Tag Archives: community engagement

£eith Chooses welcomes support from POLHA

Posted on by

Port of Leith Housing Association (POLHA) is offering great support to the community in Leith via the mechanism of the £eith Chooses process (amongst other work that POLHA does, of course),

POLHA has contributed £5,000 to the ‘pot’ of money available through £eith Chooses, to projects that benefit Leith. They have also designed and published a useful little information ‘pack’ that aims to help you use social media to get votes for your project., once you’ve applied.

POLHA CEO Heather Kitely has made a wee video to encourage application to £eith Chooses. https://fb.watch/8VdipMn_as/

Please feel free to download the social media info pack here, to use and / or pass on to colleagues.

Applying to £eith Chooses? Come to our Q & A session, 2nd November

Posted on by

Talk to us! Time is running on – don’t leave everything to the last minute! Applications must be in by 30th November.

There will be another online (Zoom) general Q & A session about applying to £eith Chooses this coming Tuesday 2 November 2021, at 6:30pm. Register to attend via Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/186887945877 This is a good chance for an informal chat about a possible application, and to clarify any queries you may have. Do join the call, you will be very welcome!

As well as – or instead of – this Q& A session, Information and support (private discussions) for applicants will be also available at any time / on an ongoing basis, as requested,
Contact: caroline.lamond@edinburgh,gov.uk

Applications are OPEN NOW for  £eith Chooses 2021-2022. Community Groups can apply for up to £5,000 for a 12 month project that will benefit members of the community in Leith. There is now even more money available – £56,102 – so at least 11 groups can be fully funded – and perhaps more, partially funded.

(That’s made up of £46,102 from City of Edinburgh Community Grants Fund, supplemented by a further £5,000 donation from Port of Leith Housing Association, and another £5,000 from Trams to Newhaven)

This year’s theme is one that everyone can find a point of contact with:

Reconnecting in Leith:
Nourishment, Creativity, Sustainability

If you are a constituted community group with your own bank account, and are thinking of a project that would benefit the community in Leith, please download and fill in an Application Form, and Guidance Notes, from the links below.

format Application form Guidance notes
DOC (older versions of Word) Application form Guidance notes
DOCX (newer versions of Word) Application form Guidance notes
PDF Application form Guidance notes

 

Leith Bowl Blethers project

Posted on by

We are happy and proud to read the ‘end of £eith Chooses grant’ report from Edinburgh Community Food and Milan who worked together to help older members of our Asian communities in Leith. What a great project! To help those suffering from loneliness and food poverty, they provided nutritious and culturally appropriate hot meals for 25 weeks, with doorstep face-to-face blethers each week, as meals were hand delivered.They also  organised online community eat-together sessions and outdoor trips (to Saughton Park and Jock Tamson’s herb garden and Dr. Neil’s Garden) for social connectedness.

Edinburgh Community Food staff provided specialist online nutrition training for MILAN staff on how to address the health issues affecting older BME people in Leith and free training ftowards the professionally and nationally recognised certificated REHIS course Food Allergy Awareness.
Milan staff receiving their REHIS Certificates from Edinburgh Community Food The group also produced a spiral bound recipe book containing recipes and nutritional facts developed by Milan Staff, used as part of the project and distributed to participants of Leith Bowl Blethers to encourage them and their families to have a go at making the meals themselves. 

“I am registered blind and find it difficult to cook and prepare my meals, therefore appreciate the fresh ethnic meals received otherwise I rely on tin foods mostly.”

“Due to my age I am unable to cook so this hot meal is valuable for me.”

“I love Tuesdays as this is the only day we are guaranteed to eat traditional hot ethnic meal which has been freshly cooked with the best ingredients.”

“I am not able to cook as reside in a hostel and have no kitchen facilities, therefore I thoroughly enjoy the hot cooked meals and really value this project and am ever so thankful as can have the benefit of freshly cooked food.”

How to get people to vote for your project? Social Media can help!

Posted on by

Port of Leith Housing has partnered with £eith Chooses and produced a useful little information ‘pack’ that aims to help you use social media to get votes for your project. Please feel free to download it here, to use and / or pass on to colleagues.

£eith Chooses 2021-2022 has a total of £56,106 to be allocated, on the basis of a public vote, to the projects / organisations to benefit the community in Leith. In a way, project groups are ‘competing’ with each other for votes. How can you make YOUR project stand out, and attract votes?

The £eith Chooses process goes like this:

  1. Group submits an application form, for a new project (up to £5,000) – by 30 November 2021
  2. All the projects are ‘showcased’ in a £eith Chooses online ‘gallery’ – throughout January 2022
  3. The community in Leith votes online  – 24-30 January 2022. Anyone who lives, works, studies or volunteers in Leith is eligible to vote. Each person casts 3 votes plus a fourth ‘Boost Vote’
  4. The projects that receive the most votes from the community are awarded funds.

But in between 1 and 3 above, as well as £eith Chooses publicising your project, all organisations and groups submitting project proposals can of course – and should –  ‘advertise’ their own project as much as possible This is to make sure that everyone is aware of the project and what benefits it aims to deliver in Leith, and hopefully serves to persuade as many people as possible to vote for their project.

Many thanks to Eve for creating this guide – and thanks to Port of Leith Housing who are  kindly contributing £5,000 to the £eith Chooses ’pot’ of money for projects – which will help groups to get to grips with social media. This pack could make all the difference in encouraging people to vote for your project!

Good Luck everybody!

 

Are you planning to apply? Now is the time!

