Council Review of Grants moves on to next stageThe Council’s Corporate Policy & Strategy Committee considers the Council’s review of Grants to Third Parties at a busy meeting on Tuesday 25 February. How the Council funds Third Parties is being considered ‘in the round,’ not only to ensure value for money (VfM) for the Council (and, thus, for taxpayers) but also to ensure […]

Community Planning at EVOC – Here to help you!My name is June Dickson and I have recently taken up the post of Development Worker for Community Planning at EVOC. My role sees me working closely with Milind Kolhatkar, the Senior Development Officer to deliver a range of Community Planning outcomes. My Background I have over 15 years’ experience working in the Third Sector […]

Eternal Optimists will Love the Community Empowerment BillThere is much within the draft Community Empowerment Bill that should be welcomed – not least the explicit recognition that (most) communities need support in order to play a full and active role within the wider socio-politico-economic context. There is still, however, quite some way to go – in our opinion – and, as is […]

People – Participation – PowerThe Scottish Government has announced its intention to bring to Parliament a new piece of legislation – designed to ensure that communities have more of a say in the factors which affect our lives. The Community Empowerment & Renewal Bill has been discussed, in various forms, since Autumn of 2011. An initial pre-consultation drew significant […]

Listening to the voicesCanny wi’ Cash older people’s Participatory Budgeting project RECOGNISING that older people are the true ‘experts’ on their needs, the Canny wi’ Cash Participatory Budgeting project invited older people themselves to make decisions on small grants for work with, by and for older people. Participatory Budgeting projects have been run in Edinburgh before – think […]

ThinkSpace breakfast session sorts our DHP from our SWFTHE second series of ThinkSpace discussion breakfasts started on October 15th with guests Alan Sinclair and Eileen McHale, the City of Edinburgh Council’s Benefits chiefs. Thanks to all of you who joined us on day one, and made it a success. We promised to share information about the availability of Discretionary Housing Payment and the […]

People in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time?It can seem, to people ‘at the sharp end,’ that circumstances beyond their control are just not on their side. Government spending on Public Services is under threat across the board; the cost of living consistently rises; and even Social Security, the ‘safety net,’ the refuge for those who simply have nowhere else to turn, […]

Careful with that Market, Eugene!On July 5th CEC Health and Social Care Dept launched its Market Shaping Strategy.  Essentially an outline of a commissioning strategy for health and social care services it is the Dept’s response to Self Directed Support legislation and public procurement guidance, in a context of public funding which directs resources away from social care, despite […]

Politics – it’s about choicesThe news media are so full of reportage about George Osborne’s Spending Review of Wednesday 26th June (like in the Guardian newspaper, The Telegraph newspaper, or BBC News or Channel 4 online or  that anyone could be forgiven for thinking that government departmental spending is to be slashed by up to 10 per cent tomorrow. […]

Is this what it’s Really like living in a G8 nation?As the G8, the Group of the 8 most industrialised nations, gathers in Northern Ireland the chilling reality of food poverty in Britain begs the question: Is this what life in a ‘wealthy’ nation looks like? Walking the Breadline, a searing report published recently by Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty, puts beyond any reasonable […]