·         Supporting and enabling churches to engage more effectively with each other and their local community

·         Developing understanding of how the local community works

·         Acting as a catalyst for positive change

·         Mediation between groups, communities and individuals

·         Building and developing community fora

·         Lobbying statutory agencies and government departments

Research

Newtownards Community Relations Audit

Inter-Church and Church-Community Relations in Newtownards

Bangor Churches Research

Ards Peninsula Research

Consultation with Older People on Dealing with the Past

Click Here for the Executive Summary. The full report can be obtained by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

“A Change of View”

Reflecting on a divided city….views from a bus.

The Link in partnership with the Newtownards Community Forum has commenced a year-long programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund.  This initial trip was part of the Inter-generational work with older and young people from a number of areas in Newtownards, exploring sectarianism and racism within our society in creative and challenging ways.

The Tour…

Starting from Newtownards, we travelled through East Belfast and on to North and West Belfast.  At various points we reflected on the murals and recent memorials and stopped at the often visited peace wall in Cupar Street.  On the way we took note of “Thanksgiving Square" and the statue of “hope”.  Our final destination was ForthSpring -  a community initiative on the Springfield Road/Workman Avenue peaceline. Here we ate lunch and over our meal tried to digest the things that we'd seen from the bus…

Learning to see…

This trip was more than a sightseeing tour. It was an opportunity to think about the way the “Troubles”  have shaped our past and then consider what that means for our future…what if anything, do we need to bring with us from the past to ensure that the violence of those days is never repeated?

For more information about the whole project contact Gareth on 028 9182 1124.

“They give me so much support and the best advice I could ever get and I’m very
thankful for it because it’s helped me so much. The Link is a very good place ... without
The Link I would probably have been shot but because of The Link it didn’t happen”.
Young Person of The Link

The Link's Community Development and Community Relations work is part-funded by the International Fund for Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund