Age & Opportunity Celebrates 25 Years by Offering Two Bursaries
As part of their 25th anniversary celebrations, Age & Opportunity is offering two bursaries to Ireland’s older community in an effort to encourage this demographic to make exceptional changes in their own lives and that of their communities.
The Life is for Living Bursary is open to applicants aged 60 years or more and offers the successful candidate €5,000 to fulfil a burning ambition. Eager for the bursary to go towards an adventure that will inspire others, the organisation encourages entrants to think big, whether their wish is to take scuba diving lessons off The Great Barrier Reef, learn to cook from an Italian mama or head to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee for music lessons!
Research has proven that happiness and learning are closely linked and Age & Opportunity is keen to explore this by providing someone with a new experience or allowing them to learn something new. Opening on the 7th November 2013 the Life is for Living Bursary will allow someone to travel either in Ireland or abroad, to experience something new and share what they are learning with others as they go.
Age & Opportunity will provide the chosen applicant with €5,000 funding. To be in with a chance, all you need to do is tell them how you would spend the money on your dream. The closing date for applications is Friday 29th November 2013 and applications may focus on any combination of the following areas:
- · Education
- · The Arts
- · The Environment
The VoltAge Bursary recognises the energy and the contribution of older people in their communities across the country. It is inspired by the huge amount of volunteering and community contributions carried out by older people and this is something Age & Opportunity want to share with the rest of Ireland.
The chosen community initiative will receive €5,000 funding from Age & Opportunity as well as in-kind support of relevant expertise and/or back up from the business sector. The bursary will support community-based activities that promote people as active citizens. Looking for projects that demonstrate older people’s capacity and potential for taking on roles within their localities, the winning project will be innovative, replicable and an effective local community intervention.
The organisation is keen to highlight intergenerational projects where the primary applicant is an older people’s community organisation/active retired group working with or enabling, for example a youth club, student group, a group of young jobseekers, clearly demonstrating how the younger group has been involved with the project planning where appropriate.
Again, the winning project must be from one of three areas of community involvement:
- · Education
- · The Arts
- · The Environment
The closing date for applications for the VoltAge Bursary is Friday 31st January 2014 and applicants must be prepared to evaluate and learn from their work and share their ideas with others.
Projects for each bursary must be completed by the end of September 2014 and a full list of terms and conditions that apply are available on www.ageandopportunity.ie
For more information on Age & Opportunity, visit www.ageandopportunity.ie or find the organisation on Facebook or Twitter (@Age_Opp)