Spéire Nua – New Horizon
Spéire Nua is a Gaelic translation for New Horizon.
Every day we get a fresh chance to be a better person than we were yesterday, and a new horizon symbolizes a new beginning.
Starting over after coming into contact with the criminal justice system is not a simple thing to do. There are many ways our background can prevent us from pursuing a future of our own choosing.
Spéire Nua has adopted and developed a process that validates your commitment to change. This process relieves the restrictiveness of a poor background based on the positive steps we have taken out of a life we used to live.
Portfolio of Commitment to Change
Our first step would be the development of a portfolio of commitment to change. We cannot say for definite that an individual will never offend again, nor can we say an individual that has never been convicted will never offend. We can say with certainty however that there is current evidence of commitment to change and that has a value.
The Spéire Nua portfolio will be built with peer mentors that have been through the criminal justice system and will present current evidence of commitment to change. Should this be of a satisfactory standard, the applicant will receive validation and certification for the steps they have taken to make positive change. This additional communication along side the disclosure will be an industry standard, recognised award for actively seeking out ways to improve your standing in society.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a process where we set out attainable goals on our journey to change. This process helps us prove we have committed to change. Benchmarks are set out by the Criminal Justice Sector.
Co-created Social
Contract
In Spéire Nua we will only use your information to demonstrate your commitment to change. Our objective is to validate your efforts to change and to see your efforts rewarded.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
During the co-creation of the social contract we will ensure that any concerns you may have will be discussed and addressed. Your information will be used your way.
Recognition of Prior Learning RPL
RPL is a process through which our experiential and unaccredited learning is assessed validated and certified. Using this process, the steps we take out of our previous way of life will be documented, assessed, validated and certified.
Garda Vetting /
Disclosures
Garda Vetting is a relevant requirement. It is there to protect the children and vulnerable adults from anyone that has the capacity to endanger them. The problem is that most people with convictions are caught up in the policy ‘overreach’.
Certificate of Commitment to Change
Spéire Nua will help you to achieve your Certificate of commitment to Change. This Document will be an additional communication that will go along side the current format of disclosure giving a fairer view rather than a historical, negative and binary view of you.
Meet the team at Amicitia
Amicitia is the Latin for friendship and it is in the spirit of friendship that we work alongside the community of Athenry, Co. Galway.
Our projects are collaborative and intentional with a deep appreciation of our troubled times.
As we walk away and leave the broken old extractive world behind us, we face a road that has many paths.
Journeys littered with clicks, likes and distractions that make us lose all sense of direction.
At Amicitia, we believe in uncovering stories that can guide us towards new, more sustainable and just worlds.
We offer this website www.amicitia.org as a virtual window into these worlds shaped by the friendship and experience of those we work with.
We seek to share, cooperate, and communicate. We welcome artists, academics, designers, environmentalists, community activists and those that feel stuck on the fringes of society.
Our journey is an inclusive one of discovery towards regenerative rural futures.
Our Partners
To separate and elevate social enterprise, by fully supporting individuals and enterprises to reach their full potential, impacting communities across all regions.
Together we drive change, together we have an impact.
Galway Rural Development, through the programmes we manage, work along with individuals, community groups and other agencies to improve the quality of life for all in our area. We especially work with those most in need of help and look to create real chances for people to make positive changes for themselves and their communities across rural Galway.
As Ireland begins its journey of recovery from the crisis, now is the time to come together to build a country that is equal and focused on sustainable solutions.
By partnering with individuals, families and businesses, we identify the different charities and social enterprises working in communities across the country who are making real headway.
Our role is to support these big thinkers with the resources to share and nurture their ideas so that what proves to be effective in their local community has the opportunity to impact our whole country.
Common Purpose not-for-profit organisation founded in 1989, we deliver face-to-face and online leadership programmes for multiple generations of leaders: from students in universities to senior leaders in organizations and society.
Pobal works on behalf of Government to support communities and local agencies toward achieving social inclusion and development.
Pobal, formerly known as Area Development Management, was established in 1992 by the Irish Government in agreement with the European Commission to manage an EU Grant for local development.
The Probation Service protects the public and create safer communities by helping offenders to desist from committing more crime. We have a strong record of reducing re-offending, managing offenders safely in the community, reintegrating prisoners after release and of providing an effective, efficient and value for money service. We have many success stories of offenders whom we have helped reintegrate into society, as well as statistics that show what we do works.
Through our work, we aim to inspire people to see the challenge, and be the change and look past the problems to the solutions. Everything we do at SEI is a team effort supported by our incredible community.
Amicitia is the Latin for friendship and it is in the spirit of friendship that we work alongside the community of Athenry, Co. Galway.
Our projects are collaborative and intentional with a deep appreciation of our troubled times.
This strategy sets out ambitious targets to increase the employment options for people who have criminal records and builds on a strong foundation of supports already in existence.
Just as it takes work to turn around your future, a lot of work has gone into developing the approach that we take to helping people to do so. We have worked with people who have been through the justice system, and people who work within it and around it; as well as with academics and other experts here and in other countries. Locally, organisations including NIACRO, Extern, Prison Fellowship and Victim Support have helped us with their insights and expertise.
The product of all of that research and co-design is a model that compromises three elements: transitional training and employment, strengths-based support, and shared supportive communities.
The KickStart Fund, supported by the Dormant Accounts Fund, The Department of Justice and the Probation Service provides funding to for start up development and or job creation for social enterprises that provide employment opportunities for the previously convicted.
The Department of Justice works to advance community and national security, promote justice and equality and safeguard human rights, to achieve our vision of a safe, fair and inclusive Ireland.
