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Thriving Local & 2021 Election Candidates

19 April 2021 By Esther Currie Leave a Comment

As we countdown to the Scottish Election on Thu 6 May 2021 Bridie (our Chief Executive) has reached out to all of the candidates standing in Edinburgh and the Lothians looking for a response to vital themes and issues for our Sector and citizens and communities across the City. As we hear from individual candidates we will share their responses here and on our Twitter and Facebook channels.

Dear Candidate,

We wish you all the very best in your campaign for a seat at the Scottish Parliament in 2021. The election comes just over a year after the start of the pandemic. I am certain that you will agree with me, that citizens of the City, social enterprises, community and voluntary organisations of Edinburgh, have been outstanding in their role at the heart of the response to COVID-19.

From looking out for their neighbour, to volunteering to get food to people in need, to making sure that older people in localities were not left isolated and alone – this is what drove the response that energised communities. From established local organisations to many local groups, the people who led this are visible in our wider research, Mind the Craic and the evidence from the Edinburgh Poverty Commission.

There are vital themes (below) that we would like to hear your response to and more importantly share with our members and the wider sector. We would be delighted to receive your response by video or in writing so that we can share across our digital communications channels*.

We would therefore like to draw your attention to key policy areas:

An Enhanced Role for the Community and Voluntary Sector
EVOC has a strategic partnership with Volunteer Edinburgh and Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network and this makes up the ‘TSI’ in Edinburgh. In our national manifesto created with the 31 other TSI across Scotland we ask for an enhanced role for the third sector – community and voluntary organisations and implementation of place-based approaches.
A structural change in the further integration of Health and Social Care
EVOC fully endorses the recommendations of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care including the formation of a National Care service.
An Accelerated Pace in Systems Change
There is a clear and coherent need to empower communities further to mitigate the ongoing impact of the pandemic. However, this can only be achieved with the right support and resources: ‘If not now, When’, Social Renewal Advisory Board Report Jan 2021
A National Plan for Universal Family Support
We call for a transformation of Scotland’s investment in children and families, shifting spending from dealing with the consequences of failure and inequality to preventing these and enabling children & families to thrive, and an emphasis on wellbeing: Children in Scotland Family Support Campaign & Manifesto 202

Finally, in coming to EVOC I have deliberately wanted to take a listening approach, to understand better the state of the community and voluntary sector now. In particular I am focused on what it means to have a thriving local community and voluntary sector in the city – what are the conditions for communities to be resilient and more than that, to thrive – and have launched a Thriving Local campaign to support this.

I would be very interested in your response and to start a conversation on this and the four key policy areas identified above.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Bridie Ashrowan, EVOC Chief Executive

^{* We will share your responses through our social media channels, website and a range of e-communications.}

Towards a Thriving Local Community and Voluntary Sector

26 March 2021 By Esther Currie

Days after the 1 year mark of lockdown, we can be sure that the community and voluntary organisations, and social enterprises across Edinburgh have been at the heart of the response to COVID-19 in 2020/21. In the City and across Scotland, you have been active in your communities, keeping people’s physical and mental well-being in tact, so much so, you and I know, it has saved lives and the evidence is there in many reports now being produced.

In coming in to EVOC, I have deliberately wanted to take a listening approach to understand better the state of the sector now, and to capture what we and others learn can for the future. The things that have been important in this crisis have also got incredible value for early intervention and future challenges, whether that be other pandemics or the consequences of climate change.

As part of that, we want to launch a listening exercise on what it means to have a thriving local community and voluntary sector in the city: what are the conditions for communities to be resilient and more than that to thrive? What are the conditions for individual citizens to thrive, and be resilient, from the older person to the young, the person from our BAME families or a person with a disability, a carer or a long-term condition?

EVOC had the opportunity to take a paper to the Edinburgh Partnership and also the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board this week. There is excellent work going on at City Council level (New Business Plan) and EIJB work on the Edinburgh Pact which will help bring a great focus and opportunities for communities and individuals. There is in both a discussion of community anchors – both organisations and networks – and we need to work in a way that means there is no wrong door.

