The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald officially presented Donegal Youth Service with the Youth Work Ireland Quality Standards Framework, Standard of Excellence Award.
Minister Fitzgerald was on an official visit to the county, and was also able to see the work of several DYS projects, including the Letterkenny Youth Information Centre, the Youth Outreach Project, Loft LK and Daybreak.
Donegal Youth Service is the key youth work agency in Donegal and works to deliver generic and explicit youth work programmes and activities that best meet the needs of young people and the adults who support them.
The Minister was particularly interested in finding out about how Donegal Youth Service is moving towards an integrated service and how we approach working with young people in informal education and informal educational settings, increasing their capacity to participate fully in civic life and progressing towards continued education and/or employability.
Lorraine Thompson, Regional Director said, ‘We were delighted to have the Minister here to present this award. It is great recognition of the quality of the work carried out by the Donegal Youth Service. With the pending changes to our funding streams, the framework that is the Quality Standards offers a firm foundation for the future.”
