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A place to be YOUng!

WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO

Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service (RYS) provides a high-quality youth service to young people between the ages of 10 – 24, in the region of Dublin 17 and Kilbarrack area. We provide many different services to young people, based on their needs, issues and interests.

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We have three youth centres located in Bonnybrook, Darndale and Priorswood, and also operate a youth space from St. Benedict’s Resource Centre in Kilbarrack. The service typically operates a 6-day week and opens until 10pm in at least one of the areas/centres from Monday to Friday.

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The youth service is provided in line with the Service Level Agreement as issued by the City of Dublin Youth Services Board on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). The Woodale Youth Justice Project is a Garda Youth Diversion Project funded through the Irish Youth Justice Service covering the Darndale and Priorswood area.

OUR VISION

Sphere 17 hopes for a future where all young people are valued. We want to see a society where young people have a voice, where young people are respected, and where they feel included, no matter what community they are from. We hope for a society where young people can get high quality support and have a real chance to be the best that they can be.

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OUR MISSION

Sphere 17 believes all young people can achieve great things. Our mission is to support young people to be the best that they can be. We do that in different ways for different young people, as they need it, through the varied services we provide.

KEY SERVICE OUTPUTS*

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Young people (YP) engaged in the service

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session contacts with average contact time 96 mins per young person per visit

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Street work engagements

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young people engaged in youth counselling services attending 755 counselling sessions

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Youth work programmes across the Sphere 17 teams

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Cumulative Service Contact Hours

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10-14 age group

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15+ age group

0%

Female

0%

Male

*Data is for 2023

2023 was a fun and busy year, some of the successful programmes and activities with young people included:

  • Climate Justice programming including the Bonnybrook Garden Party& marine life water testing project​ 
  • CTC Lunchtime slot and sexual health programming 
  • Friday late-night football ​ 
  • Youth Voices animation video​ 
  • Youth Committee's Family Fun Day 
  • Young people facilitating the youth work showcasing activity 
  • Young people completing hikes, fun runs, and residential activities 
  • School Transfer Programmes 
  • Participation in St. Patrick’s Day Festival Parade 
  • Dublin Internation Film Festival (DIFF) short film judging and screening 
  • Sphere 17’s Got Talent 
  • Priorswood Summer Camp 
  • Outdoor education and sport activities 
  • Integration Week activity programme with young people from other youth services/projects 
  • Transforming Hate programme 
  • Strategic plan launch, birthday celebration, and open event 
  • Residential activities in Cavan, Roscommon, Galway, Cork, Donegal, and Darndale! 
  • Halloween haunted house and disco 
  • Priorswood Christmas Market 

Some other highlights, achievements, and key collaborations from the last year included:

  • Wellness (and Social) Committee activity 
  • Project visits/hosting and the opportunities created 
  • New Woodale bus 
  • Listen Up programme 
  • LED refit in Sphere 17 Regional Youth Facility 
  • New data systems - Out’N’About rolled out, and designed for Woodale 
  • Employee Attitude Survey 
  • Service recognition & feedback
  • Another Way 5K fun run​ 
  • Creative Places Darndale and the Dare to Be Darndale Festival ​
  • NYCI - Climate Justice – Future Generations project​ 
  • SASSY Counselling Service​ 
  • Independent Youth Work Projects - Dublin 

Unsurprisingly, there were some challenges too!

Some of the key challenges in 2023 included:

  • Impact of local protests / Dublin riots / Far Right​ activity 
  • Food poverty/hunger and cost of living pressures
  • Low level engagement in some structured programmes 
  • Repair/maintenance issues in youth centres
  • Staff recruitment 
  • Weather! 

OUR APPROACH

  • We actively promote the participation of all young people in all aspects of our service.
  • We aim to deliver our service in line with established best practice and in keeping with the equality and community based ethos that informs our
    work.
  • We deliver services based on young people’s needs, interests, issues and age profile.
  • We provide a range of services covering recreational, educational, health, personal and social development.
  • We provide professional services, by trained and vetted Youth Work staff.  
  • We engage in a way that is open, creative and positive.

SERVICES

Core youth service activity:

  • Drop-in
  • Group Work (interest and/or issue based)
  • Individual Support
  • Outreach (including detached youth work)
  • Outings and summer projects
  • Residential Activities
  • Events

Other Key Projects:

BECOME A

OUR YOUTH CENTRES

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OUR GOALS

Strategic Goals 2023 - 2026

1: Impact

Goal 1: Strengthen our approach to centralising and amplifying young peoples voices within the service to ensure we are truly young person centred in all we do.  

Goal 2: To better understand and communicate our impact, we will build on our measurement and impact framework for evaluating programme outcomes.  

Goal 3: Monitor the changes in our community to ensure what we offer continues to be relevant.  

2: Excellence 

Goal 4: Nurture and develop our people to excel in their role, and support their health and well-being.  

Goal 5: Reflect on and document the Sphere 17 approach to community youth work to support internal organisational learning and sharing of best practice. 

Goal 6: Increase Sphere 17 influence at a regional and national level through strengthened inter-agency collaboration, and increased communication.  

3: Sustainability

Goal 7: Develop a method for assessing and prioritising projects, programmes, and future opportunities which aligns with our overall mission, values and service commitments.  

Goal 8: Ensure that our governance and management structures are resilient to change and can grow sustainably.  

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