What is £eith Chooses up to now?

The past month has been a busy one for paperwork and finances as the community groups that won funding in the recent £eith Chooses voting liaise with the Council staff arranging payment of the funds so that these arrive into their bank account before the end of the financial year. Hopefully all done now!

 

So what happens next?

  1. The groups that won funding will shortly get started on their new projects, hurrah!
  2. £eith Chooses Steering Group and Council staff partners meanwhile take a step back and check that the groups that were funded LAST YEAR have complied with regulations and have submitted a report on the completion of the project they were funded to deliver by 31 March 2024. We do not require long complicated reports but do require evidence of spending and basic info about what took place, how it all went, who benefitted etc. We do like to see photos, too! This is a really important step, because if a group does not submit a report on a past project, they are not eligible to apply again in future for funding for another project.
  3. £eith Chooses web site and social media will be used to publicly share some of this information as feedback, so that Leithers can all see what happened following their vote back in 2023, and what benefits were brought to the community in Leith. This is a good way to remind everyone about the great work that so many charities and local groups are carrying out al the time on behalf of the community in Leith.
  4. The £eith Chooses Steering Group carries out a review and evaluation of the recent £eith Chooses event, with the aim of maintaining standards and ideally improving the process for future years. If anyone wants to share their views on how things could be improved, please submit by email to: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk
  5. The £eith Chooses Steering Group considers what ‘theme’ next year’s £eith Chooses might focus on. Any ideas? Email to: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

£eith Chooses Results 2023-2024 – update

Sadly, one of the community groups that had won funding from this round of LeithChooses has closed down. Hence this funding has been offered to the next highest in the list of results – and this group has gratefully accepted.

The list of funded groups is now

  • The Men of Leith Men’s Shed
  • Citadel Youth Centre
  • Edinburgh Remakery
  • Leith Festival
  • Edinburgh Tool Library
  • Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain
  • Hibernian Community Foundation
  • Dr Bells Family Centre
  • Leith Athletic
  • ELREC
  • Edinburgh Community Food
  • Himalayan Centre
  • Hermitage Park School Association (partial funding)

If you want to know more about what all these groups / projects are about, you can check them out at our gallery.

Tonight! Join £eith Chooses online feedback session – link here

You are warmly invited to join the £eith Chooses team online for an informal ‘Feedback Forum’ tonight Tuesday 5th March at 6:30pm. This is a chance to air your views about any aspect of the £eith Chooses process, to ask questions and get answers, and to make suggestions about how the process could perhaps be improved in future. All welcome.

£eith Chooses feedback session. 6.30pm Tuesday 5th March.
Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device
Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 396 208 832 988
Passcode: Xu8CNh

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Feedback please? Tuesday 5 March, 6:30, online

Now that the voting results are in and the grants have been awarded to 13 local community groups, the next stages of £eith Chooses are:

1. Feedback – this is for everybody – successful and unsuccessful applicants, voters, volunteer helpers, and any/all Leithers. Please join the £eith Chooses team online for a ‘Feedback Forum’ on Tuesday 5th March at 6:30pm. This is a chance to air your views about any aspect of the £eith Chooses process, to ask questions and get answers, and to make suggestions about how the process could perhaps be improved infuture. Please do join the discussion. A Teams link will be posted shortly.
2. Paperwork – the groups awarded funding need to fill in the required paperwork, and the Council staff on the £eith Chooses team need to progress that paperwork through the Community Empowerment & Engagement Dept.and on to Finance, for payment. The sooner your completed paperwork goes in, the sooner you will get the money.

£eith Chooses Results 2023-2024!

£eith Chooses 2023-2024 Results

In all, 23 projects applied to £eith Chooses this year, and the total amount of money requested amounted to £94,741. But as there was only £52,624 available, sadly not every group that applied could be successful in winning funding.

Based on the number of votes received from members of the Leith community, 12 projects will receive full funding and 1 project will receive partial funding. Congratulations to all!

