TRAV ELLE RS in Newr y an d M ou rn e

Transcription

1 TRAV ELLE RS in Newr y an d M ou rn e S o uthe rn Edu n and c a ti o Library Board De li a v a n de r L e n de n S e p te m b e r 20 10

2 Delia van der Lenden s early career was spent in social work and community development practice with the health and social care services in Northern Ireland before moving to work with the child care voluntary sector. As Assistant Director with Save the Children during the 1990s she was responsible for developing that organisation s programme of work on the rights of Traveller children and played a part in the development of family support services in the St Christopher s Park Traveller site, Newry. During that period she also chaired the Southern Traveller Early Years Partnership funded by the International Fund for Ireland, and served on the Department of the Environment Advisory Committee on Travellers. Later she was appointed as director of the charity ChildLine and had the task of setting up ChildLine s first helpline service in Northern Ireland. Now in semi retirement she works part time as a consultant providing services mainly to community and voluntary sector organisations. The Southern Education & Library Board in collaboration with the Southern Health & Social Care Trust decided to carry out a consultation exercise with members of the Traveller community in the Newry and Mourne area. The focus of the consultation was to detail the range of support mechanisms for Travellers pre 2010 and to offer some guidance on future support initiatives. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 1

3 Introduction Report on a Consultation Exercise on Future Structures for Traveller support groups in the Newry and Mourne Area In 2006 the Newry and Mourne Traveller Partnership, which had been set up in 2001 to meet the needs of the local Traveller community, took the decision to dissolve, following the withdrawal of one of its sources of funding. In addition to a number of individual Travellers the Partnership had been made up of representatives from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the Southern Education and Library Board, Newry and Mourne Trust, Newry and Mourne District Council and the charity Save the Children. The Partnership employed a Community Development worker and a Youth Worker who were managed on behalf of the Partnership by Newry Confederation of Community Groups. The decision of the members to dissolve the Partnership was prompted both by their concern at the limited extent of Traveller involvement in the organisation and by the changed funding situation. Following the dissolution of the Partnership, the Newry Implementation Group of the Southern Area Action on Travellers (SAAT) which had hitherto had a membership of representatives of statutory housing, health and education services, was widened to include additional statutory and some voluntary organisations. Among the representatives attending were two Travellers employed by Sure Start and the Southern Education and Library Board (SELB.) However the dissolution of the Partnership meant that the area had no organisation with a remit to represent the interests of all Travellers in Newry and Mourne. In addition the area now had no access to funding strands targeted at independent non statutory organisations. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 2

4 While the formation of An Crushan Munia in October 2008 was welcomed as the first Traveller led community group in the area, its membership was drawn predominantly from Travellers from the South Armagh area and the outskirts of Newry. The Newry SAAT implementation group identified the need for an independent consultation process on structures to support work with Travellers throughout the Newry and Mourne area. This paper outlines the outcome of the process of consultation with Traveller individuals and groups, and with representatives of a range of voluntary and statutory agencies, and makes recommendations for future action. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 3

5 The Consultation Process It was anticipated that 80% of Traveller families in the Newry and Mourne area would be consulted directly either through home visits or focus groups, involving a minimum of 50 hours direct contact with Travellers. As it happened, the consultation process fell short of the intended target. The author acknowledges the assistance provided by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust s Traveller Family Support Worker in making contact with Traveller families. However scheduling of visits to individual households proved problematic and the allocated contact time was reduced by the significant number of attempted home visits which resulted in no contact. In total contact was made with 42 Travellers; 36 women (including 6 young women as part of a youth group) and 7 men. Of these contacts 25 were in a group situation (An Crushan Munia, the young women s group, and an ad-hoc group arranged in Carnagat Community Centre). The remaining 27 contacts were conducted in home settings. The assistance of An Crushan Munia, Carnagat Community Association and Paula Smyth the SELB Youth Worker in facilitating access to the groups consulted is acknowledged and appreciated. In addition discussions were held with workers from a range of agencies with a remit for Traveller support. A list of the agency workers consulted is included at Appendix 1. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 4

