Real Talk is set to host Mind the Craic, a community empowerment research project, at the Scottish Story Telling Centre, where ordinary Edinburgh citizens will perform as storytellers for the night.

The event will take place on Monday 25th March from 7:30pm and will centre on people being given the space to share their experience of issues like social isolation, discrimination and poverty and how charity and voluntary organisations have touched their lives.

Lily Asch, Real Talk Founder, said: “We are so excited about our collaboration with EVOC and Mind the Craic. We’ve been working with a group of individuals, including both service users and support workers, to empower them in crafting a 10 minute story about some part of their journey.

“The process has included two storytelling workshops and will culminate in an intimate performance at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

“This will allow all who attend to gain greater insight into to what works and what doesn’t for service provision in Edinburgh, to hear true stories and to join in meaningful conversation on the research findings.”

The event forms part of Mind the Craic research project which was was initiated in June 2018. Since then the voices of over 1000 people from disenfranchised groups including people affected by issues like social isolation, mental health issues and discrimination have been gathered.

Virginia Bjertnes, Mind the Craic Project Worker, said: “After hearing all the different experiences during the research, it felt right to provide a setting for sharing and discussing these experiences.

“The event that will convey people’s voices in a lively way and bring depth to the report, contribute to an understanding of the feelings and lived experiences in a way that is accessible for all.”

It is hoped that findings from the research, which is due to be launched as a report an accompanying documentary will raise awareness around social issues in the city and provide a solid base of evidence for the importance of investment in prevention and early intervention.

The Mind the Craic project is an initiative by EVOC in partnership with Volunteer Edinburgh and Edinburgh’s Third Sector Strategy Group (TSSG). This storytelling event will be held in partnership with Real Talk, a social enterprise dedicated to helping people share their experience of mental ill health and celebrating the authenticity of those experiences.

The event is free, but tickets are required. To book please visit https://realtalkmindthecraic.eventbrite.co.uk.

By Alea Ibrahim, Communications Intern for EVOC 150 Heritage Programme

Grab your magnifying glasses, deerstalkers and Dr. Watsons. We need you, Edinburgh. EVOC has accumulated an archive of some wonderful Edinburgh protest and campaigning photos. They are not just part of the Edinburgh Third Sector and EVOC’s heritage, but also form a beautiful time capsule of Edinburgh’s past.

It started off as a huge box of old photos, but the Living Memory Association has done a brilliant job of digitising and categorising them for the EVOC150 project to help preserve these snapshot memories. This is where you come in.

Do you recognise your old neighbour in one of the photos? Is that you holding that sign to protest against dampness? Did your grandmother and her friend protest against the closing of the wash houses?

We need your help in identifying the faces and protests in our gallery to find out more about the stories hidden behind them. 

Help us uncover more of Edinburgh’s past and the third sector. If you recognise anyone in the photos, remember one of the protests or even marched along, get in touch with us.

#EVOC150

Twitter: @evoc_edinburgh

Facebook: /EVOCEdinburgh

Email: comms@evoc.org

The EVOC 150 project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, with thanks to players of the National Lottery.

Lucy Ridley, EVOC 150 Programme Manager and Yasmin Duncan, EVOC Communications Officer joined Lewis Mcfarlane on SAM Radio to explain the work of EVOC, the origins of our 150 year history and our aims for the future.

The EVOC 150 project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, with thanks to players of the National Lottery.

SAM Radio is a community internet radio station that caters for adults who have been diagnosed with Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome and it is the first of its kind in Scotland.

For more information about the EVOC 150 Programme, including collaborations and events please contact: comms@evoc.org. 

To provide support to organisations affected by the IJB Grants review, we have commissioned a HR specialist lawyer from Law at Work to provide information, advice and training.  This will take place on Wednesday 19^th December and we have tried to structure the day so you can receive advice on processes and legal requirements as well as the opportunity to have 1-2-1 sessions to provide more bespoke support and advice. 

The workshop is repeated to enable your Trustees/committee members to attend either at the beginning or the end of their working day.

9.30am – 12noon

Participative workshop looking at the law around contracts, making changes and redundancy.  HR Focused and solicitor-led.

12.30pm – 1-2-1 slot with HR Solicitor

1.15pm – 1-2-1 slot with HR Solicitor

1.45pm – 1-2-1 slot with HR Solicitor

2.30pm – 1-2-1 slot with HR Solicitor

3.30 – 6.00pm

Participative workshop looking at the law around contracts, making changes and redundancy.  HR Focused and solicitor-led, to be held in the EVOC Boardroom.

Please book place(s) by emailing dianne.morrison@evoc.org.uk. 

