Urban Uplift Fund – Rethink Ireland

The Urban Uplift Fund is a €662,821 two-year fund created by Rethink Ireland in partnership with JP Morgan Chase and the Department of Rural and Community Development via the Dormant Accounts Fund. The objective of the Fund is to back innovative projects working towards youth employment and youth employability in Dublin’s most disadvantaged areas.

Following the last economic recession, Ireland had made significant progress in reducing unemployment rates and barriers preventing people from entering the labour market. However, this progress has not benefited everyone in society on an equal basis and with the onset and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, these inequalities have only increased.

The Urban Uplift Fund aims to address these barriers and enable young adults (aged 18-30) to reach their full potential by supporting innovative projects in Dublin that aim to secure employment and apprenticeships for young adults at risk of permanent exclusion and enhance their full participation in society. 

The Fund will aim to empower up to 120 young adults into jobs, apprenticeships, or work experience programs in the green and/or digital economy. In addition, it will aim to enable up to 75 young adults to complete certified training and up to 80 to progress on to further education.

Eligibility

This fund is open to organisations that have a not-for-profit legal form, e.g. charity, social enterprise, and other voluntary organisations.

Projects must meet both Rethink Ireland’s criteria and the specific criteria for The Urban Uplift Fund, as set out below:

Rethink Ireland Criteria 

• The project must address a critical social issue
• The project proposed must be innovative in an Irish context
• The project must be based on the island of Ireland and must make its impact in Dublin
• The project must have potential and a desire to scale or replicate in Ireland (it may also have potential internationally, but this is not a requirement)
• The project must provide evidence that it is up and running, or has been tested at least in a minimal way
• Applicants must come from an entity that has a not-for-profit legal form, eg:

• • A company limited by a guarantee
  • A co-operative
  • Charity
  • And other not-for-profit legal forms.

The Urban Uplift Fund Criteria 

The Urban Uplift Fund Criteria Applicants to the Urban Uplift Fund must be operating and make an impact in Dublin City. Projects should also meet the criteria below.

Projects/Organisations will:

•  Focus on young adults aged 18-30 experiencing socio-economic disadvantage
•  Provide a holistic wrap-around response to addressing the range of internal and external factors relevant to bringing young people closer to the labour market
•  Support young people aged 18-30 into quality employment and/or apprenticeship programmes and/or full-time & paid work placements for young adults aged 18 – 30 through accredited and/or non-accredited training
•  Projects and/or organisations that actively engage with young adults experiencing disadvantage in the design of their programmes.
•  Projects and/or organizations that are focused on the Green Transition/ Economy;
•  Projects and/or organizations whose activities address the digital divide and the impact of inequality of access to technology.

The Urban Uplift Advantageous Criteria 

•  Projects and/or organizations that are led by a member of their end-beneficiary community

Which projects cannot apply?

Projects that are not eligible to apply are:

• Research projects
• Projects seeking funding for capital assets (such as buildings, vans or equipment)
• Projects promoting or aligned with a political party
• Projects that only accept participants of a particular faith or religious denomination
• Projects focused on animal welfare
• Projects based outside the Republic of Ireland
• Projects led by people under 18 years of age
• Projects that are an idea (only) and that have not yet started.

Which applicants cannot apply? 

Applicants that are not eligible to apply are:

• Applicants under 18 years of age
• Commercial companies
• Rethink Ireland staff, directors, and their immediate family members
• Any philanthropic donors supporting this fund
• Individuals, statutory or public bodies, local development companies, LEADER companies, companies limited by shares, and organizations that are funded 100% by state bodies or agencies and continue to be in receipt of that funding
• Any consultant currently working with Rethink Ireland
• Any project currently being funded by Rethink Ireland. We define a current Awardee as an organization and or project on one of our Funds that has grant payments remaining this year
• Past awardees that have been recipients of cash grants are ineligible, except where they are the parent organisation and the project is entirely different.

Benefits

• Cash grants up to €55,000 each year across 2 years
• A business supports package
• A place on our capacity-building ‘Accelerator Programme’
• Project performance management

Application process

 Apply here.

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