PA Project Wins Gold Award

Public Achievement has recently completed a project with young people from the NICRAS (Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers) network which has just won a Gold Award at the Young People's Awards scheme, run by Belfast Community Safety Partnership.  These awards are given to individuals or groups for the work they do in making their community a safer place.  Projects aimed at improving relations in interface areas; tackling racism and discrimination; and dealing with drug and alcohol addiction were among those rewarded at the awards ceremony, which was attended by actor and musician Richard Fleeshman and the Lord Mayor Councillor Tom Hartley.

The awards were presented at a ceremony at the Waterfront on Tuesday 24 March.  The NICRAS won the Gold Award for South Belfast.  They were really thrilled by the recognition for their project.  This group of young refugees and asylum seekers decided to do an issue-based project on racism in cooperation with Public Achievement and DJ Tessa Greer; they wanted to show other people how it feels to be discriminated because of racism. The group felt that music is one of best mediums for getting their message across so they produced two tracks with their own lyrics.

You can view their video and hear their songs on WIMPS.  The project was sponsored by the Youth Council for Northern Ireland, and Big Deal.