GCSEN Ireland- In January, 2026, Prof. Cas conducted his annual lecture with YouthReach (a programme for young adult early school leavers) in Ballymun, Dublin for class members under the legendary teacher and program manager of GCSEN Ireland, John Coughlan.
It was a very powerful time, sharing and learning about the struggles of these young people while exploring social entrepreneur solutions- short and long term. The class reviewed our customized slide deck about Professor Greg Dees of Harvard, Stanford and Duke University Business Schools (Source: The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship by Professor Greg Dees, Harvard Business School/ MITPress,1999) and this led to a deeper discussion of the power of School, Work and Business Ownership.
GCSEN volunteer Katya Mary Grace Caslin and aspiring Food-preneur, and daughter of Mike and Irene Caslin, gains valuable insights from Star Chef Carol Curran of YouthReach!
Now we are exploring a “Foodpreneur Incubator/Accelerator” concept seeking to significantly increase the number of North Dublin young adults and their families who will own food businesses. Mike adds, “We concluded with a Business Ideation Contest - 50 Euros to those with the most ideas in one week! Stay tuned for the winners!”
From the Youthreach website: “The Youthreach programme provides two years integrated education, training and work experience for unemployed early school leavers without any qualifications or vocational training who are between 15 and 20 years of age.
There are almost 6,000 places available nationwide under the Youthreach umbrella. Almost 3,700 of these places are provided by ETBs (employment training boards) in over 100 Youthreach centres. The majority of the remainder of places are provided by Community Training Centres. From basic life and business skills training, practical work training to general education upgrading all are features of the programme, and the application of new technologies is integrated into all aspects of programme content.”
Sunset- Youthreach students have the GCSEN Opportunity Train now to climb aboard!
