Linking with the Local

We find ourselves at a time of significant social and political change from which few, if any, will be immune. The impacts of the financial recession on individuals and communities are still filtering through the system. The national deficit is forcing government (at all levels) to re-think what it does and why. Trying to balance the competing pressures of reduced funding and increased demand, the city’s Third Sector can feel (once again) ‘stuck in the middle’ as it faces major changes in its role and scope.

Some might say that with such major changes on the horizon this is no time for talk. It is our view that it is precisely at such a time of transition that the sector needs to understand itself (and our changing role) better, develop our shared language, and build on existing strengths.

In order to help build just such a shared vision,  we will be attending meetings of local voluntary sector organisations over the first quarter of 2011. The purpose of these meetings is to celebrate what has been achieved so far, to share information about strategic developments around the corner; and to help link the local voluntary sector more effectively with city-wide groupings and partnership structures.

You are warmly invited to join us at one of four semi-formal meetings that have been planned. Invitations will also go out shortly to those groups with whom we have contact.

If you would like to attend one of these meetings, please contact Dianne Morrison at EVOC on (0131) 555 9100.

• South-West and Pentlands Neighbourhoods: Tuesday 25 January  from12noon to 3pm at The Westburn Centre, 55 Sighthill Road, EH11 4PB;

• Portobello/Craigmillar and Craigentinny/Duddingston Neighbourhoods: Monday 7 February from 10am to 12noon at cre8te, Castlebrae Business Centre, EH16 4BB;

• Liberton/Gilmerton and South Central Neighbourhoods: Monday 21 February from 1 to 3pm at 13 Newtoft Street, Gilmerton, EH17 8RG;

• Forth and Inverleith Neighbourhoods: Monday 14 March from 9 to 11am - venue to be confirmed.

Ella Simpson
Director, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council and
Chair, Voluntary Sector Strategy Group

Harriet Eadie
Director, Volunteer Centre Edinburgh and
Chair, Edinburgh Compact Partnership

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All neighbourhoods

Next round of EVOT grants available for applications

Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) administers a number of trusts and other funds which are amalgamated into a single trust called Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations' Trust (EVOT).

The closing date for the next round of EVOT grants to voluntary organisations is Monday 28 February. For information and criteria please see the EVOC website.

Applications can be obtained from the Trust Administrator, Janette Scappaticcio on 0131 555 9109.

Jubilee People’s Millions

Got a great idea for a project to inspire your community? Want to involve local people working together to tackle a problem? Know what you want to do but need some money to make it happen? The Jubilee People’s Millions could be the answer!

The Big Lottery Fund and ITV, with the approval of Buckingham Palace, will be helping to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 with 60 Lottery Grants.

The following groups are eligible to apply for Jubilee People’s Millions:
• voluntary and community groups
• local authorities; schools; statutory health bodies
• social enterprises.

Projects must provide opportunities for people to enjoy their local area, whether indoors or out, or improve local facilities for all to enjoy and organisations will be able to apply for up to £60,000 from a total of £3.6million. The funded projects will inspire, involve or improve the local communities they live in. Finalists will be showcased on ITV regional news this summer when the public will vote for the projects they want to receive the Lottery funding. The winners will be up and running in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year, 2012.

If you are interested in applying for this programme then please visit the People's Millions website or phone 0845 10 20 30. Groups will have until midday on 4 February 2011 to get their entries in. The winning projects will be awarded the funding in summer 2011, in order to be up and running in time for Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee year in 2012.

For more information contact Evelyn Boyd, Outreach Development and Support Manager on 0141 242 1447.

Climate Challenge Fund: new round of funding

The Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund, administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, is calling out to all Scottish community groups to visit their brand new website and to apply for their new round of funding - applications have now opened!

To be eligible to apply, the Climate Challenge Fund are looking for projects that will lead to a significant carbon reduction in your community, with your community being at the heart of the decision making process of your project. Projects which have previously been funded through the Climate Challenge Fund have included activities which have helped to improve the energy efficiency of homes and community buildings; helped communities to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste; encouraged the use of low carbon transport and active travel options, and encouraged the consumption and production of local foods.

See the Climate Challenge Fund website for details.

Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (LCiL) seeks new Board Members

The Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (LCiL) is looking for volunteers to sit on its Board of Directors.

LCiL works with disabled people to take control of their own lives, support their choice to take up their rights and enable their full participation in society.

A variety of skills are required including:
• Interest in strategic development/taking the organisation forward
• Experience/skills in managing organisational change
• Personal experience of disability

As a user-led organisation, 51% of LCiL’s Board members must be disabled people.