EVOC will be providing further support to organisations impacted by the Health and Social Care grants proposals which we will promote w/c 17 Dec. See  https://www.evoc.org.uk/updates/ella-simpson-evoc-statement-on-eibj-grant-programme-results/  

Edinburgh Integration Joint Board Grant Programme 2019 – 2022 Results

As many of you will be intensely aware, the recommended recipients of the fully reviewed IJB grant programme will be published in the Board papers on Friday 7th December. The papers are recommendations to the IJB and the final decision will be made at the meeting on 14th December 2018.   

For some organisations this will mean stability for three years, but inevitably for others the announcement will bring bad news – closure of services and difficult decisions will have to be made. At EVOC we have been planning how we can offer constructive support to organisations through this time.

Like so many organisations the majority of EVOC staff are part time so most of my team won’t be around on Friday 7th to offer immediate advice and support but Denise Horn (0131 555 9117) and I (0131 555 9105) are both happy to lend a listening ear if that helps.

For ongoing support if you complete our referral form and head it up “grants enquiry” we will work out the best person within EVOC to help you, or signpost you to someone else who can. We have scheduled a meeting early next week to review the potential impact on organisations, services users, carers and communities. We will then be able to respond to the enquiries which have come in – so if you don’t hear from us immediately please don’t feel forgotten. But do call and if we can answer immediate questions we will.

We will be running training courses to support you, whether you find yourself needing to make funding applications to ensure to ensure the sustainability of your organisation, need advice and support to close services or review all your options. We have allocated some funds to be able to provide one-to-one support with consultants on relevant issues such as strategic planning, change management and succession planning. These will be free to any organisation impacted by the grants decisions.

In terms of the broader impact on communities, the IJB and the associated work programmes are very aware of the need to take account of the impact of the grants decisions. I would also urge you to participate in EVOC forums and networks so we can work together to discuss the impact, share ideas and gain support from each other.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions about what else would help.
Ella Simpson
Chief Executive, EVOC

EVOC is delighted to present its first ever podcast, which focuses on our Mind the Craic project. 

This podcast explains what the project is, what it aims to do and how you or your organisation can get involved. 

If you have an idea for a podcast or would like to be featured, please contact: comms@evoc.org.uk

Host: Yasmin Duncan, Communications Officer, EVOC

Guests: Ella Simpson, EVOC Chief Executive Officer, Diarmaid Lawlor, Mind the Craic Chair and Virginia Bjertnes, Mind the Craic Project Worker 

Thank you to everyone to made EVOC’s annual Conference and AGM such a success on 6th November.

There was a real buzz around the venue as delegates browsed the marketplace and networked with their counterparts. There were some very interesting, passionate and challenging conversations taking place. 

This passion was echoed by Emmie Main who, in conjunction with Young Scot, spoke about the value of volunteering to young people and her experience in the sector. We also wecolmed Cllr Cammy Day to give an introduction to the City of Edinburgh Council’s Poverty Commission, which fits in with EVOC’s Mind the Craic project, and both will look at how prevention and early intervention can be used to find solutions to deep rooted social issues around inclusion, equality and poverty. 

We then welcomed our keynote speaker,  Aileen Campbell MSP and Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government, who praised the agility of the third sector and EVOC’s longstanding commitment to tackling inequality and poverty in the city of Edinburgh.

There was also a panel discussion that aimed to answer the question: Thinking about the next ten years – do we need a bigger or a smaller third sector? 

The panel was chaired by EVOC Chief Executive Ella Simpson, and featuring Ewan Aitken, CEO of Cyrenians, Jan-Bert van den Berg, EVOC Convenor and ArtLink Director and Patrycja Kupiec, Director of YWCA Scotland. Questions and answers touched on lived experience, Brexit, gender inequality, zero hours contracts and much more. 

To find out more about what EVOC is doing to celebrate 150 years supporting charities and the wider community- visit our news pages and read our blogs. 

Edinburgh Compact is pleased to present the all new Compact Voice 2018. 

 This year Compact Voice is all about telling people’s stories and illustrating the positive change that Edinburgh’s third sector organisations make to people’s lives.

In this edition, we’ve placed the importance of hearing people’s experiences and letting them tell their own stories, enabling their voices to be held. However, key facts and figures about the third sector are also included.

Click the link below to read the stories of people living in Edinburgh today that illustrate how some of the city priorities are currently being tackled in the third sector.

Edinburgh Compact 2018 

If you would like a single or a number of hard copies please contact Denise Horn on denise.horn@evoc.org.uk

Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) sits down with Lord Provost, Frank Ross to discuss the overarching vision for the city of Edinburgh.

