Northern Ireland Minister for Employment and Learning, Stephen Farry (Alliance) will make a special visit to Pittsburgh next week to talk with local leaders about work training, employment trends, and engaging disadvantaged communities for jobs. Minister Farry, recognizing the historic contributions of the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh toward training and reconciliation inNorthern Ireland, will meet various members o f the Institute's local network to thank them and to discuss new opportunities for Northern Ireland's next generation.
The Northern Ireland Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) supports the Institute's new Carbon Zero Northern Ireland program, providing one-year internships for Northern Ireland graduate engineers and other technical professionals with Pittsburgh-area companies developing or deploying sustainable technologies, such as alternative energy, green building, environmental conservation, etc.
DEL also supports the long-standing International Fund for Ireland Wider Horizons Program that engages unemployed Catholic and Protestant young people, North and South, for on-the-job training, mutual understanding and personal development. The Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh is the largest overseas provider to the IFI's Wider Horizons Program.
In 1989, while a sectarian conflict defined Northern Ireland, the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh was formed. Since then, the Institute has served over 1700 young people from Ireland and Northern Ireland, enhancing skills for work and for life.
"We have seen an entire generation come through our doors," said Institute President, Jim Lamb. "Young people come to us with little experience and less hope. They simply need a chance to prove what they can do. They return home with skills and confidence. Then they're more likely to find work, and less likely to fall in to the vicious circles of unemployment, antisocial behavior, and dissident activity that seeks to destroy the peace process."
The Minister also hopes to meet with regional leaders involved in Pittsburgh's regeneration from heavy industry to a knowledge-based economy, and to understand the training/skills challenges that we have faced as a region through that transition.
Regional Enterprise Tower • 425 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1410 • Pittsburgh, PA 15219 • 412-394-3900 • Fax: 412-394-0502 • info@iiofpitt.org • www.iiofpitt. org • E-Mail: info@iiofpitt.org • Web: www.iiofpitt.org
"We are honored by Minister Farry's visit to Pittsburgh. We look forward to furthering the strong links we have established over the past twenty years," Lamb said.
Minister Farry will be available at the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh to meet with members of the media to answer questions relevant to his visit, including but not limited to the Northern Ireland economy, the historic links between Northern Ireland and Pittsburgh, Northern Ireland's emerging civil post-conflict society, further Links with the United States, and with Pittsburgh in particular, and other issues of interest. Please contact Jim Lamb at 412-708-2184 or 412-394-3900 for more information on Minister Farry's visit.
The Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh promotes economic development throughout all of Ireland, and advocates a mutual understanding between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
