The founder of Irish youth health and activism website SpunOut.ie has stepped down and the hunt is on for a new director to lead the organisation.
SpunOut founder Ruairi McKiernan started the organisation seven and half years ago.
The site is now available worldwide in 50 languages and earlier this year completed a move from its first home in Galway to new offices in Dublin’s Temple Bar.
The site was established amidst the full roar of the Celtic Tiger to provide health and social solutions to young people, while there was little official interest in this area.
The site has also evolved into a home for youth activism, with a Super Hero Grants Scheme and an Academy of Activism in place and there’s a Youth Summit on the way.
Unfinished business
“Sadly, the issues haven´t gone away,” McKiernan has lamented in his blog. “With increasing rates of youth unemployment and emigration, the ongoing lack of mental, physical and sexual health supports, and an urgent need for young people to be active and involved in shaping the world around them, it is clear that SpunOut.ie is needed more than ever.
“What has changed, however, is that the conditions for change are more fertile and despite funding challenges, I think people are ready to get stuck in to supporting positive progressive solutions,” he said.
SpunOut.ie has grown to an audience of 600,000 visitors a year and has won investment from the HSE, One Foundation, Vodafone Foundation, ESB Electric Aid and the National Lottery, as well as growing to a full-time staff of six.