Therefore, sadly, there are groups that were not successful this year. If your group’s name isn’t on this list below, it means your group has not been succesful in winning funding this year. Commiserations – this is of course very disappointing, but please don’t be too discouraged; your work, and your participation in £eith Chooses are really valued, and hopefully your time will come sometime soon.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone that took part!

This year, £eith Chooses will fund projects by the following community groups in Leith:

  • The Men of Leith Men’s Shed
  • Citadel Youth Centre
  • Edinburgh Remakery
  • Leith Festival
  • Edinburgh Tool Library
  • Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain
  • Hibernian Community Foundation
  • Dr Bells Family Centre
  • Leith Athletic
  • ELREC
  • Edinburgh Community Food
  • Himalayan Centre
    & (partial funding)
  • SHE Scotland

If you want to know more about what all these groups / projects are about, you can check them out at https://www.leithchooses.net/gallery-of-project-applications-2024

If any groups would like to talk further about their position, they should contact Jade Mooney directly by email at leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

Thank you to everyone who came along to the Results ‘ceremony’ tonight, it is so lovely that so many people made the effort, and showed yet again what a great community Leith is.

Results to be announced Thursday 22th February! All Welcome!

The results of £eith Chooses 23/24 will be announced on Thursday 22nd February, at the Leith Community Centre (cafe area) 6:30pm
All welcome! The results will be posted online immediately following the event, but we are hoping that people will come along in person, please, if you possibly can, especially supporters of applicant groups. We are so pleased to be back ‘live’ after the Covid years, and want to be able to show the Council (who mainly fund £eith Chooses) that there is a local appetite for live community events (not just all online). This will just be a short meeting, but there will be refreshments and chat, so hopefully worthwhile popping in!

Results Night is always a bittersweet occasion as there have to be some groups who are not successful with the funding, while others are happy to hear that they have won a grant. We would like to celebrate EVERYBODY who took part!

Results Night – 22 February

Voting is now closed and votes are being totalled. Taking a break over the half term week, we will be announcing the results on Thursday 22nd February, at the Leith Community Centre (cafe area) 6:30pm
The results will be posted online immediately following the event, but we are hoping that people will come along in person, please, if you possibly can, especially supporters of applicant groups. We are so pleased to be back ‘live’ after the Covid years, and want to be able to show the Council (who mainly fund £eith Chooses) that there is a local appetite for live community events (not just all online). This will just be a short meeting, but there will be refreshments and chat, so hopefully worthwhile popping in!

Results Night is always a bittersweet occasion as there have to be some groups who are not successful with the funding, while others are happy to hear that they have won a grant. We would like to celebrate EVERYBODY who took part!

 

 

Only 1 day left!

Only 1 more day to go. If you have not yet voted online, please do so before the end (11:59pm) of Monday 5th February!

This where to go, to cast your votes  – https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cf/leith-chooses-2024/
PS. you can still vote online (once only) even if you have already voted once in person at the Community Centre.

 

Only 3 days left to vote online!

Only 3 more days to go. If you have not yet voted online, please do so before the end (11:59pm) of Monday 5th February! So many brilliant projects, so it’s difficult to choose, as they all need funding. But it’s important that Leithers’ voices are the deciding factor – we really need as many people as possible to vote.

This where to go, to cast your votes  – https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cf/leith-chooses-2024/
PS. you can still vote online (once only) even if you have already voted once in person at the Community Centre.

 

Only 4 days to go! Vote now!

Only 4 more days to go. If you have not yet voted online, please do so before the end of Monday 5th February! So many brilliant projects to choose from so it’s difficult, as they all need funding. But it’s important that Leithers’ voices are the deciding factor – so we really want as many people as possible to vote.

This where to go, to cast your votes  – https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cf/leith-chooses-2024/
PS. you can still vote online (once only) even if you have already voted once in person at the Community Centre.