“Social entrepreneurs strive to build a more equal society for all, and the significance of people stepping up with ideas to create an Ireland where people deliver real change for the better has never been greater.”
Aoife Ryan is an Irish entrepreneur behind an incredible new project, Trans Teens Ireland, a project that seeks to provide an accessible therapeutic service for young transgender people across the country.
Services like this are essential for our trans youth who, research shows, have suffered greatly at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based in Sutton, Dublin, Ryan brought her vision to life as a student of the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s 2021 Ideas Academy programme.
The Ideas Academy is in its fifth year and saw an amazing 172 applicants in 2021, from which 60 final projects were selected. The entrepreneurs behind those projects went on to graduate from the three-month programme on September 7.
In the coming weeks, these talented graduates will be given the opportunity to apply for seed funding from a pot of €50,000.
The Ideas Academy is brought to us by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2004, which has supported 400+ social entrepreneurs to date.
“Social entrepreneurs strive to build a more equal society for all, and the significance of people stepping up with ideas to create an Ireland where people deliver real change for the better has never been greater,” said Tim Griffiths, CEO of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.
“With the support of our Ideas Academy, these budding social entrepreneurs have received the direction they need to take their first steps from idea to action. We can’t wait to see the positive difference they will go on to make in their communities.”
The foundation of Ryan’s Trans Teens Ireland coincides with Scottish politician, Nicola Sturgeon’s renewed promise to reform the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland.
In today's #PfG @NicolaSturgeon confirms "in this first year of the parliament, we will introduce the Gender Recognition Reform Bill." She said: pic.twitter.com/CfAk3fRDWG
— Scottish Trans (@ScottishTrans) September 7, 2021
In setting out the new Programme for Government (PfG) for 2021-22, Sturgeon said the reformed Act “will make the existing process of gender recognition less degrading, intrusive and traumatic.”
“In other words, it will make life that bit easier for one of the most stigmatised minorities in our society.”
If you have an idea that might be the next Trans Teens Ireland, the next call for applications to Social Entrepreneurs Ireland will go out in spring 2022.
For more information on Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, see their website or you can also follow them on all the major social media channels.
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