point and reflecting on that helped me figure out and test these elements, which were combined in the Social Innovation Learning Framework

This framework emerged over the years. In the first version, we identified the four Cs of social innovation: Care, Cooperation, Communications and Change, which now form the Reflection Practice element of the pedagogy. Further elements were added over the next few years: The Values; The Pathway; The Experience; Reflective Practice Approaches, activities, and lesson plans were all devised and taken from different fields and sectors to service each of these and incorporated into new programmes and new educator training. The pedagogy or framework became known as the Social Innovation Learning Framework. This forms the basis of YSI programmes, methods, approaches, and events that genuinely empower young people to do social innovation, problem solve, lead, and contribute to positive change in their communities and the world, to be young social innovators.

Cultural Context. We needed to consider the context – a culture where, by and large, young people did not have a voice and were not regarded as reliable, knowledgeable,or able to make a valid contribution to making a change in our society. This was the norm within or without school. Engagement of young people was tokenistic at best and almost foreign in our culture This was a significant problem

We would address this issue in tandem and give young people a voice and a say in social problems, respect their insights, and provide a way to support them in developing their ideas into action If young people were not listened to, how could they be empowered? There needed to be a substantial change of consciousness in the country, and, fundamental to that, was growing respect for young people, teenagers in this case

The Solution

And so, Young Social Innovators (YSI) was born out of a perceived need for young people to be genuinely empowered, to engage young people in the world around them in a new and dynamic way – in things they care about –to come up with ideas and solutions, and importantly, to be respected and recognised for their contribution. We needed to understand how young people engage; what opportunities needed to be developed; how young people could be given agency that went beyond being asked to collect money for causes but having no way to influence these, find solutions and have a say about what change is needed.

The concept of social innovation indeed presented an excellent opportunity. This concept which emerged around the same time in both Scandinavia and the West Coast of America, showed an exciting framework around social change and transformation. It gave a way of understanding and engaging in social change. Such change generally refers to significant systemic change – such as housing, health, and welfare It is innovation that works for and makes new norms for the greater common good and will likely, on a population level, involve changes in how we think, feel and ultimately, act in new ways

There was a growing interest in innovation and in making Ireland a global leader in this space. With the emerging new technologies - the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data - innovation began to accelerate, and the potential and energy to do things differently were tangible in those early years

We thought all aspects of social innovation could provide a new and powerful learning opportunity for young people as well as developing and nurturing teenagers' passion to discover the world and do good So, YSI coined the phrase 'Social Innovation Education' (SIE) We also talk about Social Innovation Learning and Practice, learning by doing, which is really the same thing.

Many Great Educators

We met initially with many great educators, including Karen O'Shea, Mary Waddell, Mary Gannon and Sheila Coady and others We explored a number of different opportunities.

I got involved with CEN, the Citizenship Education Network, chaired by Aidan Clifford in the Curriculum Development Unit of the VEC We learned more about the education system and how it was hit and miss whether, as a teenager, you got involved in social issues or any social justice work at all. It largely depended on the school's ethos and, even more so, on having teachers to lead this.

I worked with Sheila Coady, an outstanding and passionate teacher working in St Leo's Carlow at the time, who later became a YSI Director, on designing a new social innovation programme for students at post-primary. She, along with Mary Waddell were our first educator trainers, who were then joined by Lucy Frend, Glenda Groome and Lori Fields. Happily, in the early days, I travelled with them around the country with pull-up posters and packs, delivering training as we went!”

