A BELFAST-based charity which has helped thousands of people towards employment and learning is celebrating its 21 anniversary this year.
Springboard Opportunities Ltd works with communities across cultures, religions and borders and is best known for its Wider Horizons programme, which supports young unemployed adults from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Angila Chada, executive director of Springboard Opportunities Ltd, said: “We provide life-changing opportunities to empower people and build peace within communities. Even though we have been doing this for 21 years, we certainly feel that our job has only just begun.
“We have an excellent team with fantastic expertise and it is essential that we are able to maintain this to ensure that we continue to bring about positive change in our community.”
Springboard has provided life-changing opportunities for over 6,000 people and is bestknown for its Wider Horizons programme which helps young unemployed adults move to a positive future — people like Snow Patrol drummer, Jonny Quinn. About 70% of participants enter employment, further education or training once they complete a Springboard programme, while 93% who participate or work with the charity become good friends with people from the other side of the community.
Springboard currently partners and networks with over 1,000 global peace-building organisations, with Its Peace Day Campaign helping to create awareness of the annual UN International Day of Peace on September 21, while its Global Peacebuilders programme is a transnational initiative to share approaches to peacebuilding.
The charity also works through its Foundations to Work initiative, to help immigrants and migrants towards employment, while older people too in the community are aided by Springboard through its support of young people’s social action programmes for the elderly.