The Model also announced their Summer/Autumn programme. Highlights of the programme include a film on the DeLorean car, an exhibit by Jack B. Yates titled the Living Ginger and a concert by BellX1.

We assisted Money Point in their press announcement on why Ireland must do more to protect the general public from counterfeit notes. As a result we received coverage in both radio and print media. The story is online on the Irish Independent website.

We also assisted LGBT Diversity at their launch and received coverage in number of media. One such coverage is a story in the Irish Examiner.

Finally, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore TD played a visit to the Digital Hub to view the WebActive programme and meet with some companies located in the hub.

Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Ireland, the programme is designed to foster, promote, and enhance ethnic minority involvement in local, regional and national policymaking fora in Dublin, Limerick and Cork.  It will will provide training and mentoring to leaders of ethnic minority communities in Dublin, Limerick and Cork on influencing policy and social agendas.

Commenting on the programme, Issah Huseini, CEO of the New Communities Partnership, said: “The immigrant civil society are aware that they need to produce effective leaders in order to exert real influence in decision making processes in public life in Ireland.  To achieve genuine and meaningful participation and representation in political arenas and not just ‘tokenistic’ representation, we need to provide leaders who can understand the mechanics of influencing policy and social agendas in an Irish context.”

The NCP is currently recruiting emerging, experienced, and advanced leaders from its network of over 106 members groups nationwide to participate in the training programme.  At the end of the programme, participants will have acquired the skills and virtues they need to engage with the State, as well as other institutions in Irish society, and will be ready to work closely with Strategic/Joint Policy Committees in local authorities, statutory agencies, local government structures and other civil society fora.

Further details on the training programme are available here.

We’re also currently working with the Family Resource Centre National Forum (FRCNF) and the Family Support Agency (FSA) on the launch of a statistical report on the organisations’ work during 2009.  This launch will take place in Dublin next Wednesday, 7th July, and will be followed by a political briefing event where representatives of Family Resource Centres from all over Ireland will meet their local TDs and Senators to fill them in on the statistical information of relevance to their area.

Finally, we’re in the process of putting together our training programme for autumn 2010: during September and October, DHR Communications will be offering great value training sessions in media skills and political advocacy, specifically focused at the not-for-profit and statutory sectors.  Full details of our training programme will be announced over the coming weeks, so check back often for further updates or email info@dhr.ie to find out more!

Last week, we organised a conference on ‘How People Live Their Lives in an Intercultural Society’ on behalf of the Irish Committee of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), at which President Mary McAleese delivered the keynote address.  A report was launched at the event, documenting the outcomes and recommendations arising from a two-year-long project, facilitated by DHR Communications, whereby the ECF brought together a cross-section of people – from different cultural backgrounds and living in six different parts of the country – to discuss their experiences of interculturalism.

We’ve also been busy processing the applications for the Comhar Sustainable Development Media Fund over the past couple of weeks.  Thirty-one applications were received in total, from journalists and organisations interested in carrying out projects aimed at increasing awareness of sustainability issues.  The judging meeting for the Fund will take place over the coming weeks, and all applicants will be notified of the outcomes before the end of July.

Finally, the overall winner of The Digital Hub’s Best in Show competition was announced last week: congratulations to the team of DCU graduates that won the top prize of €1,000, as well as work placements with Red Diamond Media.  Full details of the winning team and the competition overall – which is targeted at up-and-coming digital media creatives – are available here.

The conference will take place next Wednesday, 23rd June, from 9am to 2pm in the Lecture Theatre at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2. The conference is being hosted by the European Cultural Foundation (Irish Committee).

Since 2008, the European Cultural Foundation has brought together almost 100 people in eight conversations around Ireland to document how people deal with profound change as they settle in a new country, and their daily experiences in relation to integration.  Next week’s conference will mark the publication of a report on these conversations, entitled ‘How People Live their Lives in an Intercultural Society’.

Anybody with an interest in integration or intercultural issues is welcome to attend this conference. To register your attendance, or for further information, please email: info@dhr.ie or telephone DHR Communications on: 01-4885808.

DHR Communications project managed Africa Day Dublin this year, along with Africa Day Limerick, Irish Aid’s second flagship Africa Day event.

A special thanks to our volunteer film-maker Manu Di Marco for recording and editing this footage from the Africa Day Dublin event.  The event took place in the Iveagh Gardens in Dublin City Centre on Sunday, 16th May 2010, and was attended by 12,000 people.

Further information on Irish Aid’s annual Africa Day events is available at www.africaday.ie.

Lynn began working with our team in April 2010, providing support for our work on Irish Aid’s Africa Day events and helping with various other client accounts.  Brittany, meanwhile, joins us this week all the way from New York.  Having just completed a Bachelors of Science degree at Saint Joseph’s College in Long Island, she will work with DHR Communications over the summer months to gain experience in public relations.

In addition to Africa Day, we’ve also had lots of work to do on the Simon Cumbers Media Fund.  The deadline for the summer 2010 round of funding was Friday, 7th May, and 59 applications were received in total.  These are currently with the judging panel and the judges’ decisions will be announced shortly.

We’re also working on the Comhar Sustainable Development Media Fund, and there’s still time for interested applicants to apply: the deadline for this year’s funding round is Friday, 18th June, at 5pm.  Along with representatives of Comhar Sustainable Development Council, DHR facilitated a workshop for potential applicants last week.  A list of FAQs from that workshop can be accessed here.

Yesterday, we had the launch of the 2009 annual report of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces, which received high levels of coverage across RTÉ and other broadcast outlets, and is featured in the national dailies today.  We’re also currently working with The Digital Hub on its annual Best in Show competition, and we’ve been doing some work with the British Council (Ireland) on its OPENCities project.

And, finally, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve recently been contracted to work withthe Building LGBT Communities Programme, which was established to build capacity among existing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organisations at a regional level.

We have also been working on the Simon Cumbers Media Fund and the deadline for the summer funding round has now passed.

Finally, we are preparing for the Comhar Media Fund workshop which is taking place on Tuesday, 1st June from 3-5pm. Those interested in taking part can register by emailing noomi@dhr.ie. The deadline for the Comhar Media Fund is Friday, 18th June.