EVOC Paper

As part of EVOC’s advocacy and leadership role, being committed to doing the right thing rather than the easy thing, it is important to invert the pyramid and for major anchor institutions like NHS, Council, Universities to be at the service of Edinburgh’s communities. We also hope to do more with our partners, Volunteer Edinburgh and Edinburgh Enterprise Network, and others, whose folk have like you, been at the heart of this… for decades.

In April we will launch a number of initiatives, on-line and off-line, to start a conversation about this and hear from you on what does it mean for our sector to thrive? Above all, what does it mean for the citizens of this city to thrive?

In the meantime my door, and those of the EVOC team, are open to start that conversation.

Bridie Ashrowan, Chief Executive

A Message From Bridie

11 March 2021 By Esther Currie

Black and white photo of Bridie Ashrowan, new Chief Executive at EVOC At a historic time for the city of Edinburgh and country, and as we still live with the pandemic that started one year ago, our community and voluntary sector has responded with great agility and inspiring compassion, enabling people to stay out of crisis and cope better. Many reports have now evidenced that.

In coming into this role, I want to say that it is one where I take seriously a deep commitment to listen to you, to our members, our sector and our partners. This is what will inform what I aim to do, to provide a passionate and informed leadership that will result in greater recognition of your work. My goal is to champion it, and with the EVOC team and board, to enable you to do it well, and help remove barriers for the on-going success of this sector.

Your work – the people of the community organisations, social enterprises and wider voluntary sector – staff, volunteers, boards and partners, has been of great human value at the time of this pandemic. Equally, you are frequently at the cutting edge of prevention, which as we recover from Covid, is essential.

The right support is the place we live and work diagram from the Poverty Commission report The publication in late 2020, of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission recommendations, the first after the start of the pandemic in the UK, and the journey committed to now by the Edinburgh Partnership* and City of Edinburgh Council, to ending poverty in Edinburgh in the next 10 years, is highly ambitious. Where do we already play a major part in that and how can we do more now?

We would like to suggest that the systemic changes that are suggested in the recommendations also help us look at what we can do to improve this together, across all groups, from those with dementia, or those disabilities, to the young folk whom this time has cruelly affected.

The current work of the Edinburgh Climate Commission is hugely interesting for the city too – we believe that a nature friendly city is a people friendly city, and are committed to playing our part in that.

I would like to thank Ella Simpson for her work, invisible and visible, and I hope you’ll join in the thanks for her. We are planning a celebration later in the year when we can gather together for a proper celebration on Fri 24 Sep (more details will follow).

Finally, I am interested in radical kindness, from policy making to championing the work that you do which exemplifies that in every corner of the city, and when it is allowed, I hope to get out to those corners.

Bridie Ashrowan (Chief Executive)

^{* The Edinburgh Partnership is the community planning partnership for the city. It brings together public agencies, third and private sectors with local communities to improve the city, its services and the lives of people who live and work here.}

Family Support Services Mapping Report

17 December 2020 By Esther Currie

The final report (and appendices) from the Family Support Services Mapping Exercise conducted by the Parent and Carer Support Team and Locality Operational Groups (LOG) on behalf of Jackie Irvine Chief Social Work Officer and the Children’s Partnership is now available.

Family Support Mapping Report Dec 2020
Appendix A: Services Who Offer Family Support
Appendix B: Wider Exploration of Family Support Gaps
Appendix C: Services who May be able to address some identified gaps
Appendix D: School Community Feedback Summary

The full mapping exercise and consultation gathered 145 responses from organisations who support families and 50 responses from school staff and the Locality Operational Groups (LOGs) have now done a further exploration of the highlighted gaps. This provides valuable information on the strengths and gaps in the support available for families in Edinburgh.

NEXT STEPS
Following the mapping exercise a Parental Consultation was carried out with the support of the Parent and Carer Support Collaborative resulting in 2,424 responses from parents and carers across the City. The full report from the consultation will be shared once this is collated.

TSI Network Scotland launches Manifesto for Change

25 November 2020 By Esther Currie

If the pandemic has shown us anything as a nation – our neighbourhoods and communities are alive and kicking with third sector organisations and volunteers ready to respond and step up in a crisis. That is the view of the Third Sector Interface (TSI) Scotland Network who have launched their first ever Manifesto for Change as a Network ahead of the 2021 elections.