If interested please contact Florence Garabedian on 0131 475 2350 or textphone 0131 475 2383.
 

NHS Lothian invites you to submit details for Participation Database

NHS Lothian is currently updating its records of public bodies and voluntary organisations throughout the Lothians.

This is being done with the intention of creating a Participation Database, which will include all such organisations as well as keeping their records accurate. This database will allow them to contact you with any changes to their services that they feel you might be interested in and also allowing you to easily give comment on the services they provide.

Any information supplied will be electronic as they have no desire to create an unnecessary paper trail, and will be specific to services provided by your organisation. They will not supply information about children’s services to care homes for the elderly and vice-versa.

For more information please see the NHS Lothian website.

If you would like to join the project please email your contact details as below to David Carr at NHS Lothian and they will be included on the database.
• Contact Name
• Organisation
• Address inc. Postcode
• Work Phone Number
• E-Mail

For further details please contact David Carr at NHS Lothian on 0131 465 5699.
 

Date set for PVG Scheme commencement

The Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme is to go live on 28 February 2011, Children's Minister, Adam Ingram has announced.

The scheme had been due to commence at the end of November 2010 but Ministers took the decision to postpone its introduction to ensure the system which supports it is fully fit for purpose and robust.

Mr Ingram said:  "I have been assured by the PVG Scheme Programme Board that the system's development is now on track and have agreed that the scheme will commence on 28 February 2011 - delivering increased protection, alongside efficiency savings and less bureaucracy."

Employers will be sent supplies of the new PVG Scheme application forms early next month and be kept up to date with progress.

The PVG Scheme will be implemented well within the budget of £53 million set in 2009 and the Scottish Government is bearing all of this cost. Checks for volunteers working in the qualifying voluntary sector will be free of charge.

The scheme only applies to people who work, paid or unpaid, with children and protected adults and it does not apply to parents helping their children or personal arrangements that parents make with friends and family to look after their children.

PVG Scheme Help Service is available by email or on 0870 609 6006.
 

Disability Living Allowance reform – public consultation

This consultation seeks your views on the Government‘s proposals to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit – Personal Independence Payment. The Personal Independence Payment will continue to be a non-means tested, extra costs benefit. It will help disabled people remove the barriers they face to leading full and independent lives. The consultation asks for views to inform their policy for reforming DLA and introducing a new objective assessment. The consultation applies to England, Wales and Scotland. The consultation is aimed primarily at disability organisations and disabled people but they would like to hear from anyone who is interested.
 

Toward a Registration System for CLD Practitioners

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has directed the CLD Standards Council for Scotland to consider and establish a registration system available to practitioners delivering and active in CLD practice. To develop this strand of  work, they want to run a series of sessions exploring practitioners’ views.

The Registration Committee of the Standards Council developed a draft model for a registration system in 2010; this proposal was agreed by the Executive Committee and they have now engaged independent consultants to develop the detail and to test the model with the CLD field. Their intention is to run nine testing sessions across Scotland. This is an opportunity for practitioners in your partnership to contribute to a major national development for CLD.

Two sessions will be held in Glasgow at the Teachers Building, St Enoch Square on Thursday 3 February and Wednesday 9 March and a further two in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Training Centre on Friday 4 February and Friday 11 March. Coffee will be available from 9.30am with a 10am start. These events will finish with a networking lunch at 1pm. These will be open to CLD practitioners from the public or voluntary sectors.

To register for these events (maximum of 12 participants at each), please contact Gail Herrigan on 0141 282 5054.

Edinburgh Commissioning Strategy for Care and Support Services 2011-2016 and the Commissioning Plan for Adult Services

You are invited to attend an event hosted by the Edinburgh Equalities Network to hear about the City of Edinburgh Council's draft Edinburgh Commissioning Strategy for Care and Support Services and the draft Commissioning Plan for Adult Services.

This event will take place on Tuesday 1 February in the Business Centre at the City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh from 5.30pm to 7.00pm (refreshments will be available from 5.00pm). If you are interested in attending please contact Anne Elliot onl 0131 469 3764 to book a place. If you have any access/transport requirements let Anne know when booking your place.

This invitation is for members of the Edinburgh Equalities Network and for non-members who would like to be involved. Please feel free to forward this information to colleagues who may be interested in either attending the meeting on 1st February or responding to the consultation. The consultation ends on Friday 18 February.

