Chambers Ireland CSR Awards – Trinity wins volunteering prize
Posted on: 06 September 2016
On Thursday, 01 September 2016, Trinity were announced as the winners of the Chambers Ireland CSR Award for Excellence in Community – Volunteering for a Large Indigenous Company.
Working to align Corporate Social Responsibility to the university’s strategic plan 2014-19, the Chief Operating Officer, Geraldine Ruane nominated Trinity Access 21 for the award. Speaking at the awards, Ms Ruane welcomed the award noting that ‘Trinity is at the beginning of our CSR journey. Projects such as Trinity Access 21 highlight the good work being done by our staff and students and we want to build on this into the future’.
Reading, writing and arithmetic are generally considered the mainstays of education. But as technological advancements change how we function in the world, it is clear that we must add new core topics to the national curriculum. These include science, technology, engineering, maths and computer science. It was against this backdrop that TA21 was launched in 2014. A collaboration between the Trinity Access Programme, Bridge 21, the School of Computer Science & Statistics and the School of Education, with support from Google Ireland, Trinity Access 21’s vision is to be a catalyst for social transformation, supporting people to reach their full educational potential through innovation, research and advocacy. It is an innovative mentoring programme launched in 2014 that involves more than 1,200 second level students from 11 Dublin schools. It aims to support the development of a ‘college-going culture’ in schools with lower than average higher education progression rates.
TA21 is supported by 320 volunteer mentors drawn from Trinity’s alumni, staff and students. The programme is adapted from a model developed by a US educational non-profit, College For Every Student, which partnered with the Trinity Access Programmes since 2011. The CFES model was successfully piloted in St Joseph’s Secondary School in Rush, Co Dublin in 2013. The model is grounded in the belief that cultural change is achieved through three core practices: ‘Mentoring’, ‘Pathways to College’ and ‘Leadership Through Service’.
Trinity had strong competition with Arthur Cox being nominated for the Arthur Cox Zambia Project and the PM Group being nominated for their Building Partnerships initiative.
Now in its 13th year, the Chambers Ireland CSR Awards showcase the best practice in CSR being undertaken by Irish business.