Over the early years, there were many discussions, brainstorms, and a lot of thinking-out-loud sessions about defining our purpose, which were held downstairs in our Andrew Street office led by Chantal McCabe We came up with some key concepts – the idea that young people have a passion for fairness, no one needs to create that, and that what YSI does will be about encouraging and developing this passion. We prioritised finding opportunities to make this idea a reality. We wanted it to be recognised as an important part of the development of young people and that this type of education would be valued and given priority in the curriculum in the same way that science and technology were being increasingly valued. We wanted help people explore their rights and responsibilities in tangible ways and bring their ideas to the party; whatever we did, it had to be inclusive of all young people So, we outlined and defined a simple vision

Young Social Innovators fire young people's passion for changing the world for good. (YSI Vision 2001) This later changed slightly to Ireland's young people feel inspired, empowered and equipped to change the world for good (YSI Vision 2020)

We described, in a simple mission statement, how we would do this:

We pursue our vision by harnessing the energy and passion of young people to tackle social issues affecting them and their communities and empowering them to bring about positive social change.

We invite young people to examine the world through a new lens and to reimagine the type of society they would like to live in.

We challenge them to turn their own wisdom and ideas into action to bring about a more caring, equal and fair world.

.(YSI early Mission Statement)

This later changed slightly to : To provide social innovation education that empowers young people to take action on social issues. (YSI Mission Statement 2020)

Quite lengthy discussions were pursued about the emphasis we would place on the educational value of social innovation versus the impact of the social innovation itself. These are different in terms of focus and require different types of organisation, infrastructure, skills, and resource allocations. We decided early on that we were to focus on the education and development of young people as its primary function; later, we might explore how we could help sustain and increase the impact of youth-led social innovation, but this was not our priority.

YSI's work was originally more educational, and formation-based than seeking to deliver ground-breaking youth-led social innovations The focus was on the experience and process of learning and its impact on young people's development, identity, and confidence to take their place in the world around them.

Our decisions, structure, and resources are formulated around this priority We were building an ecosystem that would provide a way of learning social innovation for every teenager, initially aged 15-18 years, later for younger teenagers and, more recently, children. We would create access points for young people to do social innovation as they grew up through the education system – a pipeline if you like - so that, in time, they will see a career or pathway into social innovation and, perhaps, entrepreneurship or social enterprise We would have to find ways of sustaining and building the educator experience, the young people's experience and the national imperative to highlight the importance of this education.

In later years, we developed initiatives such as the YSI Den, the Social Impact Fund and YSI Elevate network to support youth-led social innovations and help sustain and increase their impact. So now we do both!

We needed to get a logo. In the very early days, both the Immigrant Council of Ireland and YSI adopted the same logo as Social Innovations Ireland: a Le Brocquy- type figure championing a ribbon in the wind. As we both prepared to incorporate as separate companies, YSI decided to develop its own logo

Different ideas were put forward, and then we agreed on the final one – what we fondly called 'the lozenges'! The idea behind the logo was that innovation requires thinking outside the box. The graphic is inspired by the lateral thinking puzzle –"without letting your pencil leave the paper, can you draw four straight lines through the following nine dots?" The designer played around with the nine dots and thought they needed to convey the energy that is involved in innovation, so he moved the lozenges to the left to signify movement.

In 2014, John Rocha responded to our request to design a symbol that would represent youth-led social innovation with a view to creating a recognition pin for educators, students and a new YSI Award trophy He launched his design for us on 9th December that year and spoke about the idea behind it – he felt that YSI was empowering young people to innovate in their communities and how this represents our hope for the future. His simple marks reflect those keywords: youth, innovation and hope One can see this in the design of the Y, I and H However, one can also see the loving embrace of a person and child We love it!

A Social Innovation Learning Framework, programmes, platforms, events and more!

Over the next years, YSI began to develop, test and roll out a number of important offerings to teenagers and educators in Ireland We developed a unique model for guiding the learning of social innovation, known as the YSI Social Innovation Learning Framework. This was designed with the experience and insight of educators, young people and innovators over 15 years It provides a deep learning experience for both young people and educators resulting in quality youth-led social innovations.

