The City of Dublin VEC is the largest VEC and offers a huge range of services. Second level and further education apart, these include adult education, literacy and community education. The CDVEC psychological service is widely regarded as a model of its kind and its Youth Services Board was the State's first statutory youth work agency.

The CDVEC also provides vital education programmes to Dublin prisons, including Mountjoy, Arbour Hill and Wheatfield.

The Curriculum Development Unit was established by CDVEC, TCD and the Department of Education to act as a curriculum research and development institute. The unit is responsible for a range of innovations including the development of outdoor education, the Junior Cert School Programme for potential early school-leavers and the CSPE (civic, social and political education) curriculum.

CDVEC projects include consumer, human rights and environmental education and a Combat Poverty sponsored programme on poverty, the curriculum and the classroom.