TSI Manifesto For Change 2020

There are 32 TSIs in Scotland one for each local authority areas and they cover strands of work – supporting volunteering, charities and community groups and social enterprises. In the majority of local authorities, they combine all the functions of the TSIs’ work under one roof and in larger urban and geographic areas they are partnerships. As well as working to support their sector they collaborate and represent the sector with partners in councils, business community and health and social care partnerships across Scotland. They are in the enviable position of having a foot in many corners of our daily lives – and yet they are often not recognised for the work they undertake – until now.

The TSI Scotland Network organisations have often had much variance in their roles locally but Covid-19 has brought them closer together as they all sought to implement emergency supports: coordinate lifeline responses, funnel funding and place hundreds of volunteers to local roles. Now their leaders share an aspiration to find new ways to create a fairer future for Scotland. They have set out an inspiring agenda for change that puts the emphasis and call for resources and investment, to move with more pace to communities and grass-roots organisations. They are seeking to gain further investment to ensure each community has a community organisation or partnership of organisations with the capacity, opportunities and skills to meet the local needs.

Ella Simpson our Chief Executive is among the leaders involved in developing this manifesto, “Community-led organisations and volunteers responded to COVID-19 magnificently, helping to mitigate the worst effects of lockdown. As we move forward we need to capture the spirit of that and use it to build a fairer future”.

The Network is also asking to be connected in to more of the Scottish Government directorates so they can help inform and shape the right policies for communities – helping to ensure that better coordination and funding gets to the people who need it most. As they were the organisations who took the lead role in placing volunteers through Covid-19 and maximising the community responses – they rightly are asking for the investment for that to continue. They are also looking to link and support new employability programmes to community wealth-building and the third sector in better ways in the future.

The TSI Scotland Network recognises that national third sector organisations have a role to play – but they are adding that if we really want to protect our communities and the people in them and tackle inequalities – then action and change is needed. These proposal in essence also push for a shift of power away from statutory government promoting greater devolution and decision-making, community empowerment and participatory budgeting, enable citizenship and voices to be heard, to allow communities to make the choices and decisions they want.

The Network leaders see this is a cliff-hanging moment where more investment in the right parts of our country’s fabric could have overwhelming benefits and protect the most vulnerable. What the TSI Scotland Network has never done before – is say this collectively, with assurance and knowledge, learnt through the tough moments of the last few months and with a confidence that they can play a singular and lasting role in achieving this.

EVOC Round Table Events: Book your place now!

30 September 2020 By Konica Stones

We are holding a series of ‘Round table’ events in partnership with Third Sector Strategy Group (TSSG) and would like to invite you to attend and contribute to what we believe will be informative and actionable sessions.

Our first event will take place on Wednesday 14th October (10.00am – 11.30am)

‘People’s Story’
Using information from the Poverty Commission, Food Fund Work and the Mind the Craic report as a basis for the discussions, we will discuss and highlight the experience of inequality and the urgent need first, coming up with some ideas about how these could be addressed.
To book a place at this session visit here

Our second event will take place on Wednesday 28th October (9.30am – 11.00am)
‘An Urban Commons’
This session will focus on how we increase participation, create purposeful partnerships, and continue to develop community wealth building.
To book a place at this session visit here

As a reminder: our AGM will take place on Tuesday 3rd November 2020.

All sessions will take place virtually, we would invite you to book your place asap!

National & Edinburgh Survey Results Published

26 June 2020 By Ian Brooke

To better understand the impact of coronavirus on the Third Sector, the Third Sector Interface (TSI) Scotland Network carried out a national survey over a two-month period with community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The survey also detailed the impact of coronavirus on the people and communities the organisations support.

1,184 organisations took part – local neighbourhood and national organisations – from across Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities. 25% self-defined as community groups; 61% as voluntary organisations and 14% as social enterprises.

