This year’s RTÉ Toy Show Appeal in partnership with Community Foundation Ireland will benefit more than one than one million children as one-hundred and seventy-three grants have been confirmed. At National College of Ireland, we are delighted to announce that ELI's (Early Learning Initiative) Parenting 365 Programme has been awarded €140,000.00 by this year’s Grants Panel.
About Parenting 365
Parenting 365 is a family-centred, early-intervention, trauma-informed support programme for children with disabilities and additional needs. The programme provides children and their families with a safe and inclusive play space to explore their abilities and weekly parent support sessions with input from experts. As long waiting lists, costs, and rigid referral pathways have made it challenging for families to access adequate support, the Parenting365 programme has successfully worked to address these barriers, and with this funding, will continue to do so.
We look forward to seeing how this programme will continue to evolve and further support children and their families, as with this new funding, ELI will build an evidence-informed national scaling model that will allow the Parenting365 programme to better meet the growing demand across the country while continuing to maintain a high standard of quality and consistency.
About the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal
The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal was established in 2020, and since then over €31 million has been raised to transform the lives of children across the country.
RTÉ Director-General, Kevin Bakhurst said, “The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal holds a very special place for all of us in RTÉ, and we are deeply grateful for the continued generosity of our Late Late Toy Show audience. Their support is making a real difference to children and families across the island of Ireland.
ELI’s Parenting 365 Programme Coordinator, Vickey Kelly said, "We would like to thank the Late Late Toy Show Appeal donors and Community Foundation Ireland for making this possible. This funding will allow ELI to expand the Parenting365 programme to support the needs of families across Ireland. We look forward to seeing the positive impact that this will have on young children and their families.”
The Early Learning Initiative at National College of Ireland was developed to address the problem of educational underachievement in marginalised communities. ELI’s mission is to work with communities in areas of greatest need, to provide world-class parent and child learning support programmes.
To learn more about the Early Learning Initiative and how you can show your support, visit the official ELI homepage.