The aim of the meeting is to provide background information to help individuals and community representatives respond to the Council consultation on the draft plans. The views from the meeting will also provide a group response to be reported back to the Council. The meeting will be facilitated by David Griffiths, Chief Executive of Ecas.

The Council directly provides much of the care and support services for Edinburgh residents, but also buys in services from other organisations and providers. The Council wants to find the best ways of working with service users, carers and providers and will use the feedback you give to draft the final plans and let you know the outcome by May 2011.

As well as contributing to the group discussion you can also submit an individual response. You will find information about the Edinburgh Commissioning Strategy for Care and Support Services on the Council website where you can also submit your views online. You can also ask for a printed copy of the feedback form and these will be available at the meeting on Tuesday 1 February.

The Council's message to everyone who wishes to participate is to ask you to please complete either the online or printed consultation before 18 February if you want them to hear your views. If you are finding this difficult, please contact them on 0131 553 8314 as they are happy to help. If you would prefer to send a written version of your comments, please do so  by email.

Who benefits? Welfare reform conference from Inclusion Scotland

This conference is being called to give people the facts and figures about how the proposed cuts in welfare particularly disability related benefits, will impoverish hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland. The conference will also act as a focal point to begin a public campaign of dissent against the cuts. The conference has been organised by Inclusion Scotland and is taking place in Glasgow on Friday 4 February.

Please see the invitation letter, the event flyer and the booking form. If you can come along please do, they need to get as many different individuals as possible involved as the real fear is that some people with disabilities are so frightened by the cuts that they are not engaging with any one and so have been isolated and powerless.

Equalities training

Community Learning and Development will be running equalities training in the afternoon of Monday 17 January at South Bridge resource centre.

The course is called Equalities - an introduction to recording and supporting equalities groups participation in your programmes (CF0962 CLD).

This half day session will enable you to look at your programmes, analyse how inclusive they are and think about encouraging a more diverse audience to your project. Please book onto this course as soon as possible if you are interested.

To book a place, please telephone the Workforce Learning and Development booking line on 469 3227 between 12.30 - 16.00 (Mon-Thurs) and 12.00 - 1530 (Fri) or email.
 

Free Upskilling courses from Community Capacity Building Panel

Please see this information about the Upskilling courses which have been organised by the Community Capacity Building Panel and which remain open for January to March 2011.

To book a place, please telephone the Workforce Learning and Development booking line on 469 3227 between 12.30 - 16.00 (Mon-Thurs) and 12.00 - 1530 (Fri) or email.

For further information contact Pat Brechin, Senior Community Learning and Development Worker, on 0131 556 7978.

David Hume Institute: spring seminar programme

The David Hume Institute has published the programme for its spring seminar series 2011.

Registration and further information can also be found on the David Hume Institute website.

Explaining the Difference: the impact of Community Based Adult Learning

Learning Link Scotland is running a half day and a full day workshop under the CLD National Upskilling Programme. The workshops show the work of their Explaining the Difference project and is open to staff and volunteers from the voluntary and statutory sectors.

The workshop is free to attend. If you need any more information or would like to chat about the work, please get in touch with Shirley Grieve, Head of Practice Development on 0131 553 7992.

Explaining the Difference: the impact of Community Based Adult Learning

½ day workshop Tuesday 18 January  in Edinburgh

Full day workshop Wednesday 16 March in Edinburgh

Explaining the Difference (ETD) is an innovative approach to evaluation. It is a programme for learning how to show the impacts and outcomes of your work, supported by a resource pack of materials

When the programme was run previously, participants were able to:

• Evidence the impact of their work

• Improve their skills in self-evaluation

• See clear links to SOAs and National Outcomes

The workshop is free to attend. To book a place, visit the Learning Link Scotland website or for more information contact Shirley Grieve, Head of Practice Development on 0131 553 7992.

Lothian's Joint Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2010-2015 Event

The Consultation & Advocacy Promotion Service (CAPS) is organising a Lothian-wide event for service users to find out more about the plan for mental health services and get a chance to have a say. This event is open to service users in Lothian and takes place on Wednesday 19 January from 10.00am to 1.30pm at the NHS Lothian offices at Waverley Gate, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh. Places are limited. To book a place contact CAPS on 0131 538 7177 or email Donna at CAPS.

Disability Benefits Briefing & Drop-In Information Session

Grapevine are hosting a Disability Benefits Briefing and Drop-In Information Session on Friday 28 January from 11.00am to 1.00pm at the City Chambers, Edinburgh. See the Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (LCiL) website for further details and booking arrangements or contact 0131 475 2370. This event was previously postponed in December due to adverse weather.