This report highlights the main survey findings at a national level. EVOC has also distilled the information from the national survey into a spotlight on Edinburgh respondents and this summary report is available here: Edinburgh Findings from the TSI National Survey

Key Findings:

The financial situation of social enterprises as a consequence of Covid-19 is perilous, and without urgent financial support may not recover. 81% of social enterprises are experiencing a reduction in income from trading and 86% expect their financial position to worsen
The cessation of the Job Retention Scheme will be a key pinch point in the financial recovery journey for all organisations. 58% of social enterprises and 39% of voluntary organisations (which employ staff) have staff furloughed and support will be required to avoid job losses.
All organisations, large and small, are suffering from a reduction of income from fundraising which is further threatening the future of the sector. Half of the third sector is experiencing a reduction in income from fundraising
Organisations have been entrepreneurial and adaptive during this crisis period. Half of all organisations have changed what they do, or modified how they deliver support to their community and people. 9% of social enterprises have started online trading.
Organisations are seeing first hand the impact of COVID-19 on people’s mental health and are very concerned about the immediate and future effect. 9 out of 10 organisations are concerned about the effect of ongoing social distancing and shielding on mental health.
Communities have flourished and risen to the challenge of supporting each other. A significant majority of organisations (84%) report that people are looking out for each other and 50% of organisations believe that there has been improved collaboration within the sector

Ella Simpson, Chief Executive of EVOC said:

“The Sector were delivering support where it was needed immediately it was clear we were in a deep crisis. We have never been more needed. COVID-19 shone a spotlight on the issues of deep-rooted inequality and poverty which exists in our society – crisis or no crisis. Our sector has a key role in the long hard recovery and in building a better society. As always, our mantra at EVOC is People, Place and Partnerships – we must re-double our efforts to work together across all sectors as we move forward.”

The full survey can be downloaded here: National TSI Covid Survey

Voluntary Sector National Survey

14 May 2020 By EVOC Communications Team

As the coronavirus pandemic continues it is important that we have a strong understanding of its impact on community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, as well as the people and communities you support.

EVOC is a member of a network of Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) covering every local authority area in Scotland.

We are asking you to complete a survey. We know this is a busy time, but good quality information will help us provide better support to you and enable us to make the right asks of government and funders. Before you begin you should know:

This is a national survey with the results able to be used locally and nationally. If your organisation covers more than one local authority area you may be asked to complete this more than once. Ideally we would like a single response from your whole organisation covering the full area you cover.
It would be helpful if the survey was completed by a senior person in your organisation. Some of the questions are about the leadership and strategic challenges at this time.
The survey contains 26 questions and will take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. Most of the questions are multiple choice.
The survey is confidential and no individual organisation information will be published. Your individual response will be shared with the TSIs where you operate.

Complete the survey here

Thank you

Ella Simpson
Chief Executive, EVOC

Active not Reactive – A Preventative Approach to Children’s Services

15 March 2018 By EVOC Communications Team

Last August a working group of EVOC’s Children, Young People and Families Network met to discuss co-producing ideas for system change within children’s services. The group identified family support as a priority area for investigation.

Join us for a thinkSpace event that will bring together third sector organisations in Scotland, as well as representatives from City of Edinburgh Council and NHS Lothian, to develop ideas around system change to improve the lives of Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

The purpose of this meeting is to build shared understanding- of change, systems, barriers and solutions- so that we can move on to a more in-depth conversation with The Children’s Partnership in Edinburgh.

The outcomes of this event will be to:

Build stronger strategic collaboration between relevant third sector organisations on partnership and prevention in family support.
Find two or three test of change ideas that focus on prevention to take forward in partnership with the public sector.
Mobilize relevant third sector organisations to continue to build on partnership and prevention strategies with the public sector over the term of the Children’s Services Plan.

Eddie Kane from Barnardo’s Scotland and Andrew Murray from Safe Families for Children Scotland will be presenting their learnings from the consortium North-East Together. The consortium is made up of third sector organisations in North-East Glasgow, who have been working together to expand the capacity of the third sector to take on more families who don’t require long-term statutory intervention. Analysis of data has shown that a sizable proportion of referrals involve low-level crisis intervention, poverty and/or social isolation. Many of these referrals could be taken on by third sector organisations through improved partnership working and support.