In 2016, a conversation was sparked within the city of Edinburgh about what a vision for 2050 would look like, what are the city’s priorities and what kind of place should it be. Explaining the case for the Edinburgh 2050 City Vision, Frank Ross, Edinburgh’s Lord Provost, said:

“Edinburgh is a tremendously successful city on so many different levels, outside London we are the most economically successful city bar none. But we still have this issue where 20% of our population are still in poverty.”

An Over-Arching Vision

He continued: “Edinburgh as a city has never had an overarching vision, about what Edinburgh’s citizens want their city to be.”
Although everyone, even people who don’t live in Edinburgh but may work or have family here, is welcome to have their say – the Lord Provost explains that the city vision depends on being informed by younger generations.

“It is aimed at the 5 to 35 year olds who will be running every aspect of the city, it will be their future and their families that are living here. We need to understand what the ambition is.”

Continuing, he explained that understanding citizens’ priorities and creating a vision would help to inform how future investment can best be spent. “Over the next five to ten years, we are going to be making a significant investment in this city. We’ve just won a £1.2 billon city region deal, with the vast majority of this to be invested in the city.”

The vision itself will be based on opinions and data collected from respondents by Marketing Edinburgh. An initial market test of a few thousand people revealed that the emerging themes were that people wanted their city to be: fair, connected, greener and affordable.

Participation is Key

However, the Lord Provost pointed out that this was only a small sample and that the success of making sure the vision fits with what people actually think will depend on participation. He said: “If we don’t get a significant number of citizens engaged with this, it is pretty meaningless as a vision and it is key that we get young people across the whole spectrum of society to contribute.

“I would love to get 250,000 people contributing, that’s my target and I am going to do everything I can to get that done.”

The Purpose of the Vision

When it becomes clear what Edinburgh’s own view is of what its future should like, the 2050 vision will provide the city’s leaders with a ‘guiding light’ when taking decisions.

The Lord Provost continued: “The vision should give us a moral compass about what it is that we want our city to be. When I’m making a decision, is that what the city wants? The whole point of having the vision is to check decisions against a big bright light in the sky and say if that’s not compatible, I’ll need to look at it again. We’ve made decisions too myopically.

“While we are working away to address social inclusion issues now, we are putting a vision up there to stop the equivalent happening again.”

Business is Booming

It is hoped that the 2050 City Vision will provide the city’s businesses and organisations with a solid foundation upon which to build their strategies to meet the needs of the city’s residents.

Data collected from people’s responses will be anonymised and uploaded to an open resource, which businesses can access. The Lord Provost hopes that this sharing of information will create a joined up approach to putting the city vision into motion.

He said: “As a council, we will hold every strategy and policy up against that vision and ask is it consistent? I would expect most organisations to do the same, if you operate within Edinburgh and you have data about what the citizens of Edinburgh want, to ignore that would be crazy.”

It would seem that some of Edinburgh’s organisations are fully on board, as £450,000 to fund the project has been raised by the Council privately, invested by businesses who believe that they can benefit from an understanding of what the city wants.

Volunteering

The role of volunteering both for the Third Sector and for Edinburgh’s citizens is a very important one. Over 600,000 hours are donated every week and 159,000 people in Edinburgh regularly volunteer. Speaking about how active citizenship and volunteering will play a role in the 2050 City Vision, he said:

“Edinburgh is phenomenal for volunteering and volunteering will have its place in delivering whatever the vision turns out to be. We are talking about being integrated, about being a happier society, about being encouraging, inclusive and aspirational – these are things which I think volunteering can assist.

“What I want to do is to make sure all these people who volunteer engage because it is their ethos and their beliefs that I want to see coming through.”

The Bottom Line

The Council is confident that a city vision for Edinburgh can change the way that decision making is made, with mass participation in the consultation being the key factor.

“This has got real power. If this works properly, instead of me as a politician standing in front the electorate saying ‘this is what I believe’ and you as an electorate saying ‘I don’t actually agree with you but I will choose the least worst’ or don’t vote – the electorate can say ‘this is what I believe in, which one of you can deliver this for me?’

“This is seismic, and if we could get to that stage it would be true local democracy where the citizens are setting the agenda.”

With a view over Princes Street from the windows of the impressive Provost suite within the City Chambers, the conversation continued around the importance of the Third Sector in bringing voices seldom heard into the discussion.

How can I get Involved?

You can share your vision at https://www.edinburgh2050.com/ and encourage others to get involved.

Follow 2050 Edinburgh City Vision with #Edinburgh2050 on Twitter.