6 Traveller Views With the exception of the members of An Crushan Munia group, few of the Travellers consulted had any direct experience of membership of Traveller support groups. Some had a general awareness of the existence of such groups but without any membership experience many had limited understanding of what role such groups might play and the possible relevance of Traveller support groups to their lives. While direct experience of Traveller support groups was limited among individuals consulted there was no resistance expressed to the idea that Travellers might engage in collective action to bring about desirable changes to their lives. However much of the discussion focused on whether a support group might alleviate immediate concerns such as access to housing or education, pointing up the potential for unrealistic expectations to be raised by consulting on the issue of support structures. Members of An Crushan Munia strongly emphasized the need for any support group to be Traveller led, but views on leadership varied among individual Travellers consulted. The view was expressed that tensions between family groupings could present problems where Travellers were in leadership roles. Traveller leadership was seen by others as a possibility, provided support was available to deal with paperwork where literacy was an issue, and to help manage inter familial tensions. An Crushan Munia members also saw no conflict between groups being Traveller led whilst being supported appropriately by non Travellers. They emphasised the importance of education in giving Travellers the confidence and the skills to enable them to take on leadership roles. This group was also conscious of the need for an information and support point particularly for Travellers new Travellers in Newry and Mourne 5

7 to the area. The idea of a one stop shop to provide information and support for Travellers was proposed, similar to the physical base provided by An Munia Tober in Belfast. In considering the issue of any service targeted specifically at Travellers there is a need to ensure that it provides the additional support that Travellers need because of their particular life experiences, and that it plays a role in signposting Travellers to the range of services available to the general public rather than being a substitute for those services. While both Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) and An Munia Tober advocate the concept of Traveller only space they are referring to organisational arrangements rather than separate services. In the past where designated health visiting or social work staff were appointed to serve Traveller communities what was intended to be positive action resulted in Traveller families having less access to the optimum range of services and the marginalisation and eventual burnout of some of the workers concerned. Discussions with Newry Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) suggest that, subject to resources being available, that organisation would be in a position to act as a signposting mechanism to new Travellers (or others) arriving in Newry and needing advice and information on how to access services. In partnership with the Women and Family Health Initiative and the South Down Family Health group, CAB has already provided training for Travellers on benefits and form filling, and has undertaken benefit information sessions aimed primarily at a Traveller audience. An Crushan Munia proposal merits further discussion and exploration and may fit with the ITM notion of separate Traveller space rather than segregated services. A number of the younger women consulted individually or in a family situations spoke of the need for more opportunities to meet with other women and to engage in education or hobbies. Some, Travellers in Newry and Mourne 6

8 including a focus group of young mothers from the Carnagat area, were aware of the work of An Crushan Munia and would welcome the opportunity to participate in a similar group in their own locality. Raising the issue of peoples preferences in relation to future structures for Traveller support groups led in many cases to an assumption that something new was about to happen. The fact that, with the exception of An Crushan Munia members, few of those consulted had any awareness of the former Newry and Mourne Traveller Partnership made explanations about the purpose of the consultation exercise problematic. In general consultees were interested in the concept of Traveller collective action but were keen to explore it in terms of how it might relate to their particular priorities such as their position on the housing list or their wish for opportunities for adult education or hobby activities. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 7

9 Discussion Since the early 1980 s Newry and Mourne has had a succession of Traveller support groups, the nature of which had much in common with the pattern of development throughout Ireland identified in the Irish Traveller Movement document Partnership and Supporting Meaningful Traveller Participation in the Irish Traveller Movement. Initial action on behalf of Travellers followed what Irish Traveller Movement describes as The Charity Model. This work was carried out by settled people, often from religious or charitable motives with no involvement from Travellers. Those working with Travellers held the power in the relationship between settled and Traveller people and as a result little value was placed on Traveller culture or way of life. This phase was followed by what Irish Traveller Movement describes as the Community Organisation and Social Planning Model. This way of working was based on the belief that educating Travellers was the way to promote the community s integration into society. The Community Worker acts as leader and Travellers take part in group activities. Within this model the worker holds the power in the relationship and while Travellers may develop basic leadership skills and increase their self esteem the model has little if any impact on the position of Travellers within society. Much of the considerable volume of Traveller support work that was carried out in Newry and Mourne during the early late 1980 s and subsequently could be said to have followed this model. During this period considerable investment was made by a range of statutory and voluntary organisations in Traveller support work in the Newry area, and while the reasons for the failure Travellers in Newry and Mourne 8

