We work to create a climate where the right of young people to participate equally in decisions affecting them is realised...

FDYS is the local Youth Service in Co. Wexford. It is a voluntary based youth organisation working in the community sector providing Youth Work, Childcare and Education programmes and services for young people and those who work with them. This is realised through the provision of a range of services.

Established in 1965, FDYS employs 29 staff and works with 260 adult volunteers and some 2,000 young people in over 40 community areas of County Wexford.

The FDYS main base is located at Francis Street, Wexford and regional services operate from Island Road, Enniscorthy and the IGG Hall, Esmonde Street, Gorey and New Ross, Co. Wexford.

Organisation Mission Statement

To work with young people and adults in Co. Wexford, to enable them to gain for themselves, the knowledge, feelings and skills to realise their full potential and, in so far as possible, to empower them to take control of their own lives.

Organisation Objectives

• To complement the roles of the family, community, school and workplace in the overall education of the young person.
• To be the primary provider of community and centre-based services for young people in Co. Wexford.
• To maximise ownership of and participation in the services by adults as volunteers and young people.
• To provide a comprehensive range of social education training programmes, aimed at the physical, psychological, social, moral and spiritual development of young people.
• To promote critical awareness among young people especially in the social, cultural and political spheres.
• To challenge, motivate and support community based initiatives and services in their endeavour to promote youth development in discrete geographical areas.
• To develop and maintain partnerships with other providers of services to young people and to speak out resolutely on issues of social justice affecting young people.
• To create an effective organisational and management structure to enable it to achieve these objectives.

Organisation Principles

• We see Youth Work as a planned, systematic, non-formal educational process through which we work with voluntarily participating young people and adults. This work is based on a number of clear principles, which inform all of our activities.

• We recognise the fundamental importance of volunteerism in underpinning all our work and in particular it provides an important opportunity to harness goodwill and commitment from within local communities.

• We promote an informed and critical social and political awareness and challenge those elements, which are detrimental to genuine human development and particularly to the welfare of young people.

• We believe in action based on awareness and participation that gives recognition to both the process and content of Youth Work.

• We encourage and facilitate local initiatives and activities in response to locally identified needs, as well as local control over resources and activities.

• To promote responsibility, co-operation and decision making at all levels.

• We promote the highest possible standards in our youth work practice and in the selection and support of our employed staff and volunteers.

• We seek to achieve an equitable balance in our activities between addressing the needs of large numbers of young people from relatively stable backgrounds with the urgent and absolute needs of young people at risk or with particular problems.