The Grow Remote Community Fund supports innovative ideas which aim to activate the power of remote work locally.
It is vital to our Community model that remote workers actively engage in their locality. They can do so through Chapter membership while building their network and connections through our online platforms. As we emerge into the next phase of remote working in Ireland, we thought it was a good time to recognise the creativity and innovation that has been transforming local communities for some time now.
We made a €10,000 fund available to support the most creative and transformative project ideas coming from within our community.
The fund was open to Grow Remote Chapter Leads to apply for amounts between €250 and €1,000 per chapter. Chapters could apply individually or could join forces and submit a joint application, and we saw some wonderful collaboration as a result.
The projects must achieve one or more of these four aims:
- Make visible the thousands of remote jobs open and available to local communities today
- Enable Remote workers to actively participate locally
- Promote and advocate for remote working in your local community
- Reduce isolation of remote workers
So we warmly congratulate the 2021 Grow Remote Community Fund grantees. Have a look at their projects below and, if you want to get involved, contact our community team now.
Join the Community
Wexford / Kilkenny / Longford
Grow Connections App
A joint project between Grow Remote Chapters in Wexford, Kilkenny and Longford.
This project aims to easily make visible all the community organisations in your county and nearest town.
Living in a community under lock down has made it clear that we don’t know the range of clubs, societies, and activities available locally. The Grow Connections app will put this information in your hand and give you a way to act on your desire to actively participcate in your local community.
The future of remote working is visibility. The attractions of a community can be hidden, so this app will make them visible.
Enniscrone
Hub in the Pub
Hub in the Pub aims to bring pubs back to the social heart of our communities and provide remote workers with a space to come together. This project can be scaled nationwide and beyond, by encouraging pub owners to open their doors to remote workers during low-to-no trading hours.
East Wicklow
Local event run by the East Wicklow chapter
We want to promote the benefits of working locally. These range from from being able to shop local to getting involved in the local digital hub. We are promoting local issues and actively looking to engage people in how working remotely can benefit their working life, family and their community.
Arranmore / Donegal
Remote Work Mentoring app
A project run by the Arranmore and Donegal chapters
The main objective of this initiative is to increase the number of remote workers in our local community by facilitating and empowering job seekers with the resources and support to successfully secure a remote job.
The app will pair those seeking remote work with mentors who have already been on the remote work journey, understand the processes involved, and can provide one-on-one support to assist the job seeker to successfully navigate the remote work recruitment ecosystem.
Bruff
Local Social Event
This social event will advocate for remote work in Limerick. The Chapter is working with Limerick City Council and Limerick County council to acquire Bank of Ireland building in Bruff and turn it into a state-of-the-art digital hub.
Portunmna / Gort / Ballinasloe
Regional Chapter Hub
This is a joint project with the Portumna, Gort and Ballinasloe chapters.
The idea is to have a feeling of joined -up connection of remote working in the west and midwest. We want to:
- raise the awareness of remote working within the area as a core element of thriving community
- surface and connect remote workers
- focus on the younger cohort for whom isolation has been a particular challenge
Louisburg
Community event
We know that there are many remote working opportunities available out there but many people locally don’t know where to start looking. We will run a public event with the following aims:
- to introduce the remote working community to each other
- to find out a bit about their needs and unmet needs around remote working; and
- to inform people living and with holiday homes in the local area (and beyond) about the opportunities out there for remote work, and how they can start looking for what might suit them
Ennis
Local Business Networking Event
Remote working is still largely an “individual case/situation” rather than fully embraced part of the working world for employees and employers in Ennis. Even following 18 months of pandemic-influenced work from home scenarios, remote employment is still not a natural choice for many employees and employers.
We want to engage employers and individual employees and very intentionally connect them to the buzz of local businesses in Ennis so that they can make their value to each other much more visible. We want tog get remote workers eating, drinking, shopping and socialising locally.
Kilkenny
Community Spirit
We want to organise an in-person social meeting to harness the community spirit among remote workers in Kilkenny. This will be followed by regular virtual and in-person coffee events. We will also organise regular public information meetings hosted by a different group member.