Posted on by

  1. Applications are OPEN,for  £eith Chooses 2021-2022. There is £46,102 available from City of Edinburgh Community Grants Fund, supplemented by a further £5,000 donation from Port of Leith Housing Association. Community Groups can apply for up to £5,000.

This year’s theme is:

Reconnecting in Leith:
Nourishment, Creativity, Sustainability

If you are a constituted community group with your own bank account, and are thinking of a project that would benefit the community in Leith, please download and fill in an Application Form, and Guidance Notes, from the links below.

format Application form Guidance notes
DOC (older versions of Word) Application form Guidance notes
DOCX (newer versions of Word) Application form Guidance notes
PDF Application form Guidance notes

There will be an online (Zoom) general Q & A session about applying to £eith Chooses on Tuesday 5 October 2021, at 6:30pm. This may be particularly useful for new groups that have not applied before.  Register to attend via Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eithchooses-2021-22-applications-qa-tickets-170120002507

Information and support (private discussions) for applicants will be also available at any time / on an ongoing basis, as requested,
Contact: caroline.lamond@edinburgh,gov.uk

2021-22 Application forms and Guidance Notes now available!

Posted on by

Applications are NOW OPEN,for the 2021-2022 £eith Chooses process. There is £44,102 available from City of Edinburgh Community Grants Fund, supplemented by a further £5,000 donation from Port of Leith Housing Association. Community Groups can apply for up to £5,000.

This year’s theme is:

Reconnecting in Leith:
Nourishment, Creativity, Sustainability

If you are a constituted community group with your own bank account, and are thinking of a project that would benefit the community in Leith, please download and fill in an Application Form, and Guidance Notes, from the links below.

format Application form Guidance notes
DOC (older versions of Word) Application form Guidance notes
DOCX (newer versions of Word) Application form Guidance notes
PDF Application form Guidance notes

There will be an online (Zoom) general Q & A session about applying to £eith Chooses on Tuesday 7 September 2021, at 6:30pm. This may be particularly useful for new groups that have not applied before.  Register to attend via Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eithchooses-2021-22-applications-qa-tickets-168847432215

Further information and support (private discussions) for applicants will be also available on an ongoing basis, as requested,
Contact: caroline.lamond@edinburgh,gov.uk

£eith Chooses 2021-2022

Posted on by

£eith Chooses rides again!Application forms and Guidance Notes are being updated, and will be available in September. Grants of up to £5,000 will be available, subject to community votes.

The theme for £eith Chooses 2021-2022 (below) is based on the priorities of the Locality Improvement Plan’ (‘addressing inequality’), and on the hope of directing funds towards the most vulnerable in our community. We are hoping that this theme is open enough to include a wide range of possible projects and will not create barriers for community groups and charities, who already have more than enough to contend with these days.

Reconnecting in Leith:
Nourishment, Creativity, Sustainability

Do you like this theme, and think your group can work within it, and put forward a project plan that would benefit your community? Or are you unhappy with this theme?, We’d like feedback – and as quickly as possible, please.  Email caroline.lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

We are open to having another online community meeting if people want to discuss different proposals.

In the light of ongoing Covid concerns, we have reluctantly had to take the decision to again have voting online only, for the next round of £eith Chooses, which will be around January 2022.

What do YOU think?

Posted on by

Please will you take a few minutes to fill in this short survey about the £eith Chooses experience, 2021?

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/leithch2021

The £eith Chooses Steering Group is keen to collect feedback from everybody in the community after each participatory budgeting event, We want to hear your views. The survey will run until the end of March.

 

 

 

£eith Chooses Feedback Night 9th March 6pm

Posted on by

You are warmly invited to attend a £eith Chooses ‘Feedback Night’ meeting, online, on Tuesday 9th March at 6pm.

The £eith Chooses Steering Group always looks for feedback from the community, after each participatory budgeting event. You will be getting a wee survey, shortly, which we hope that you will fill in. We’d also like to have/provide the opportunity for open discussion.

Each year, we have found that although not many people make it along to the Feedback night, those that do come always provide a tremendously valuable input. As this year has been so different, we would especially like to hear from you about what you feel went well – and what didn’t – at £eith Chooses 2021.

Sadly, we can’t provide cups of tea or Tunnocks tea cakes this year, but we look forward to an informal discussion and we WILL absolutely listen to and do what we can to take account of your views. Do join us!

To join, please register in advance for a free ticket/place via Eventbrite here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eithchooses-2021-feedback-night-tickets-144028373743

The meeting will be via the Microsoft Teams platform. Get Teams software here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/download-app.

We’ll open the meeting at 5:45pm so there’s time to get connected. The actual meeting will start at 6pm.

Results Night! 16th February

Posted on by

The £eith Chooses 2021 results will be announced at an online meeting on Tuesday 16 February 2021 at 6pm.  Do join us to be first to hear the news!

Please register for the meeting via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eithchooses-2021-results-tickets-140519556777. Then we will send a meeting link.

If you can’t make it, don’t worry, the results will be posted on this website immediately following that meeting – around 7 pm on Tuesday16th February,

The ‘venue’ for the meeting will be Microsoft Teams. We recommend use of the ​Teams desktop app (available from Microsoft’s website). Teams can be run in a web-browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc), but we don’t recommend this.

We also suggest downloading and installing Teams before the meeting. This guide may be helpful for both desktop app and browser: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/join-a-teams-meeting-078e9868-f1aa-4414-8bb9-ee88e9236ee4.

Please try to join the meeting before 6pm, so we are all connected for the start. We will open the meeting about 5:45.

If you have any problems joining on the night, please email Bruce Ryan at bruceleithchooses@icloud.com

Hope you can attend – the £eith Chooses steering group really looks forward to seeing you there.