Fig 6 Sr Stan, John Rocha and Rachel Collier

Fig 5 John Rocha design for YSI

Fig 4 Early version of YSI logo

Our framework has 4 dimensions or elements and each one is important and interdependent. If you take one away then the learning will be less successful. Our framework underpins our programme design and training work in the area of social innovation education

YSI offered Social Innovation Action Programmes to students in Post Primary education which was supported by excellent training packages and online resources for facilitating teams each year. We developed a programme for primary level children too

Alongside programmes, YSI organised a series of fun events. At the regional level, we host the YSI Speak Out Tour where students speak out on the issues they care about and their ideas for change for 2 minutes to an audience of adults and peers; the YSI Social Impact Fund is distributed each year to YSI teams through the YSI Dens; workshops, kick-starts, sprints and innovation exchanges all form part of our engagement of young social innovators. At the year end, we host the Young Social Innovators of the Year Ireland Awards which is a competitive stream of projects wanting to compete for titles and awards This was and is still a major event At its peak, we had over 5,000 teenagers attending From 2004 to 2008, it spread over two days in the RDS Both for logistical and cost reasons, together with the anticipated growth of YSI we decided to reduce it to a one-day event.

YSI is fortunate to tap into and harness the energy and passion of young people year on year It has succeeded and continues to develop new opportunities and ways to empower our youth. Our Gen Z Index, carried out with our partner Amárach Research, obtains and shares the sentiments and opinions of young people each year.

YSI has set up a Social Innovation Learning Lab to share its learning and continue to evidence and create new work. An important aspect of our scaling project in 2019 was working to set out our Theory of Change and Logic Models with the help of Evaluator, Bob Ilback. This was most helpful to the team as it condensed our thinking, approaches, expectations, beliefs into a short succinct document You can find the YSI theory of change at the end of this secti

Fig 7 YSI Theory of Change and Logic Model

Sharing our Model Internationally

What YSI began was quite unique and interesting. It started to attract attention internationally Youth-Led social innovation and social innovation education began to make their mark

In August 2014, we sent our first youth team to represent Ireland at the SAGE World Cup in Moscow. The team, "Greener Globe", from Tullamore College, won the overall Gold Title In 2017 another Gold Award was presented in Odesa, Ukraine, to "Global Citizens Mapping the Future" from Portmarnock Community School, and then again in Durban, South Africa, in 2018, to the YSI Team "Mend a Mind" from Largy College, Clones. These teams demonstrated the quality of youth-led social innovation projects to the wider world.

Following a request from Angela Bennett in Brampton Board of Trade in Toronto, Canada, YSI trained teachers from 5 post-primary schools there in 2014. The first YSI of the Year Awards was held there in April 2015

In 2016 our Education Manager, Cathy Roche, travelled to Lusaka to train some 15 teachers from 10 schools in Zambia. Sr Pereka, a Sister of Charity, who had worked in ICI here returned to Zambia believing YSI had a lot to offer students there.

In 2019, one of our YSI Guides, Wissam Abel Samad, a science teacher in St Fintan's High School, Sutton, returned to his home country Lebanon and wanted to take YSI with him. Wissam became our Lebanon Regional Co-ordinator and later our International Consultant. Our initial partner was Le Lycée Célestin Freinet (LCF), a new school based in Saida, near Beirut It was a new testing ground for social innovation education in a new school which prided itself on inclusivity and social justice.

The international dimension of YSI is important to us. While we had not set out to become international, people and organisations came to us from regions where they saw YSI could provide a solution We introduced the YSI International Awards Programme in 2020/21 and piloted it in Lebanon and Sweden. YSI provides educator training to those involved. International work is a source of inspiration and learning to YSI and its teams. We have regional coordinators for the YSI International Awards Programme in Lebanon and Zambia This is a mutual partnership where we all share and learn from each other, testing new ideas and learning all the time.