10 of this investment to significantly improve the position of Newry Travellers during this period are complex, the non-participation by Travellers in decision making is likely to have been a factor. What Irish Traveller Movement describes as The Partnership Model has resonance for the approach adopted in working with Travellers in Newry and Mourne in recent years, and in particular for the work which led to the setting up of the An Crushan Munia group. The model sees Travellers and settled people working together to overcome the oppression of Travellers by changing the structures that create such oppression. The partnership is based on the principles of community development. Inequalities in society are acknowledged as impacting on Travellers lives and Travellers are viewed as key stakeholders within the partnership. This model gives Travellers a voice and places a value on their ethnicity, culture and way of life. While this model is based on a belief that the partnership should result in an equal balance of power between the Traveller and settled partners ITM acknowledge that this is not always achieved in practice. While the purposes to be served by any future structures for Traveller support have not been spelled out in detail by the agencies commissioning this consultation exercise these can be inferred from the brief provided. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 9

11 The intended purposes appear to be; To act as a vehicle for Travellers and settled people (including representatives of statutory agencies) to work in partnership in a way that empowers Travellers and challenges inequalities and discrimination affecting Traveller communities To allow for access to funding streams not available to statutory organisations and to enable such funding to be used to employ workers in a more flexible and innovative way than has been possible within more bureaucratic structures. The experience of the Newry and Mourne Traveller Partnership suggests that funders require such groups to demonstrate that they are Traveller led. (However as discussed later in this paper the funding situation is changing with some funders now channelling funds for innovative projects through governmental organisation) To coordinate the work of statutory and voluntary organisations providing services to Traveller communities It is important to learn lessons from the past and in particular why successive well intentioned and diligent Traveller support groups in the Newry area achieved only limited participation by Travellers in decision making processes and failed to empower Travellers to take on and sustain leadership roles. This fact is recognised by the authors of the paper which initiated this discussion on future structures for Traveller support groups in Newry and Mourne when they state: From the experience of partnership work to date agency led Traveller work has led to quite limited Traveller involvement. Many of these historic groups had aims similar to those referred to above. It may be that some of these aims were mutually exclusive. For example a group which takes on the role of employer Travellers in Newry and Mourne 10

12 needs to deal with issues outside the day to day experience of most Travellers, leading to the likelihood of a power imbalance between Traveller and settled members unless Travellers have had the opportunity for significant training and capacity building in advance. The Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) paper deals with the issue of state agency representatives playing a part in the management of Traveller organisations. It indicates that since Traveller organisations are non-governmental it is for local groups to decide whether or not to invite statutory representatives onto their management committee. The Irish Traveller Movement s view is that best practice is not to have statutory organisations on Traveller organisations because of the potential conflict of interest. They express the view that:..it is far better to utilise the Traveller space within the organisation for developing clear strategies to improve Travellers lives and engage state agencies in other appropriate fora. To raise the debate about the role of statutory representatives on Traveller support groups is not to suggest that strong advocates for Traveller equality are not to be found within these organisations. In Newry and Mourne, as elsewhere, successive Traveller support groups have come into being and have been sustained by highly committed employees of governmental organisations who valued the flexibility to work on Traveller issues once removed from their organisational constraints. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 11

13 An Munia Tober in its paper on proposals to develop a Northern Ireland Traveller Network recognises this reality where workers in statutory agencies have supported the development of Traveller organisations:.there may be individuals working in the state sector, very supportive of Travellers, and whose expertise the Network will look to build on, and also build strategic alliances in order to bring about change for Travellers. However these strategic alliances can be built up in other forums (sic) (e.g. Taskforce on Traveller Education) rather than within the internal workings of the collective. An Munia Tober is unequivocal on the issue of governmental representatives on Traveller organisations and gives its reasons for its stance; As one of the key functions of the Traveller organisation is to influence decisions of government departments and state agencies it would not be appropriate to have officials of the same sector represented on the management. The conflict of interest arises, in that the state sector is both the recipient of the representations, submissions etc by the Traveller Organisations as well as also involved in formulating these very positions. The Newry Southern Area Action with Travellers (SAAT) Implementation Group has an important role to play in coordinating the work of statutory and voluntary organisations providing services to Travellers in the Newry and Mourne area and in acting as a conduit of information to the wider SAAT Group. The nature of the local implementation group means that Traveller participation has been limited in the past to Traveller workers nominated as representing their employing organisations, and representatives of An Crushan Munia. Where organisations choose to be represented by any Traveller employees or volunteers this should be encouraged, and An Crushan Travellers in Newry and Mourne 12

