The mission of NICE is to promote peace, reconciliation and mutual understanding between the communities in Northern Ireland.

Letter from Executive Director Carmel McCavana

Carmel McCavana, Executive Director
Northern Ireland Children's Enterprise
Belfast, Northern Ireland

NICE - Our story since 1978

Don Murphy established NICE as a charitable trust in the USA and, in conjunction with parents and volunteers, NICE was also established in Northern Ireland. Funding was raised in the USA to purchase a facility in Northern Ireland and to set up a full-time office. Through grants from the International Fund for Ireland and The Ireland Funds we were able to appoint a Director and purchase a minibus, and so NICE was on its way.

Our Goals

Program aims and objectives:

• We provide a neutral meeting space for young people, volunteers, parents and community groups
• We develop links within communities and between communities
• We provide a range of community relations programs where people can develop understanding and mutual respect
• We create and expand programs which will give people the skills required to support our work and to develop work within their own communities
• We provide a training and development base for volunteers

Primary Schools Program

Secondary Schools Program

The program was very well received, and the feedback from young people, teachers and parents persuaded the staff at NICE to expand it the following year. While NICE originally planned on offering the ten-week curriculum each spring, the schools requested it be held in the autumn as well. In the spring of 2005, it became an accredited program with the Open College Network, the UK's foremost provider of accreditation services for adult learning.

The Curriculum
Our program is run in the schools over a ten-week period. The first week is an introductory session. The next week, subjects like “identity difference and belonging” and “dealing with conflict: growing up in Northern Ireland” are introduced. As the weeks go on, the young people begin to look at the different groups they belong to (social, cultural and religious) and at the behavior these different groups expect of them. They are able to clarify and explore some of the stereotypes people hold about each other, and they start to see the “normality” of difference between peoples and groups. Soon the participants are able to identify for themselves what they feel is their own identity and why. In later sessions, the group looks at the conflict in their lives and how they deal with it, and they begin to explore different ways of dealing with and resolving conflict. They are able to see that conflict is an essential process in life with both desirable and undesirable consequences. They start to clarify the causes behind a variety of conflicts between groups in Northern Ireland. Stage two of the program brings small groups of young people together to further develop relationships between them and give them the skills to become volunteers for NICE.

Don Murphy with students from Wallace High & St. Malachy's at the Certificate Awards Ceremony

Growth of the Program
Fifteen schools are now participating in the program with about 500 young people taking part. They are:
Protestant: Friends School Lisburn; Wallace High School; Boys Model School; Girls Model School; Hunterhouse College; Lisnagarvey HS
Catholic: Corpus Christi College; La Salle Boys Secondary School; St. Genevieve's High School; St. Malachys College; St. Dominic's; St. Patrick's High School; St. Louise's
Integrated: Forthill School; Hazelwood School

Our present budget covers three years, through the 2007/8 school year. We anticipate the cost for the three years will be over £200,000, more than four hundred thousand dollars.
We have already expanded the program from Belfast to surrounding areas like Lisburn and Glengormley, and would be able to affect more students in more areas if funding can be secured. Sponsoring just one semester at one school would cost approximately six thousand dollars.

Feedback from Students

• I understand that the conflicts in Northern Ireland are based on problems that could be resolved through communication.
• I think I am more open now to others' opinions and I have become tolerant of differences. It has been a good change.
• I have gained a greater awareness, respect and discernment for people who differ from me.
• I am not as judgmental as I was!
• I feel I have become a better person because now I am more aware of my faults and now I know how damaging it can be to stereotype and discriminate against someone.
• It has had a very positive impact on me as I can see things from others' points of view and I can see my prejudices more clearly and rethink them.

Feedback from teachers:

• NICE has provided our pupils with a unique opportunity to prepare themselves for entering a mixed environment, whether this is at university or in the work place. The program has been extremely well received by the young people and has been a very effective mechanism to open up the debate about the difficulties young people face growing up in Northern Ireland. We are delighted to be involved in this venture.
• This program is very important for our pupils to be involved in. They have gained a tremendous insight into the problems of living in today's society and how it impacts on them as individuals and as a community. The program has made them sit up and think about important issues facing young people today in Northern Ireland such as sectarianism and prejudice.

