Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, announced additional funding under the Dormant Accounts funded Awareness Raising Initiative for Social Enterprise (ARISE) Scheme.
Grants totaling €526,000 are being provided to social enterprises, social enterprise networks, and support organisations to carry out a range of awareness-raising initiatives.
Social Enterprises create jobs in rural areas and support the aims of Our Rural Future – the government’s five-year strategy for revitalising rural Ireland.
Making the announcement today, Minister Humphreys said, “I am delighted to be in a position today to announce funding to fourteen additional projects under the ARISE Scheme. Due to the tremendous response and quality of applications received under this scheme last year, a further €526,000 is now being awarded, bringing the total funding under the scheme to €1.2m. The projects funded will further increase awareness of social enterprises and their potential.”
The Minister continued, “This scheme will continue to play a significant part in fostering a common understanding of the value of social enterprise, and collectively empower social enterprises to have a voice and a role in raising awareness. While there has been a significant increase in the visibility of social enterprises, raising awareness is an ongoing challenge. I firmly believe this sector has the potential to grow in both scale and impact. We all need to continue to pull together to make that happen.”