A wide range of members from the Children, Young People and Families Network in Edinburgh will also be presenting their learned experience and test of change ideas.

The outcomes, ideas and discussions generated at this event will inform dialogue between all partners that provide Children’s Services in Edinburgh about improving early support for families.

A joint event involving EVOC and Children’s Services is scheduled for June 19th 2018 to further investigate system change.

Register your place

A Strategy to Tackle Poverty and Inequality in Edinburgh

29 January 2018 By EVOC Communications Team

A draft Economic Strategy to build on Edinburgh’s success to tackle inequality and poverty in the Capital was published by the City of Edinburgh Council on 12 January, and considered by councillors at the Housing and Economy Committee on 18 January. It recognises that although Edinburgh remains the second most prosperous UK city outside London, jobs growth alone has not been sufficient to tackle poverty and deliver sustained improvements in living standards for everyone.

The consultation was carried out with all political parties and businesses, as well as local communities and the third sector, and revealed a consensus of opinion that Edinburgh’s economy should aim to create jobs and inspire innovation, but that it should also do much more to ensure that the benefits of that prosperity are accessible to all residents across the city.

It has been created around three themes – innovation, inclusion and collaboration and includes ten steps to achieve this goal. The council alone cannot achieve this and needs ownership and leadership from other city partners such as the Edinburgh Partnership and Edinburgh Business Forum.

The Council is now seeking your views on the draft prepared so far, if you have any comments on this draft strategy, please contact me or send them to chris.adams@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Download the strategy

Cllr Gavin Barrie, Housing and Economy Convener, said: “Our Economy Strategy sees an important shift in the focus of our work to help Edinburgh’s economy to grow. It is going from strength to strength and has shown great resilience during tough economic times. The time has come, however, to take a good look at why there are still people living in Edinburgh who are not sharing in this prosperity.

“We need to grow our economy so that it is fair in terms of wages, opportunity, access to housing, education and good careers. Much of that work has already started through our commitment to build 20,000 new affordable homes in the city and the £1.1b Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region deal, which will provide £300m for world-leading data innovation centres, £25m for regional skills programme to support improved career opportunities for disadvantaged groups and £65m of new funding for housing to unlock strategic development sites.

“The strategy also fits in well with the most recent Scottish Government Economic Strategy and UK Industrial Strategy, both of which have placed increasing emphasis on the need for inclusive growth for our economy.

“Locally, the strategy also represents one of the first major practical steps towards achieving the City Vision for 2050 that we have been developing with contributions from people across the city since September 2016.”

Hugh Rutherford, Chair of the Edinburgh Business Forum, said: “To stay ahead of our global competitors, Edinburgh needs a laser focus on our world-leading sectors – financial services, tech, life sciences, creative industries and tourism. But we need more than sectoral growth – we need responsible and sustainable ‘good growth’, making sure everyone benefits in a way that’s not happened before. Crucial to the success of this will be the private sector, all levels of education, and the third and public sectors working together to achieve this common goal.”

Ella Simpson, Chief Executive, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council, said: “I am pleased the Strategy explicitly acknowledges poverty and inequality in the City and highlights actions which aim to reduce the impact on people’s lives. The strategy needs to recognise the existing communities and people as the bedrock for fair growth in the city and it is important that we provide support to business, from all sectors, to be the best employers they can be.”

The Strategy’s ten steps, which all have their own actions plans.

– Establish Edinburgh as the data capital of Europe.
– Develop Edinburgh as a city of resilient businesses with the space to grow.
– Create a step change in the growth of green and socially responsible business in Edinburgh.
– Deliver new approaches to tackling the barriers that reinforce worklessness, poverty and inequality.
– Reform Edinburgh’s education and skills landscape to meet the needs of our changing economy.
– Deepen our relationships with employers to unlock good career opportunities.
– Create a transformational city centre fit to power Scotland’s economy.
– Build a world-class Waterfront, and deliver business and residential growth in West Edinburgh.
– Build affordable places for people to live and work.
– Deliver sustainable and inclusive growth in our world-leading culture and tourism sectors.