The Trinity Access 21 project, a collaboration between the Trinity Access Programs (TAP) and Trinity’s Bridge21 project, was awarded the Excellence in Community Volunteering Award for local and indigenous companies at the Chambers Ireland Corporate Social Responsibility Awards Dublin last night.
Trinity Access 21 explores alternative forms of teaching and learning through both research and collaboration with schools, and supports schools in building a college-going culture through mentoring programmes such as, the togetherplatform.com. The award was for the project’s mentoring programme, which has seen the project engage with over 1,200 students in 11 Dublin secondary schools with low progression rates to college.
In an email statement to The University Times, Prof Brendan Tangney, Academic Director of Bridge 21, explained: “The vision of Trinity Access 21 is to be a catalyst for social transformation, supporting people to reach their full educational potential through innovation, research and advocacy.”
The Corporate Social Responsibility Awards recognise public bodies that “improve the lives of their employees and enhance the civic environment in which they operate”. Companies are acknowledged for their contribution to the betterment of workplace life. These awards seek to present our public organisations in a strictly positive light, allowing them “to gain recognition for best practice”.
TAP, an already renowned programme, last night received acknowledgement for what they call their “mission to widen access and participation to third level education for under-represented groups”. TAP’s engagement with minority groups in the community in a spirit of volunteerism is also well documented.
The awards feature nine category areas, including Excellence in Youth Employment and Excellence in the Marketplace. Trinity Access 21 was shortlisted alongside law firm Arthur Cox’s Zambia Project and the PM Group’s Building Partnerships Initiative in the Community Volunteering – Large Indigenous Company’ category.
Other large corporate bodies were recognised on the night for a variety of workplace projects, including Bank of Ireland, Tesco Ireland and SSE Airtricity.
The Chambers Ireland Corporate Responsibility Awards were established in 2004 and have grown to include many newer firms and categories in the intervening years. Companies are free to nominate themselves, after which their application is reviewed by a panel of judges. A separate panel is then put together to whittle down the shortlist and decide on the winning firms.
The awards were attended by various key figures in the world of business. RTÉ presenter Mary Kennedy presented the awards, held at the Dublin Hilton Hotel. Speeches made by Tina Roche and Minister for State, Damien English, highlighted the importance of award’s values in today’s corporate world.
In April, it was announced that Lady Margaret Hall, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, will launch a pilot access scheme offering a “foundation year” to students from under-represented backgrounds in a new programme modelled on TAP.
