Yesterday evening, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council welcomed guests to celebrate its 150th Anniversary with a reception at the Scottish Parliament.

Event sponsor Ben Macpherson MSP welcomed attendees to the event and spoke about the importance of the third sector in improving the lives of people in Edinburgh’s and Scotland’s communities. He also explored a personal connection to EVOC and Edinburgh’s third sector as a former pupil of the Flora Stevenson school, named after the woman who did so much to improve education in the city. 

Speeches were also heard from EVOC Convener Joan Fraser, EVOC Chief Executive Ella Simpson and Diarmaid Lawlor from Architecture and Design Scotland. A wide variety of guests were in attendance and represented Edinburgh’s public, private and voluntary sector organisations, very much in the spirit of the collaborative nature of the EVOC’s founders.

Marking our 150th Birthday

The event marks the beginning of a year of activity to uncover the unique heritage of EVOC and how it, and the voluntary sector of Edinburgh responded to the needs of its citizens. As part of EVOC 150, the organisation will pay tribute to the extraordinary people that have been involved throughout its history and look to the future of civic action in Edinburgh.

As part of this, EVOC 150 will incorporate the ‘Memory Box‘ project with aims to recognise the involvement of citizens and organisations in the campaigns it has supported throughout the years by encouraging people to share their memories and stories. 

Looking to the future

The future of civic action and intergenerational learning are as important as the organisation’s rich past and as such, Media Education Scotland were in attendance at the event to collect experiences and interviews from established activists and campaigners.

EVOC is working in conjunction with Media Education Scotland and it’s youth media team to inspire young people to become ambassadors for social justice.

Ella Simpson, EVOC Chief Executive, said: “We will be working with young people because they will be the policy makers in the next 100 and 150 years, and we will be working to explore what civil action and social justice means to them”

EVOC would like to thank all in attendance for joining us in marking this auspicious occasion.

To find out more about what we are doing to mark our 150th Anniversary click here.

Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) reaches its 150th anniversary this year and is marking the occasion with a number of exciting research projects and events.

EVOC was formed in 1868 and started life as an organisation formed by eminent physicians, academics, benefactors and reformers dedicated to addressing health and social issues in the city. Since then it has been working to support, develop and promote the interests and work of voluntary and community organisations in Edinburgh.

EVOC will mark its 150th anniversary by conducting research about its own heritage and how it, and the voluntary sector of Edinburgh, has responded to the needs of its citizens. EVOC 150 will pay tribute to the extraordinary people that have been involved with the organisation over the years and collect stories and memories from the dedicated people working and volunteering today.

Memory Box

As part of this, EVOC has launched the Memory Box project which aims to recognise the collaboration and involvement of citizens and organisations in the campaigns that it has supported throughout the years. We are looking to uncover the voices of people who were involved in protesting on social issues such as fighting to save the public laundries or campaigning to improve mental health and transport services by inviting them to share their story with us.

 

 

Intergenerational Engagement

As well as uncovering EVOC’s and Edinburgh’s third sector heritage through the Memory Box project, EVOC 150 will launch projects that seek to work intergenerationally to learn from the past to inform the future.

Working with Media Education, EVOC will produce a documentary film about the organisation’s 150 year history and its role in the fight for social justice. As part of this, a group of young people will be selected to form the youth media team who will gather stories and experiences from experienced campaigners, volunteers and charity workers. It is hoped that this interaction will inspire these young people and those around them to get involved with the third sector and discover civic action. 

Parliamentary reception 

In addition to building up a picture of the third sector in Edinburgh over the last 150 years, EVOC will be celebrating this anniversary with an event to be held at the Scottish Parliament on 19th April. Sponsored by Ben Macpherson, the evening will be a chance for individuals and organisations to learn about the organisation’s history and collaborative transformation of social welfare in the city of Edinburgh.

For more information on EVOC 150 please contact: comms@evoc.org.uk

You are cordially invited to attend a transport-themed EVOC thinkSpace to discuss three inter-related projects that are being developed collectively to improve the quality of life of those who live, work, and visit Scotland’s capital city. The ambitious outcome for the work is to help create safer and more attractive streets and spaces, cleaner air, and improved access for all.

The three projects are:

• Edinburgh’s City Transport Strategy which will determine citywide transport and mobility policies and actions;
• Central Edinburgh Transformation which concerns the future development of central Edinburgh and its public realm;
• The development of a Low Emission Zone aimed at improving air quality by keeping the most polluting vehicles out of the most polluted places.

