LIFT Youth Support Group

Giving Irish Youth a leadership voice!

Meet the LIFT Youth Support Group

The LIFT Ireland’s Youth Support Group is a group of inspirational young adults supporting LIFT Ireland in its mission to transform Irish society by enabling development of Leaders of Character. The Youth Support Groups aim is to develop ideas and ways to shape leadership for the youth of Ireland. We want to ensure that the youth voice is heard in Ireland.

Chairperson – Steve McCarron

Steve McCarron, is based in Cork Ciy and the current Marketing Manager at LIFT Ireland who oversees the Youth Support Group. He is passionate about the importance of sport in youth development and creating more confident young people through sports. Steve has previously lived and worked in New Zealand and Hong Kong. He is excited about the development of the youth group. Steve is fascinated about human behaviour and LIFT Ireland’s potential to create better leaders across Ireland.

Secretary – Hannah Dormer

Hannah Dormer is a Commerce International student from the National University of Galway and is currently working as an Intern for LIFT Ireland. Hannah was one of the first 15 transition year students to be trained up as a LIFT facilitator in 2018, and Hannah’s school, Confey College was the first school in Ireland to pilot the rollout of LIFT roundtables with their second year students.

Youth Support Group Member – Elizabeth Zion

Elizabeth Zion, 18 is a speaker, poet and student. Elizabeth was born in Ireland to Nigerian parents. She experienced homelessness at the age of 14, but doesn’t let the experience define her. Instead, it fuels her passion for family reunification, ending homelessness and helping others. She has served on the global youth advisory board for Unicef and curated a TED talk on family reunification in partnership with Unicef. She is a keynote speaker for DCU’s changemaker schools conference. She is in her 2nd year of studying Politics, International Relations and Social justice at the University College Dublin

Youth Support Group Member – Kanaar Bell

Kanaar Bell is a poet, a storyteller, and a digital marketeer who helps B2B businesses and social enterprises surface and tell their authentic stories. Kanaar’s engaged with hundreds of diverse companies across 4 different industries and 4 different countries. It’s his mission to encourage underrepresented people to use their voice as a tool to shape community & culture. He calls it, “letting your SOULTALK.”

Caitlin-Faye Maniti - Youth Support Group Member

Youth Support Group Member – Caitlin-Faye Maniti

Caitlin-Faye Maniti, 19, activist from County Donegal. Caitlin-Faye is an advocate for youth participation, student voice, diversity, inclusion and climate justice. She began taking part in LIFT roundtables during her Leaving Certificate and continued with it ever since. Caitlin-Faye has been involved in and worked with many organisations including An Taisce, UNICEF, the Irish Second-Level Students Union (ISSU) where she currently serves as the Uachtarán (President). With her experience in activism she believes that leadership is such an important muscle and LIFT is an amazing way to strengthen it.

Youth Support Group Member – Peter Ryan

Peter Ryan is a former Irish Paralympic cyclist with more than 7 years’ experience in elite international sport. Peter had been a promising minor hurler with Tipperary before he suffered the effects of Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy that caused the deterioration of his eyesight. A dedicated individual with a record of achieving goals, he prides himself on his ability to encourage, inspire and influence others to achieve their targets and give back. Peter is a strong advocate for the disability sector.

LIFT Youth Support Group

The first meeting of the Youth Support Group took place on March 4th 2022, CEO Joanne Hession who was in attendance, felt the positive energy from the group and the potential to influence change. She commented ‘LIFT Ireland has a goal of reaching 10% of the Irish population by 2028 and we can not do that without the young people of Ireland. By forming this inspirational group of young people, we can ensure that the youth of Ireland will have a voice and be in a position to lead positive change in the country. I am extremely excited to see what our Youth Support group can do and the change they can bring.’

What We Do

Driving positive leadership change in Ireland through our facilitator and partner network

Values

LIFT’s leadership learning process is based on eight key leadership values; Listening, Positive Attitude, Respect, Competence, Dedication & Determination, Empathy & Understanding, Accountability, and Honesty & Integrity.

Influence

LIFT Ireland believes that the best way to influence positive change in our country is to re-examine the way in which we view and enact leadership in our schools, communities, at home, and in our businesses.

Learning

Central to LIFT’s learning process are the leadership circles or roundtables. During these sessions, participants are given space to reflect on the eight leadership values using a well-established 5-step-method.

Network

To reach its overall goal of reaching 10% of the island’s population, LIFT relies on its network of facilitators and partners, who make a commitment to living, growing, building or hosting LIFT’s activities.

Become a partner

Pete Smyth, Broadlake

"The LIFT team have a vision to bring out the leadership potential in all Irish people. In Broadlake we see first hand the potential of Irish leaders globally when they have the right supports. The vision of Ireland being famous for it leaders is exciting and achievable. That’s why we are helping LIFT."

Pete Smyth, Chief Executive Officer, Broadlake

Catherine Moroney, AIB

"LIFT is an accessible initiative for everyone from business to education and sports and it is inter generational. LIFT's core purpose is to facilitate conversations that encourage and foster core values that can help shape Ireland's sustainable future. All decisions are made through the filter of our Values and LIFT initiative will collectively raise our awareness of those filters for sustainable decision making."

Catherine Moroney, Head of Business Banking, AIB

Chupi Sweetman, Chupi

"There is a tremendous opportunity to build a better, brighter and kinder future, not an old Ireland built on prejudice but a new Ireland built on strength. We are delighted to be a Founding Partner of Lift Ireland"

Chupi Sweetnam, Founder, Chupi

Sonya Lennon, Dress For Success Dublin

"Dress for Success is an organisation that empowers women to succeed in sustainable careers. We understand that LIFT is a vital piece of the puzzle. Fostering good values in our society now and for the future will make Ireland a better place to live and work"

Sonya Lennon, Founder, Dress For Success Dublin

GET INVOLVED

Whether you are in a company, a community group, or simply an individual who believes in the power to influence change, we’d love to hear from you. Find out how you can get involved below.

GET INVOLVED NOW