2025 so far...

Hi everyone! I’m Kerry Fitzsimons and I will be updating you all on my journey as a Time to Shine Leader with Politics in Action. Time to Shine is a programme funded by the Rank Foundation and is a support package to help me develop my career in the voluntary sector.  My role is going to be looking at Data and Evaluation, researching ways we as an organisation can utilise our data more efficiently, show off our impact and continue to produce more sustainable projects for our young people.

The past few weeks have been very busy!

The Rank Foundation Time to Shine Launch Conference was in Liverpool on 3rd February and it did not disappoint! I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into it but everyone we met was so lovely and welcoming which made leaving after two days all the more difficult! It was great to meet Helen, Janice, Kai and Josephine and also my own group of fellow Time to Shine Leaders who I'm looking forward to seeing again in March. I feel privileged to be involved in such a great programme with people from across the sector who show so much passion for what they do.

We also had our very own event to prepare on 7th February titled, ‘Democracy: Threats and Opportunities’ with the support of Belfast City Council, the Education Authority and the Community Relations Council. The atmosphere on the day was amazing and we had a great turnout of students across Belfast as they took part in multiple workshops, ranging from Ending Violence Against Women and Girls by WRDA and Reclaim the Agenda, FactCheckNI with Dr Orna Young, the Secondary Students Union and another on the Rise of the Far Right by Journalist Amanda Ferguson, who was witness to the vicious attacks on ethnic minority communities across the city last summer. We also had our very own Votes at 16 Campaigns group run a workshop with Emily!

I also had the opportunity to co-run a workshop with Angela Hodgkinson from Social Change Initiative about how we need to have honest conversations about our values and we got amazing input from the young people. We also had input local politicians, including John Finucane MP and Lord Mayor Micky Murray and a separate political panel with Nuala McAllister, Tomas O’Neill and Matthew O’Toole. This was a great success as the young people in the room got the opportunity to ask them questions directly and honestly about issues that really matter to them.

This whole process has been a brilliant opportunity for me to get to know everyone on the team and I look forward to what the rest of the year can bring, stay tuned for more updates!

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