Request for expressions of interest for programme to support local development of community capacity building

Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) and the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) are seeking expressions of interest from areas or partnerships who wish to participate in a programme of support for local community capacity building (CCB) practice. They aim to provide development support for up to six areas and/or projects across the country over the coming months. The areas of work or projects can be operational or strategic. The support available will include training, facilitation and/or mentoring - making use of existing planning tools such as the SCORE framework and LEAP - and supporting local partnerships to write up and disseminate experience.

This paper gives more information on what support is being offered, the intended outcomes of the programme, and the criteria that will be used to choose the six areas of work.

To get involved in the programme, please send an expression of interest, including a brief description (around 150 words) of the relevant area of work, and a lead contact person, to David Allan at SCDC on 0141 248 1924 by January 31.

If you would like any more information on this programme, please contact John Galt  on 0141 282 5166 or David Allan on 0141 248 1924.

Young, gifted and black? BLUEPRINT theatre for young BME people

BLUEPRINT is an exciting new theatre group for young people aged between 18 and 30 especially from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Free weekly drama sessions start in early January. Participants get the chance to act and create a new play to be performed in June in the city, working with professional theatre makers from Edinburgh’s Wave Theatre. See this information for more details about Wave Theatre.

There’s loads of other ways to get involved both frontstage in performing and backstage with music, design, online or just getting the word out.

For more information about Blueprint, contact Annie George at Wave Theatre.

Fundraising benefit at the Stand Comedy Club

There will be a fundraising benefit for the SaveWoW campaign at The Stand Comedy Club, York Place, Edinburgh on Wednesday 19 January.

Women Onto Work is a charity that works with some of the most disadvantaged women in Edinburgh.

See this poster for details about the event.

Doors 19:30 | Show: 20:30 | £7.00 full | £7.00 conc | £7.00 members

Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty

Registrations are now open for the second Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty, which will take place in Glasgow on the Thursday 17 and Friday 18 February. This a free, two-day event aimed at bringing together all those concerned about poverty in Scotland.

• Thursday 17 February is a half day event, focusing on research and knowledge about poverty and will include presentations and discussions on the latest trends in poverty, participatory research and turning evidence into action. New research findings will be launched from two participatory research projects carried out over the last year.
• Friday 18 February is a full day event and brings together community activists, policy makers, voluntary organizations and MSPs around a number of key 'evidence sessions' on crucial issues for anti-poverty strategy in Scotland. This evidence will form the basis of debate and discussion about how we make progress in tackling poverty in these difficult times. Ministers from the Scottish and UK Governments have been invited to respond to the evidence they hear on the day.

The Assembly provides a unique opportunity for people with experience poverty, those on the frontline of action to tackle poverty and those responsible for anti-poverty policy to come together to look at what action is needed. At a time when poverty is predicted to increase, the need for genuine debate, and real action, has never been greater.

Both days are free and open to all. You may register for one or both days (you are encouraged to attend both). Travel and child care costs for representatives of community and voluntary organisations in Scotland will be covered. Cost can also be covered for overnight accommodation in Glasgow for those travelling from outside Glasgow. Please let the organisers know as soon as possible as places and budgets are limited. If you wish to claim childcare expenses please let the organisers know in the additional info section of the registration form. To register please visit the Poverty Alliance website or call Kathryn Collins on 0141 353 0440.

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City Centre

What are your priorities for improving the city centre? Tell us what you think

Everyone who lives, works, studies, or visits the city centre is invited to share their views on what the City Centre Neighbourhood Partnership can best do to improve the area over the next three years, 2011-2014. The Partnership is comprised of representatives from City of Edinburgh Council, Lothian and Borders Police , NHS Lothian, the voluntary sector and the local community.

What do you think can be done to make the city centre:
• cleaner
• greener
• safer
• better
 

They are developing a new Community Plan which will prioritise the main issues you tell them are important to you. To help them do this, please take a few minutes to complete the online survey.

Your responses will help them to improve the city centre for everyone.

The closing date for the survey is Monday 14 February.

Thank you in advance for your time and if you have any queries, require further information or have any problems with accessing the survey then please contact Alan Dean, Partnership Development Officer (City Centre) on 0131 529 7519.

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Leith

Leith Festival seeking volunteers for its preparations

If you can help please get in touch with Adele directly on 0131 5554104.

Leith Festival is already preparing for this year’s festival running from 10 to 19 June 2011.