14 Munia, as a Traveller led community group, should continue to play a role in the SAAT implementation group. In both these instances it must be recognised that the role of these individuals is to represent their respective organisations and to bring an important individual Traveller perspective to debates rather than to represent Travellers generally. Promoting the involvement of Travellers in community life should be seen as a long term goal that requires considerable investment in capacity building and empowerment strategies if it is to be achieved. A number of projects have recently been developed as a result of new funding streams which have the potential to improve the overall wellbeing and confidence of Travellers and thus enable Traveller communities to release their leadership potential and to exercise their rights as citizens on an equal basis with members of other communities. Significantly elements of these new funding streams have been channelled through governmental organisations but in a way that allows for a flexibility and targeting of resources previously assumed as possible only in the community sector. The debate on support group structures changes when the imperative of a local group as a conduit for funding streams is reduced. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 13

15 1. The Southern Regional College s Transforming Learning Communities project launched early in 2010 with Lottery funding aims to provide a range of education, training and support services for Travellers in the Southern Region, including Newry and Mourne. The project s focus is on enabling Travellers to acquire essential skills in areas such as numeracy, literacy and IT, and on offering training on health and wellbeing related topics. It seeks to enable Travellers to develop the confidence and skills needed to become more involved in volunteering, employment, and in community life and activities. The Transforming Learning Communities differs from many other further education services in that it is able to offer essential skills training at pre-entry level and without the constraints of ensuring minimum class numbers. It is aimed primarily at over 18s but the funder has accepted that 16 to 18 year olds may also be targeted. Essential skills can be delivered through the medium of craft and personal care courses, and through other practical courses such as driving test theory and committee skills. Community bases are used to deliver the programme, but the flexibility of the project is demonstrated by the fact that training can be delivered, where appropriate, in participants own homes. The project relies on its partnerships with other community based organisations to promote its work to Traveller communities and to make contact with potential course participants. In this respect is faces a particular challenge in the Newry and Mourne area because of the lack of a specific Traveller support group, but links have been developed with organisations such as Sure Start as a means of promoting the project to Travellers. 2. The Regenerating Environments and Community Health (REACH) project has also been funded by the lottery to focus on the needs of disadvantaged communities across the Southern Travellers in Newry and Mourne 14

16 Trust area. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, including Travellers are being targeted by the project in the Newry and Mourne area. REACH offers a range of programmes designed to promote health and well being while promoting the personal development of participants and enabling then to develop assertiveness skills and to grow in confidence. The focus is on adults and parents of children under An important aspect of the programme is the development of volunteering opportunities. The Project Coordinator envisages that over time Traveller volunteers trained as Community Health Mentors could work in a community development role and contribute to the task of capacity building in their own communities. In this project, where Travellers are one of a number of target groups, this approach, if successful, could be a method of maximising the impact of the project s limited resources. 4. The SAAT Safe and Well project works with Travellers throughout the Southern area. Funding of 1 million has been provided by the Big Lottery Fund for a period of five years. The project aims to: promote an ethos of integration and support for a marginalised and disadvantaged community. The focus of is on community development, health related activities and work with young Travellers, with the specific focus in any one geographical area determined by the stage of development of the Traveller communities and the priorities identified by Travellers themselves. Of particular relevance to the topic of this paper is the intention during year two of the project to support the formation of a Traveller only forum to: assist Travellers to come together to discuss issues relevant to them across the Southern Trust area. 7 Travellers in Newry and Mourne 15

17 5. The Belong project is funded by Atlantic Philanthropies with the aim of promoting a sense of belonging amongst BME children, including Traveller children, aged 7 to 12 years across the Southern area. Belong works in partnership with other children s services on three programmes of activities; a. Cultural Confidence and Competence Programme b. Anti-Bullying and Anti-Racial Bullying Programme c. Education Programme - supporting BME children and young people to improve their educational achievement and participation in school activities As study carried out by Queen s University of Belfast Centre for Educational Research in 2008 found that on a range of indicators such as school belonging, experience of bullying and feelings of self-worth, Traveller children experience greater levels of need than other BME children and significantly greater levels of need than their white settled counterparts. The Belong project is funded for a three year period at a level which allows for the employment of seven full time staff members supplemented by a further three full time trainee positions. The project is examining ways of encouraging Travellers to consider applying for these trainee posts and whether some of the barriers to entering employment can be overcome. While Traveller children in this age group account for approximately a quarter of the BME children in the Southern area, the project has responded to the findings of the QUB study by allocating 60% of its resources to working with children from Traveller communities. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 16

