Supporting the people and communities of Edinburgh since 1868.
The work of Edinburgh’s Community Link Worker Network was recognised at this year’s Social Prescribing Awards.
The Network won the Award for the Best Local Social Prescribing Link Worker Team/Service. The judges noted that the team showed clear strategic and evidenced commitment to tackling health inequalities.
We are announcing a strategic review that puts a renewed commitment to supporting the community and voluntary sector in Edinburgh at its heart. The ongoing cost of living crisis is hitting groups and organisations hard and this is a chance to refocus on creating a strong sector for a strong city.
An engagement programme will take place in the coming months, involving the sector in shaping a new EVOC strategy, and to ensure stakeholders are fully briefed on the changes.
Does your organisation provide funding opportunities for community and voluntary organisations in Edinburgh?
Would you be interested in talking directly with people from these groups and organisations about the funding opportunities you offer?
Then consider being part of our Meet the Funders event: Thu 21 Nov, 2024 @ Norton Park Conference Centre
Dr Shelly-Ann Brown
We are pleased to introduce Dr. Shelly-Ann Brown, who has taken over from Charlie as our new Climate Forum Coordinator. With a background in Economics, Shelly-Ann is enthusiastic about tailoring the role to meet the evolving needs of Edinburgh’s community and voluntary Sector.
At a meeting on Mon 18 Mar 2024, Edinburgh’s Health and Social Care Partnership submitted budget proposals for 2024/25 that will result in an astonishing cut to funding for the community and voluntary sector in the city – £1.4m, out of a £700m budget, where there were other damaging cuts. You can watch the broadcast here.
EVOC and member organisations know there is much less money in Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership (EHSCP), population pressures are not being reflected in the allocation of funding to the city, and also severe challenges across Scotland. We were proud however to stand alongside others in the sector at that meeting to highlight the impact of taking £1.4 million out of the community sector in Edinburgh – it results in a much greater financial loss based on the return on investment our sector provides.
After an extensive search to find a new home we are currently in final negotiations to lease a space on the first floor of the Vega Building (Clocktower, South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh).
This choice of venue is based on research into multiple potential office spaces, in-person visits to over 10 locations and in-depth analysis visits to the top locations, for key criteria, public transport, and well-being.
The Vega Building lease not only matches the needs of the EVOC staff team, but will provide a base from where we can continue to support the community and voluntary sector in Edinburgh. It is a building owned by the City of Edinburgh Council. It also matches our budgetary constraints, and provides good value for money in an increasingly expensive property market.
More details to follow once the lease and move in date has been confirmed.
We are delighted to share details of a new addition to the EVOC training programme focused on supporting people to lead a systemic approach to anti-racism within their organisation – download the programme outline.
The Black and Minority Ethnic/People of Colour Working Group established through EVOC’s Children Young People and Families Network have developed this concept to meet the needs of local community-based organisations. The facilitators of the programme are Vicky Nyanga-Ndiaye (Project Esperanza) and Helene Rodger (Passion4Fusion).
We are delighted to share an update on this year’s Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund in Edinburgh.
We’ve already been in touch with all the groups and organisations who were awarded funding for April 2023 – 2024. Those interested in continuing their project after March 2024 will hear the outcome of their request by Fri 22 Dec 2023 – unless we have been in touch to let you know otherwise.
Once all decisions have been made on continuation funding, we anticipate there will be £125,000 available to invest in new projects.
Edinburgh Ukraine partnership scooped two awards at the 2023 Scottish Public Service Awards hosted at the Scottish Parliament on Wed 6 Dec – Commercial Partnerships and Voluntary Sector Partnerships.
The Commercial Partnerships Award is in recognition of the support provided by Natwest and the City of Edinburgh Council to establish the Ukrainian welcome hub at Gogarburn which welcomed over 11,000 Ukrainians seeking safe refuge in Scotland.
The Voluntary Sector Partnership Award was award to Edinburgh’s Community and Voluntary Sector Partnership who have supported the response over the last 21 months. The work of third sector organisations delivering food provision, mental health support, youth work and children’s integration, English language, social and cultural support etc has been critical to Edinburgh’s Warm Scottish Welcome and will continue to be critical as we look forward to the Warm Scottish Future.
Genuine partnership is about being good listeners and thus, I am genuinely humbled to see EVOC, Volunteer Edinburgh, AUGB, alongside City of Edinburgh Council (led by Alistair Dinnie) Capital City Partnership and many more amazing organisations, winning the two awards – the Voluntary Sector Partnership Award & the Commercial Partnership Award with the Royal Bank of Scotland led by Sheena Hales BEM.
We are so proud of the work of Edinburgh’s third sector who have continuously stepped up over the last 21 months to support some of the most vulnerable people seeking safe refuge in communities across the city.
The awards finished up with the utterly brilliant and challenging John Carnochan who received a Life Time Achievement Award, who gave credit to so many in his life, and challenged all nominees: ‘Be curious, try things! Listen & do stuff!’
Both awards are collected on behalf of the 26,000 Ukrainians who now call Scotland their home.
More information and a full list of nominees is available here.
Bridie Ashrowan (Chief Exec, EVOC)
As we head into Year 3 of the Scottish Government’s Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, we are taking a moment to look back on the community commissioning approach we have taken here in Edinburgh – community led and collaborative.
Our objective for this review, is to look at the ‘lessons learned’ from this aspirational approach:
