Did you receive a letter or a text from the Department of Social Protection about doing one of our courses? Please click the boxes below to learn more about New Steps and New Futures.

Employability Programmes

The One Family Programmes Service provides adult education and training to people parenting alone or sharing parenting. The service aims to develop and provide a range of best practice programmes that empower people to take the next steps into education or work. 

Our free education programmes – New Steps  and the New Futures Employability Programme give lone parents the confidence, skills and support they need to progress to education and employment. All participants have access to regular one to one support from their key worker and other wraparound family supports. 

We understand the experience of parenting alone and sharing parenting and how challenging it can be to move back into education or find fulfilling employment. Our Career Planning and Personal Development programmes have been designed for lone parents who want to return to or begin education and work but are not sure where to start.

In 2019 the New Futures project won the Special Recognition STAR Award for an ESF Initiative for making an outstanding contribution to adult learning. The STAR Awards are an initiative by AONTAS as part of the annual Adult Learners’ Festival to acknowledge the fantastic work undertaken by adult learning initiatives throughout Ireland. 

We commenced delivery of New Steps and New Futures via online delivery from September 2020. From September 2021 we further enhanced and adapted the programme for online delivery to include facilitated Zoom classes, purpose built online learning platform and online wraparound supports & key working. 

Hear from past participants.

One Family New Futures Stories are the experiences of some of the lone parents who took part in our courses, in their own words.

Our Funders

One Family’s employability and education programmes are part supported by funding received under the Gender Equality Activity of the European Social Fund (ESF) Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020 (‘PEIL’) and the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme 2014-2020.  

The ESF PEIL Gender Equality Activity aims to promote social inclusion and combat discrimination in the labour market. The EaSI programme aims to promote a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion, poverty, and improving working conditions.