DRUMROLL PLEASE…..We are SUPER excited and proud to share our IMPACT REPORT with you all! WOW…What a milestone this is for all of us here at The B!G Idea HQ!

The impact report looks at what we have achieved since launching in 2020 and the effect that our programme has had on anyone who has taken part in it. Did you know that in Ireland 45,000 children and young people are living in disadvantaged circumstances at the moment? Did you also know that 68% of students feel that they have experienced depression or anxiety and that they are stressed about their future or that 84% of students from deprived areas don’t believe they have the skills required to succeed in a professional career. Sadly these statistics are not made up. The B!G Idea aims to help all of these young people by giving them the confidence to tackle challenges they come up against. The programme offers game-changing, creative thinking skills to students to develop problem solving, resilience, empathy, critical thinking and collaboration within this age group.

Times are changing all the time and while some of these changes are good they bring lots of challenges too. Our young people are the change-makers and it is up to us to give them tools to solve these challenges and to carve out their futures. We believe that these tools are to be found in the creative thinking toolbox. Creativity and innovation can be taught at any age and are skills that are needed now more than ever. Every single person is creative and every single person can make a difference. We want to create a world where young people have the creative skills, ability, resilience and confidence to take on all sorts of B!G challenges.

“I learned that I’m not as shy as I used to be. I don’t really like to talk much or throw out my ideas or be involved with groups but I actually did pretty good on this project with my classmates. I’ve definitely learned to speak up more and not be afraid of people judging your opinion.” Tori, Youthreach student, Kilkenny Youthreach

In 2022 we worked with students from 22 counties all across Ireland. Of the 49 schools that participated, 17 were DEIS schools (schools in areas of socio-economic disadvantage). The B!G Idea works to give young people from all areas and backgrounds access to creative learning opportunities. We are doubling our numbers this year and 4000 students will benefit from the programme in 2023. The balls are in motion to get the programme underway in January and we can’t wait to bring it on.

To download our impact report and read more, click on the link below.

• Download Our Impact Report