Momentum is based in the beautiful county of Leitrim, in Ireland. Surrounded by rivers and lakes, green fields and forests, and home to a diverse community of people from all over the world. Momentum creates impact via EU education and innovation programmes by developing innovative curricula and tertiary educational strategies for many of Ireland’s top HEI and VET bodies (National University Maynooth, Atlantic Technological University, Technical University of the Shannon, Local Enterprise Offices). They work with over 50 leading HEI and VET education partners including UIIN, ACEEU, eucen, FH Münster University of Applied Sciences, University of Bologna, Tallinn University and University of Malaga to name a few. However, they are also very much embedded in Youth education. MMS has developed and implemented dozens of training programmes for young people. Recognising the specific challenges faced by those with fewer opportunities – migrants and refugees, NEETs in particular -and their commitment has been to enable young people entering the world of work to participate as fully as possible in the contemporary labour market.
Inclusion and Empowerment are at the heart of everything Momentum does. In 2023 they were honoured to be accepted as a signatory of Diversity Charter Ireland at a ceremony in TU Dublin. Recognising their work for the last 20 years as a practitioner of diversity, equality and inclusion, Momentum joins 67 organisations as signatories to Diversity Charter Ireland, including 3M, Aer Lingus, AIB, An Post and is one of the smallest companies to be accepted as a signatory. By signing Diversity Charter Ireland organisations make public a statement of commitment, to address diversity, equality and inclusion in the workplace in a framework that is tailored to the Irish context. community of diversity and inclusion practitioners, seeking to build best practices in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion in their workplaces.
Momentum has been in business for over 20 years and have worked on numerous projects and initiatives that support and empower migrants to not only adapt to their new country, but also to support them in their goals. In August 2023 Momentum hosted a celebration of belonging. This was an event focused on intercultural exchanges of learning and included guest speakers and a conversation café. Momentum were also involved in Palyanytsya, a pop-up shop that opened in Leitrim to support people from Ukraine who had recently moved to Ireland.
One of the projects that Momentum is working on won the 2023 “Best European Practice” award from the international European Network of Innovation for Inclusion. The Creative Invisibles Project was featured in the “Inclusive Entrepreneurship” category, and the project was chosen for its innovative teaching methods and methodology for young people who are “invisible” (i.e. outside the education system) and want to make a place for themselves in the urban culture sector.
Momentum has a dedicated Inclusion Specialist; Lola Gonzalez moved to Ireland from Panama, and she has a couple of decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge in the fields of inclusion and empowerment, as well as in other sectors. Settling into her new life in Leitrim without existing social and support networks made her sympathetic to the isolation many newcomers to Ireland feel. Her solution was to throw herself into her local community, joining local groups and volunteering her time for causes that matter to Lola. She was one of the participants in the Immigrant Council’s Migrant Councillor Internship Scheme 2021-2022, training migrants in the fundamentals of Irish politics. She was chosen as the class speaker for the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Migrant Councillor Internship Scheme where her moving speech inspired her colleagues and high-profile attendees.
You can find out more about Momentum, and the work they do on their website: https://momentumconsulting.ie/
