Over 120 School Pupils Design Their Perfect Community

Over 120 primary school pupils from Cookstown have taken part in a full day programme designed to provide an education on how people and businesses operate as part of a successful community.

The course, which was facilitated by Fold Housing Association and Young Enterprise NI, saw children from Cookstown Primary School and Holy Trinity Primary School working together to assess the needs and wants of a community.

The pupils took responsibility for the model they had designed through a voting and decision making process.

Fold Housing Association is set to allocate 58 new high quality homes in Cookstown town centre in April 2016. The development, called Burnvale Crescent, is the first for the organisation in the area and represents a significant investment of £5m. A derelict factory on the Daintyfit site was demolished to allow for the regeneration of the area.

Bridie Doherty, Area Manager for Fold Housing Association, said: “Fold is delighted to be developing its first general needs scheme in Cookstown and we are committed to being a proactive stakeholder in the wider community. We feel that educational outreach work, such as the event this week which saw two schools working together, will play a fundamental role in that.

“We look forward to welcoming new tenants into our “Housing for All” scheme. Good relations and integration activity will be undertaken with our tenants to help establish and sustain the new neighbourhood once the homes are allocated later this year.”

Carol Fitzsimons, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise, said: “We are delighted that Fold Housing Association is supporting this cross-community initiative and the ‘Our Community’ programme. Opportunities like these are vital to enable young people to develop the skills and the knowledge they will need for the workplace. These pupils have worked together and learned about the role of business within the community. As a charity, having the support of organisations such as Fold Housing Association is very important to allow us to continue with this work.”

'