The vote will take place on 27th November
Children and families in East Belfast are preparing to head to the polls later this month for a community vote with a twist.
Save the Children NI’s Happy Vote will give local families the chance to decide which new projects will receive funding through the charity’s Innovation Fund, part of its Transforming the Early Years for Children in East Belfast programme.
The public ballot, taking place at the Skainos Centre on 27 November, will see voters choose ten ideas to each receive £5,000 in funding. All of the shortlisted projects aim to boost children’s early years development, with a particular focus on supporting parents’ and caregivers’ mental health and strengthening relationships between families and young children.
The Innovation Fund forms part of the EastSide Early Learning Community – a network of local groups working together to improve early years outcomes across East Belfast. Applications for this year’s funding round close on 11 November.
Laura Feeney from Save the Children NI said interest in the initiative had been strong.
“This is our second year to run the Innovation Fund. Building on last time we really want to empower families and children to make the decisions. Interest has been high and the ideas coming in are brilliant. We’re really excited about The Happy Vote at the end of November to see which projects capture the public’s imagination.”
Last year’s Innovation Fund supported ten local projects, including a baby book designed by parents in East Belfast, story boxes to help families engage with reading, autism training for early years practitioners, and a multicultural food event.
Barnardo’s Family Connections used its funding to develop Au-Some At Home, a capacity-building programme for professionals working with neurodiverse children.
Roisin O’Neill from Barnardo’s said the support had helped them explore new ways to meet families’ needs: “It allowed us to develop the programme and explore new approaches and solutions to the issues parents, children and early years providers were facing when trying to support neurodiverse children.
“By working collaboratively across the Early Learning Community network, we were able to contribute to workforce development and create a shared language and understanding around neurodiversity, which really helped improve outcomes for parents and children.”
Tor Bank Special School also benefited from the scheme. Teacher Jenni Reaney said the funding helped them produce a bank of resources for pupils, parents and staff.
“Thanks to the Innovation Fund we were able to create a bank of resources that we shared with parents, pupils and teachers at the school,” she said.
“We worked collaboratively then with two other early year settings to share our good practice.”
This year’s Happy Vote will take place from 2pm to 4pm on 27 November at the Skainos Centre on the Newtownards Road. The successful projects will begin their work in January 2026.
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