Hi All,
I have just recently become a member of the ACE's in Ireland group here online. I hope you will be patient with me as I navigate my way around the site as I am not very technical. I am delighted to have found this community and I look forward to learning from you all.
I have recently taken up the role of community development officer in my community. The community has many social issues such as crime, poverty, high unemployment and a high rate of early school leavers and very low levels of third level education participation. We also have a high level of young single Mothers and recently we have lost some of our young people to suicide and murder. A lot of our young people are taking drugs and selling drugs and this is costing lives in our community.
I think we may need to start a discussion around an ACE's/Trauma approach to community development. The local community center has only recently included community development to it's remit and currently I am the only person working in this area. I would be delighted to hear from anyone here who has implemented this approach to community development and share their story of how they started and how it is working out for them.
Thank you for allowing me be part of this community.
Ann Hayden