They have a couple of projects on the go, and they are looking for volunteers and people to participate/get involved with:

Vollytographers
They are looking for up to 5 students (18-24 year olds) that would like to work as photographers prior to and during the festival. You must have your own digital SLR camera and be able to take instruction from a very well established local photographer.

You will attend a variety of gigs and events throughout the festival. There is also the opportunity to exhibit some of your own photographs in the Vollytographer exhibition that will run throughout the festival.

Cast and Crew
Leith Festival productions will be putting on 2 x 1 act comedies and they are looking for people to be involved. This includes actors/performers, crew and FOH.

Knitters
They are looking into creating a visual art installation made out of wool and are calling all knitting enthusiasts to participate in the project. This will involve creating/knitting woollen squares that can be sewn together to cover a landmark or something that is extremely visible in Leith. This object is yet to be confirmed. The installation will start 2 weeks prior to the festival and will remain up throughout the festival.

If you are interested in any of these, please contact Adele Conn, Leith Festival Manager on 0131 5554104 for more information or to register your interest.

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Liberton and Gilmerton

Bridgend’s annual Potato Day

Bridgend’s annual Potato Day will take place on Sunday 20 February.

Please note that this event is being held at the Bridgend Allotments on Old Dalkeith Road and NOT at Inch House as in previous years. Parking is limited, so if you’re coming by car, please try to park elsewhere.

There will also be seed potatoes on sale. If you are coming to buy seed potatoes, please could you bring your own bags!

If you have any questions please contact Rob Ford, Project Officer, Bridgend Allotments Community Health Project on 07789 650878.

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Portobello and Craigmillar

Craigmillar Woods Action Group (CWAG) is recruiting members

The Countryside Ranger Service facilitates a practical conservation group that generally meets on every other Friday afternoons, called the Craigmillar Woods Action Group (CWAG). The group aims to carry out practical conservation work around Craigmillar Castle Park. Some of the activities they carry out with the Countryside Ranger include formative tree pruning, litter picking and path repair. The park has now achieved the Green Flag Award for the first time this year!

CWAG is recruiting members to join them in their conservation activities, and invites anyone who is interested to contact Stacy Schumacher on 0131 447 7145.

The next set of activity days are:
• Friday 28 January from 14:30 to 16:00
• Friday 11 February from 14:30 to 16:00
• and alternate Fridays thereafter until late spring when they usually add Thursday evenings as well.

The group meets at Bridgend farm, entrance to Craigmillar Castle Park, 41 Old Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh. Entrance is opposite Edinburgh Council Inch Nursery, between Cameron Toll and Little France New Royal Infirmary.

For more information or to register your interest, please contact Stacy Schumacher on 0131 447 7145.

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South Central

Southside Community Meeting

Please note this news item refers to Southside rather than the whole of South Central.

The re-launching of the Southside Community Tea at the Square Centre on 16 June 2010 received much interest and support. The evaluations completed by those who attended indicated such meetings are valuable and should be held on two occasions each year.

You are therefore invited to the next scheduled community tea on Wednesday 9 February from 5 to 6.30pm at South Side Community Centre Café,117 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. It is hoped this event will attract an even bigger number of participants.

The broad aim of these gatherings is to

• promote networking and information exchange by representation from everyone involved with local community activities and the provision of services
• increase involvement in local community discussions

The ninety minute event will be an opportunity to network and catch up with all the activities happening in the Southside, and have a discussion stimulated by a couple of short inputs by contributors who organise/manage services in the area.

As well as the opportunity to network two speakers will be updating us on community safety services in the Southside. Kathy Evans (Services for Communities-South Neighbourhood Partnership) and Inspector Andrew McLaughlin (Lothian and Borders Police ) who will outline the work they do in promoting community safety in the area and give examples of the partnership working they undertake.

There will be, as previously, a small charge to cover providing a selection of sandwiches and cakes to go along with the tea and coffee. The cost for this event will be £3.00 per head.

Please rsvp to Keith Smith if you wish to attend, as this will assist the organisers in the requirements for catering. The charge will be collected at the event. Please feel free to pass this information to any colleagues or others involved in the life of the Southside community as it is hoped to extend the list of contacts to involve more people in these gatherings. You are welcome to bring publicity leaflets and/or give a short input on the current activity of your group/organisation. Replies/enquiries can be emailed to Keith Smith, Community Learning and Development Worker, South Side Community Centre.

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Send us your news!

Do you have any news to be circulated among the Voluntary Sector Forums? For inclusion in the next issue, please send your announcements and events dates to Julia no later than 5 pm on Monday 14 February.

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