Fig 8 Greener Globe Team, 2014 SAGE World Cup winners , Moscow

Fig 9 Young Social Innovators Awards Canada 2015 won by John Fraser School Brampton

Since 2018, YSI is the national coordinator for the Design For Change (DFC)Programme, which is an active network of educators in different countries. DFC hosts an international event each year, Be the Change event to which YSI sends a representative team of young people

Youth-Led Social Innovation will be the new normal

As previously stated, when YSI began, by and large, young people did not have a voice and were not considered reliable, able, or knowledgeable enough to make a significant contribution to change in our society. We discovered through our international work that this was not solely an Irish problem This issue poses a major problem which impacts youth voice and youth-led social innovation We needed to understand and address the issue if we were to successfully empower children and young people.

So, as we sought to raise the voice of youth in Ireland, we looked to build networks at national and local levels We needed to get the metaphorical 'village' on board to ensure young people and their innovations were given attention and support. Young people and YSI teams would demonstrate their social innovations, which would affect change in how young people, their ideas, and actions, were perceived and valued They could not be ignored In turn, over time, youth-led innovation would be the norm and become embedded and valued in our communities around the country. But what approach would we take to achieve this?

In the world of innovation, the quadruple helix model recognises four major actors in the innovation system: public/government, business/industry, academia/research, and civic society. This is a way of identifying the major components of an innovation system. This approach inspired YSI to consider creating local networks comprising these four sectors to help embed youth-led social innovation learning and practice at the local level and create a new norm around youth participation, voice and innovation

We recruited a new regionally based team of Local Leaders to do this and began to build partnerships and alliances which would embrace youth voice and youthled social innovation and proactively engage young people in local planning, innovation, and activities At the same time, we designed and developed more access points for children and teenagers to engage in social change and innovation, moving into the primary school sector and creating a new digital access point.

Fig 10. Quadruple Helix*

7

YSI Pipeline for Young Innovators

We have programmes which make it possible for a child now to get involved right up to Leaving Certificate: the YSI pipeline. We are well on the way to embedding youth-led social innovation in communities around Ireland so that it becomes part of how we give young people a voice, their say in the future and a way to turn their ideas into actions Support is beginning to permeate from different sectors within communities. Alongside what was a very small longstanding learning and practice team, Lorraine Doyle and Barry Peak, we have a team of Local Leaders which is there for young people and educators throughout the country.”

Times have changed greatly since 2001 I am glad to say that young people and children are being offered more opportunities to engage and be empowered - not just through YSI. They are being listened to more but at the time of writing this. I would caution that their ideas, thinking and actions need to be more respected and taken on board

Conclusion

The purpose of education, in my view, is to nurture and develop our humanity- in me, in you and in all of us. The outcome would be that we connect together and contribute to the well-being of ourselves and others and the world around us; we understand the interdependence and fragility of living in peace; we live within a changing world; we understand how to live in ways that do not harm the natural world or the people in it; we build on the knowledge and tools we acquire; we do not leave any child or person behind; we communicate with each other so that we understand and respect each other. Surely the value of learning to be more human is what we all aspire education to be fundamentally about

Yet, this is not always the focus. The knowledge and skills recognised and applauded in our education system are not always the ones that contribute to this purpose. The development of empathy, respect, critical thinking, teamwork, collaboration, communication, and perspective are not integral to the subjectbased learning we now have in place Continual application of learning which engages the student in projects and focuses on creating a better world, is where social innovation education comes into its own. It is truly transformative for both students and educators It provides a template for education for humanity Such education has the capacity to significantly change education, refocusing on application, purpose, change and how we view innovation, particularly considering the current local, national, and global challenges. YSI is providing such a model.

YSI Theory of Change

Thank You All!

I would like to thank all those who have made YSI what it is today. The YSI team over the years has been made up of passionate, creative, talented staff who, I hope, know the value of their work I have been honoured to have worked with a trusting and empowering Board of Directors who always go beyond the call of duty. We have had numerous partners, associates, and volunteers as well as dedicated and committed educators who make YSI what it is today. Most of all, thanks to our 160,000 young people who took up the challenge to become young social innovators, not knowing where it would lead them You have helped make YSI and the world a better place and I am certain most of you still do!