18 The Belong project with its emphasis on improving confidence and self esteem among Traveller children and young people, and developing their sense of belonging has an important contribution to make in preparing young Travellers for active citizenship in the future. However important gaps in targeted work with children and young people remain in relation to the 5 to 6 year age group and young men in particular in the age group 12 to 15 years. 6. Cooperation And Working Together (CAWT) Social Inclusion Project has been successful in securing funding from the European Union INTERREG IVA programme to progress a three year cross border Social Inclusion project which will include Travellers as one of its target groups. The overall aim of this project is to improve the health status of the population and reduce the inequalities in health. The project will improve social inclusion and demonstrate health and social gain by establishing a forty-week training programme for twenty Travellers. Upon completion of the training programme participants will have developed the confidence, competence, knowledge and skills to be employed as community health workers in mainstream agencies. The focus in Newry and Mourne area will be Traveller communities in South Armagh. Preliminary discussion with Travellers has already taken place and it is anticipated that the training programme will commence in October Hidden Harm. This local service, located within the Southern Trust Promoting Wellbeing Team is part of a regional action plan to improve outcomes for children born to and/or living in households where there is alcohol and drug misuse, including the misuse of over-the-counter and prescribed medication. In common with many marginalised communities alcohol and substance abuse is a significant issue for Traveller communities in Newry and Mourne. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 17

19 8. Partnerships. Specific mechanisms have been put in place to support cooperation between a number of the new projects including Safe and Well, Belong, CAWT Social Inclusion Project and the SRC s Transforming Learning Communities. In addition SAAT and the local SAAT Implementation Group provide vehicles for ensuring that programmes with complementary aims work in concert to maximise their impact. Signposting Travellers to appropriate sources of support and assisting new projects to link with Traveller families and communities is a role which the Southern Trust s Family Support Worker is uniquely placed to play. The current post holder has worked with local Traveller communities in a variety of roles over the past two decades and in her role as Family Support worker deals with over 300 referrals a year from Traveller families in the Newry and Mourne area. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 18

20 Conclusions and Recommendations: 1) The Newry SAAT Implementation Group should continue to be the mechanism by which statutory and voluntary organisations providing services to Traveller communities in Newry and Mourne co-ordinate their activities. Continued representation from An Crushan Munia should be encouraged and additional Traveller membership secured where possible. It should be recognised that the role of such Traveller members is to represent their nominating organisations and to bring an important individual Traveller perspective bear on the work of the SAAT Implementation Group rather than representing Travellers generally. 2) Contact with the An Crushan Munia group suggests that included in its membership are a number of people with significant leadership abilities and personal strengths. Nevertheless much of its success as a group, and in contributing to the personal development and skills development of its membership, is a result of the sustained support provided by the Women and Family Health Initiative. If other Traveller led groups are to emerge in Newry and Mourne an investment in long term work, based on the principles and ethos of community development will be necessary. 3) With the exception of the An Crushan Munia members, few of the Travellers consulted as part of this exercise had any experience of membership of Traveller support groups or any concept of the role such groups might play in challenging the inequalities their communities experience. For this reason the consultation exercise failed to generate any widespread debate in relation to Traveller views on possible future support group structures. Given the fact that (An Crushan Munia excepted) we do not have the benefit of Traveller opinion on structures, and the preference among funders and other organisations and practitioners that Traveller support groups should be Traveller led, it is inappropriate to attempt to be prescriptive about how support groups in the area should be structured in the future. Travellers in Newry and Mourne 19

