Former Congressman Bruce Morrison Visits EPIC- our Programme for Integration of Immigrants in Irish Community
The EPIC Programme is facilitating a visit today (14th November 2012), by Bruce Morrison, a former United States Congressman, best known to Ireland as the author of the U.S. Immigration Act of 1990 allowing for the creation of the Morrison Visa programme. EPIC is one of the key NGOs that Mr. Morrison is visiting during his time in Ireland.
The EPIC programme, run by Business in the Community Ireland, brings government, business and NGOs together to assist immigrants to gain employment in Ireland by providing free training including an IT course from BT, mentoring/mock interview skills from CPL and an English language pre-employment course from EPIC trainers along with one to one support from a Training and Employment officer and access to social support.
Since the programme was founded four years ago over 2000 people have been referred to the service. Of these, over half have been eligible to participate and have engaged. To date, 1,073 placements were made, 582 jobs were filled, 381 were placed on courses and 110 in volunteering placements. During his visit Mr. Morrison will meet with EPIC staff and clients and will observe a training session in progress.
The EPIC programme is funded by the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration (formerly the Office of the Minister for Integration) under the Department of Justice and Equality and co-financed under the European Social Fund Human Capital Operational Programme 2007-2013. BT and CPL are the business partners for this initiative.
