The charity Community Driven Development has rebranded its programme under the new name Dare2Be.

The organisation ­— which empowers disenfranchised Bermudians to break the cycle of dependency though education, soft skills training, mentoring, work shadows and, ultimately, permanent employment — says it wants to better reflect its positive energy and direction.

Executive director Deborah Blakeney said: “CDD was initially developed within the Department of Human Affairs in 2012, in alignment with a British business model.

“However, earlier this year the programme was spun out of Government and into the community as a registered charity.

“Dare2Be challenges and emboldens both our participants and the community to rise to the challenge and dare to be the very best they can be. For our participants, this means a commitment to learning and retooling their skills to make them employable. For the community it means making a commitment to engage with our participants though work shadows and ultimately permanent employment.”

Created in collaboration with ‘The Royal Gazette’, Dare2Be’s new logo symbolises growth and rebirth, and in doing so better reflects the charity’s mission.

Dare2Be chairman Juan Prado stated: “CDD has never really reflected who we are or more importantly, what we do, and given we have only been a registered charity for less than a year, the acronym has never had a chance to resonate within the community. However, as our community outreach expands with planned events such as our ladies’ golf classic at the end of October, a special shopping day at Gibbons Company in November, a tag day in December and a New Year’s Eve spectacular to see out the year, we thought it was the perfect time to rebrand and reposition the charity.”

In the coming days, the public will learn more about Dare2Be in a series of articles to be published by The Royal Gazette. On Friday, there will be an insert in the daily paper that will focus attention on the programme’s participants, their goals and aspirations.

Anyone wishing further information about Dare2Be is encouraged to call its offices on 292-2200 or visit the website www.dare2be.bm