In order to receive completely open feedback, with no fear of retribution or disapproval, all comments are anonymous. Only the spelling has been changed to an American format.

Results:
The most rewarding outcome of this program has been the changes in the young people themselves. In addition to greater confidence and better listening skills, we have seen proof that their attitudes and behaviors are changing because of their participation. A group of young people has decided to broaden the experience after completing the coursework at school and come to our Australia House on their own time. Students are joining other programs in NICE because they want to meet people from the other side.

After the young people have completed the course they have a greater understanding of their own prejudices, and how those prejudices will influence their treatment of others. They also have a greater understanding of the interdependence of people and communities, and the nature of racism and how it affects the individual and society. After exploring a range of issues and feelings in relation to the problems in Northern Ireland and having the experience of the rest of the group listening to them, they develop confidence in putting forth their point of view.

Don and Mary Jo Murphy describe the NICE program to Taoiseach Brian Cowen

There have also been a number of beneficial outcomes for NICE as well. The program has reinforced the idea of community relations as a valid and important topic for young people in schools. It has promoted diversity and interdependence between the communities. The relationships between schools in the locality have been strengthened. The program has also promoted NICE as an agency with opportunities for volunteering.

This program is by far the most important aspect of our program to date.

Why?

• It reaches 17-18 year olds heading to the work place or university.
• It is taught in their own schools, where they feel free to express their own views openly.
• After ten weeks of involvement in the program, many students are volunteering to meet (on their own time) to work with students from the other side at our site, Australia House.
• Considering the age of the students, it seems that this program would have far-reaching effects in how they relate to each other.

These and other programs take place at our two properties in Northern Ireland.

NICE Center in Ballycastle

In 1989 we purchased a house in Ballycastle, a small seaside resort sixty miles from Belfast, to use as a follow-up facility for the children who had taken part in the summer programs in the USA. In 1996 we received funding through the Department of Education from European Structural Funds to completely refurbish the building and expand the facility.

We were also able to appoint a full time worker to develop our programs and encourage volunteering, broadening the work of the Center. On an annual basis, four hundred fifty young people and one hundred adults now participate in programs in Ballycastle. In May 2002 the center was dedicated as the Donal J. Murphy Center to honor the continued contributions of the group's founder.

Australia House in Belfast

In 1998, NICE purchased its second facility to use as a meeting place, resource and training center for young people and parents and to give the project a focal point in the city. The property is situated in a neutral area convenient to both communities in Belfast. Major support comes from the USA. We have named the center Australia House due to a substantial grant from the Australian Ireland Fund.

With grants from DENI Peace and Reconciliation Program and the National Lottery Charities Board of Northern Ireland, we were able to renovate and furnish the building and appoint a Center Manager to oversee its development. The facility can accommodate fifty people per day, six days a week in its various programs.

USA Host Family Program

For nearly thirty years young people from Belfast traveled to the New York metropolitan area to stay with host families for five weeks. These young people would then continue to meet during the year through our programs in Belfast and Ballycastle to renew the friendships they made while in the USA, and to develop new relationships.

We need your support

How you can help

Golf Outings

To see pictures of the NICE Golf Outing at the prestigious Winged Foot Country Club click here.      

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A Letter from the President of Ireland

Mary Jo and Don Murphy with Áine Kitt Brady share a moment with President McAleese at a NICE fundraiser at The Kildare Club.

UACHTARÁN NA hÉIREANN
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND
I am delighted to send greetings and best wishes to the Northern Ireland Children's Enterprise. For many years now your organization has played an important role in the promotion of peace on this island by bringing together children from both traditions and providing them with an opportunity to develop mutual respect and understanding in a warm and friendly atmosphere. I commend everyone associated with the Northern Ireland Children's Enterprise for your proven commitment to what we all desire and pray for - the achievement of a sustainable peace for all the people on the island of Ireland. I congratulate you on your many successes in the past and wish you every continued success in the years ahead. Mary McAleese President

NICE Board of Directors

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