A group of YSI Board and Staff members, September 2022.

Patron: Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D. Higgins

YSI Board of Directors, December 2022

Gerry Fitzpatrick (Chairperson)

Ann-Marie Martin (Treasurer)

Gerard Kearney (Chairperson Finance Sub-Committee)

Kyla O'Kelly

Evelyn McLoughlin Tomás Sercovich

Eddie Shaw

Leadership Team: CEO Rachel Collier

Head of Communications: Bronagh O'Hagan

Head of Education: Eileen Costello Rowat

Head of Finance and Compliance: Anne O'Meara

Staff Team 2022:

Áine Beamish: Senior Communications Officer

Amanda Downes: Local Leader

Andrea Maynard: PhD Researcher

Angela Horgan: Local Leader

Barry Peak: Education Specialist

Betty McLaughlin: Local Leader

Cáit Fitzgerald Healy: Local Leader

Fiona Gomez: Area Development Manager

Lorraine Doyle: Social Innovation Programme Manager

Maya Evans: Education Team Administrator

Naomi Wardle: Local Leader

Oonagh Finn: Finance Administrator

Sara Hakim: Local Leader

Sara Thompson: Digital Experience and Communications Officer

Susan O'Neill: Local Leader

Susan O'Reilly: Local Leader

Una Howley: Local Leader

References

(1) Sr Stanislaus Kennedy is a member of the congregation of Religious Sisters of Charity In the 1960's she worked alongside Bishop Peter Birch in developing Kilkenny Social Services In 1974 the Government appointed her as the chair of The National Committee on Pilot Schemes to Combat Poverty in Ireland, and in 1985 the European Commission appointed her as Trans-National Coordinator in the European Rural Anti-Poverty Programme. In 1985 Sr Stan established Focus Point, which is now Focus Ireland, the biggest national voluntary homelessness In 1998 Sr Stan founded The Sanctuary, a meditation/spirituality centre in the heart of Dublin In 2001 she founded Social Innovations Ireland, which in turn led to the foundation of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Young Social Innovators. The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), is an independent national organisation working to promote the rights of immigrants through information, advocacy and legal Aid and; with Co-Founder Rachel Collier, she established Young Social Innovators (YSI)

[2] Chantal McCabe won Philanthropist of the Year in 2009 from the Community Foundation of Ireland She supported the foundation of Social Innovations Ireland, The Immigrant Council of Ireland, and Young Social Innovators

[3] Lelia began her career in RTE in the 1960s with her ground-breaking work with the TV drama "The Riordan’s" and the current affairs programme "Seven Days", a precursor to "Prime Time" After her exit from RTE, she went on to become an artistic director with the Abbey Theatre before moving to Belfast to study at Queen's University She established the Irish Film Board and is an award-winning Film Director and Producer.

[4] Focus Point services opened its doors in September 1985 It began with a 24-hour phone service for people finding themselves homeless, a drop-in coffee shop and information point, a training programme and employment for some of the group, an outreach street service and later, a homemaking service, a school education programme called Leaving Home, a centre for young people, a housing association and off the streets residential project and extended beyond Dublin

[5] Since that time, the Department of Children has introduced a policy on the Participation of young people, which is now changing attitudes and practices. It sets out a policy of engaging youth in decision-making around issues concerning their lives

[6] SAGE World Cup: SAGE, Students Advancing Global Entrepreneurship, is based in California and was founded by Curt DeBerg; and is a student entrepreneurship programme delivered in many countries, mainly in Africa, the US, Asia, and South America It hosts a World Cup each year, usually in August, where student teams come together from the post-primary level and compete for the SAGE World Cup. YSI has participated since 2014.

[7] Elias G Carayannis, David FJ Campbell' Mode 3' and 'Quadruple Helix': Toward a 21st Century Fractal Innovation Ecosystem