Communities can do it for themselves, with a little help from their friends. That's the message emerging from a people-based drive to bring about social change and improvement in Ballybeg, a deprived housing estate on the outskirts of Waterford city.
It has a population of about 4,500, living in 800 houses. Sixty per cent of the people there are under 25, and more than 80 per cent of them are dependent upon some form of Social Welfare payments.
The estate represents the highest concentration of disadvantage and social exclusion in Waterford. It has an extraordinarily high proportion of younger age groups: about 43 per cent of its population is aged 14 years or under.
Ballybeg has had a negative image locally because the problems that arise occasionally from this intense concentration of marginalised and socially excluded people make headlines. But there is a different, less sensational but more significant, picture behind the scenes.
The estate is almost 23 years old. In that time it has seen many self-help initiatives spring up in the community. But in recent years a highly organised community project has evolved from that voluntary effort, and its work, now well established and showing positive results, is the untold story of Ballybeg.
The Ballybeg Community Development Project is managed by local people with the support of statutory and voluntary agencies. Its 18 employees are engaged in a range of work with local groups.
"We listen to the needs identified by the people themselves, and then support them and put in place training and other facilities," says project director, Briege Dowling. "Our aim is to empower the people who are most powerless."
The project set out first to help the community to identify the key issues and needs affecting their lives. Early school-leaving, for example, is a major phenomenon in Ballybeg. A survey discovered that 115 young people out of a total sample of 181 had left school at the age of 16 or under.
Under the aegis of the development project, concerned local parents came together and learned the techniques necessary to research the issue in depth. Armed with information on the extent of the problem and the community's views on it, a task force was set up which now works in partnership with schools, parents, youth and community workers.
It aims to support young people from the area wishing to participate in second-level education and to find ways to eliminate the barriers to their progress.
A study group helps those young people, with materials, revision workshops and supervised homework.
"It's working really well," says youth co-ordinator Marion Smiles. "We've developed relationships with the schools and found ways to pool our resources."
There were also many women in the community who were anxious to get back into the workforce. Access to computer skills training was high on their list of needs.
Two years ago a group was set up, including community members who had computer skills, and last year a Computer Access Co-operative was started. It has 10 computers installed in a room in the parish centre which has been converted into a computer training area, and local volunteers run courses on a one-to-one basis there for women, men and young people.
A grant from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs assisted with the purchase of the equipment. The training project is successfully filling the need for access to information technology skills. It now hopes to establish some form of accreditation for the courses.
Bridget Connolly supervises the Key Project, a community employment scheme aimed particularly at the estate's high proportion of long-term unemployed.
In a building leased on the estate it provides information and assistance in an informal atmosphere. Callers can get information on job opportunities and training courses; they can have CVs prepared and contacts established which can lead to employment.
Links have been established with businesses and training agencies, and it is hoped to set up a database highlighting the skills of local people.
The community development project is involved in many other areas of need. There is a community-based drugs initiative, a literacy project and a scheme to work with young people at risk of becoming involved in crime. Arts and crafts and cookery courses have been organised, as well as health support groups and summer programmes for the young.
Inclusiveness is a core policy. In keeping with the principle of people having ownership of their own project, local residents form the project's voluntary management committee.
Young people are encouraged to take responsibility for planning and running their own programmes, and training is provided to facilitate this.
Perhaps the most basic practical support initiative undertaken by the project concerned the great local need for childcare services. A "drop in" creche has been started for very young children. It is funded by the South Eastern Health Board on a pilot basis. This is a vital support service for the many lone parent families in the area and also for families with a large number of young children.
"The creche is supporting both young children at risk and families living on low income who cannot afford child-minding services," the project director says.
Now planning is well under way for a 10-year development of the parish centre, which aims to put in place a full-time daycare creche, an all-purpose recreational hall, and skills development workshops. The Comet Millennium Project, a sub-group, is in charge of this long-term scheme and has links with a group of business people who are interested in helping with funds.
There are other examples in Ballybeg of thriving self-help activities. A boxing club is manned and run on a voluntary basis by local people; similarly, soccer and camogie clubs are active, and the local GAA club is an outstanding success story.
While the community projects have benefited from a new appreciation at central Government level of the importance of such local efforts, with funding more readily available as a result, the crucial motivation and initiative has come from the Ballybeg people themselves.