21 4) The past year ( ) has seen an unprecedented investment by the Big Lottery Fund and Atlantic Philanthropies in new programmes to support Traveller communities across the Southern Area, including Newry and Mourne. These programmes have specific targets in relation to education (Transforming Learning Communities), health and wellbeing (REACH, Safe and Well, CAWT), and work with children and young people (Belong) and they work from a community development and empowerment perspective. Mechanisms have been put in place to maximise the impact of these new programmes by coordinating activities and working in partnership with existing services. Thus there is now the potential to see significant gains in life opportunities for Travellers in Newry and Mourne in the coming years. 5) If the new programme targets in relation to health, education and training, employment opportunities and improved self esteem among Traveller communities are realised it is to be expected that Traveller engagement within their own communities and among the wider community will increase. However, it is important that in striving to achieve these targets that the programmes have regard to the needs of Travellers who have not engaged to date with community programmes. 6) The focus in terms of supporting Traveller community involvement should not be restricted to work on Traveller specific issues or Traveller support groups. Of equal validity is supporting Travellers to gain the skills and confidence to join, or to form, sporting or cultural organisations, hobby groups or organisations such as parent-teacher groups at their local schools. 7) In the Carnagat area Travellers have been involved to an extent in the local community association and this type of integrated community activity should be supported. It is noted that the Safe and Well programme in its community development strand has as one of its aims Travellers in Newry and Mourne 20

22 the provision of support to Travellers to become involved in local residents groups as a means of improving community relations. 8) The SAAT Safe and Well project has plans to support the setting up of a Travellers only forum across the Southern Trust area during the second year of its five year programme to enable Travellers to come together to discuss issues relevant to them. Opportunities may arise as part of this initiative to develop a local forum in the Newry and Mourne area, whether on an ongoing or an ad hoc basis, thus providing an opportunity for dialogue between Traveller communities and service providers. In addition the Safe and Well project has an ongoing community development strand within its programme with the potential to provide ongoing support to any emerging Traveller support group or action group. 9) While the Safe and Well programme aims to support the development of Traveller led community organisations it must be recognised that the project has a remit for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust area as a whole and therefore will be constrained in the resources it can devote specifically to supporting developments in Newry and Mourne. SAAT has recognised that the new programmes funded by the Big Lottery and Atlantic Philanthropies are designed to work in tandem with the locally based Traveller support infrastructure and is examining the possibility of an application for Peace 3 funding to strengthen existing Traveller support groups. 10) Since the dissolution of the Newry and Mourne Traveller Partnership in 2006 the area has not had a local Traveller support group. However there are other organisations in the area with the ability to work at neighbourhood level and with experience of integrating Traveller support work into programmes aimed at the wider community. The Confederation of Community Groups (CCG) is a locally based community development organisation with a Travellers in Newry and Mourne 21

23 remit for supporting community action throughout the Newry and Mourne area, and as part of its Neighbourhood Renewal programme is active in many of the areas which have Travellers residents. The Women and Family Health Initiative has played an important role in the development of the An Crushan Munia group in South Armagh. In the event of a successful bid to the Peace 3 programme channelling funding through these organisations would enable Traveller communities in Newry and Mourne to have access to the sort of grassroots community development support provided in other areas by Traveller support groups with the added benefit of integrating action on Traveller issues with work relevant to the wider community. 11) Where any new Traveller led community organisations emerge in the future as a result of the support provided by the new programmes the nature of the relationship of statutory employees with these groups needs careful consideration. In a Traveller led group it will be for Travellers to decide who should be invited to join the group. However such groups will have a role in challenging the actions of service providers and may be compromised in this respect if employees of those organisations are group members. Support for the work of the Traveller led groups should be provided by governmental organisations in ways which does not involve group membership. Delia van der Lenden September 2010 Travellers in Newry and Mourne 22

24 Consultations with agencies/organisations & parents: Members of the Newry Traveller Community Stella McLoughlin Southern Trust Family Support Worker Donna Sloan Women & Family Health Initiative (2009) - REACH (2010) Paula Smyth SELB Youth Worker Lawrence Bradley Confederation of Community Groups Phyllis Kimberley Carnagat Community Association Rosemary McDonald Newry Citizens Advice Bureau Derek Hanway An Munia Tober Dolores Wilson An Munia Tober Damien Walsh Irish Traveller Movement Caroline Coleman Transforming Learning Communities Lisa Moore Safe and Well Israel Hontavilla Belong Karen Meehan CAWT (Telephone contact) Barbara Fitzgerald An Crushan Munia Kathleen Sheridan An Crushan Munia (Chairperson) Travellers in Newry and Mourne 23