All three contribute towards the developing 2050 Edinburgh City Vision, by improving mobility, and creating better places.

BOOK A PLACE HERE

9.30 – 11.30am, Tuesday 8 May 2018

European Room, City Chambers, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ

This thinkSpace is one of a series of workshops being held to gather the views of wide range of citizen groups, to better understand the travel and mobility issues faced when moving around the city, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement. Feedback will inform the development of proposals which will be consulted on citywide later in the year.

Grants Review Workshop

Thursday 26 April

Either 10am-12noon or 2-4pm

Easter Road Stadium, 12 Albion Pl, Edinburgh EH7 5QG

 93 organisations are currently grant-funded on a budget of over £4 million pounds, which is a significant investment in Third Sector organisations in the city.  The Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership is reviewing the way in which it uses grant funding from 1 April 2019 onwards. The review is being taken forward by a steering group, membership of which includes officers from the City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian and representatives from the Third Sector.

The review is looking at both the content of future grant programmes in terms of the priorities against which funding will be allocated and the practicalities such as length of awards, maximum and minimum amounts and application and evaluation processes.

Join us for a workshop event on Tuesday 26 April where you will hear about the challenges we face with the current grant system, and our initial thoughts on priorities. You will then have the opportunity to give us your views and shape the plan for grant allocation in the future.

Secure a place by filling in this form.  Please note that the morning and afternoon sessions will be exactly the same so you need only attend one.  We expect interest in these sessions to be high, so places are limited to two per organisation.

Further background information about the grants review and minutes of meetings etc are available here

Notes of interests are being accepted for the Strategic Commissioning Plan Reference Group for Learning Disabilities and Physical Disabilities Services. We believe that it is vital to include people who have first-hand experience of our current services and who will be able to help us shape services of the future from their or their families experience.  This recruitment drive is not for people representing organisations or sectors.

Deadline for notes of interest 5pm 26^th April 2018 Send to Nickola Paul Nickola.Paul@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

For more information download the criteria for Third Sector Representatives and Service User Representatives (word).

The Reference Group for Learning Disabilities and Physical Disabilities Services will provide oversight, insight, and challenge to proposals coming forward from the relevant Strategic Planning Partnership (Disabilities, Mental health and substance misuse, Older people and Primary care).

The result will be a finalised version of the Strategic Commissioning Plan (SCP) Edinburgh’s citizens with learning and physical disabilities, their families, carers and the people who provide them with support and care. The group will also review and monitor current actions, which may be operational in nature, which will inform the development of the SCP.

More information about the purpose of the group and structure can be found in the Terms of Reference document (word).

The Scottish Government is seeking views on themes and draft actions for possible inclusion in a new Suicide Prevention Action Plan aimed at continuing the downward trend in suicides in Scotland. The themes and draft actions have been published in an engagement paper on 8 March 2018, and have arisen from discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including people with lived experience, over the past few months.

The existing Suicide Prevention Strategy covered the period 2013-16 and set out a range of commitments under 5 broad themes: Responding to people in distress; Talking about suicide; Improving the NHS response to suicide; Developing the evidence base; and Supporting change and improvement.

You can download the consultation document here:

Engagement Paper on Themes and draft Actions for possible inclusion in the Scottish Government’s new Suicide Prevention Action Plan (accessible pdf)

More information including access to the online consultation can be found here:

https://consult.gov.scot/mental-health-unit/suicide-prevention/

Interested parties and individuals are now invited to respond formally to the themes and draft actions on suicide prevention over a 7 week period from 8 March 2018 to 30 April 2018

Through the NHS Lothian Health Improvement Fund, an opportunity has arisen to invite applications for funding to support work to provide support and advice around welfare and income maximisation to families living in the city.

Because of the short-term nature of this funding, we are keen to fund organisations that can demonstrate experience of delivering an effective model for this kind of work.

 The amount of funding available for the financial year 2018-19 is £45, 581. Awards to successful organisations will be in the range of £22, 790 -£45, 581.

Partnership working is strongly encouraged.

Download a full brief and application form:

HIF Application Form

Welfare Advice Health Improvement Brief

Applications should be sent to Zoe.Cairns@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk by the closing date of:

Friday 20^th April 2018 @ 12 noon

Funding will be announced by end of week commencing 30^th April 2018.

We have published a set of papers and information regarding the 2018 Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (IJB) review of grants to voluntary organisations. Please follow this link.

Edinburgh IJB Grants Review 2018