The list of funded groups is now
If you want to know more about what all these groups / projects are about, you can check them out at our gallery.
LeithChooses has received quite a few applications by now. (Hint: deadline for applications is 24 October.) All the applications that we receive will be acknowledged by Jade Mooney (Jade.Mooney@edinburgh.gov.uk).
But if you have emailed an application and Jade hasn’t acknowledged receipt (sometimes emails with big attachments get stuck), please send a new email with no attachments to Jade. Please also copy in Bruce Ryan (bruceleithchooses@icloud.com), so there is an alternative email route.
Alternatively, please phone Jade on 07708 899544.
We’ve extended the time for groups to apply to be in £eith Chooses 2023/2024 to 24 October. Even if it’s not 100% finished & refined, you should get your application in by this deadline, and ask for help from the Steering Group to tie up some of the loose ends, if needed.
There is £52,000 available for projects of up to £5,000 each. Yours could be one of the 10-12 projects that get funded!
The theme for £eith Chooses 2023/2024 is – yes, we know Glasgow thought of it first-
| format | Application Form | Guidance Notes |
| DOCX | Application form (DOCX format) | Guidance notes (DOCX format) |
| DOC | Application form (DOC format) | Guidance notes (DOC format) |
| Application form (PDF format) | Guidance notes (PDF format) |
Contact can be made via: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk
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 |
| 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
Check out the projects you’ll soon be able to vote for on our gallery here: https://www.leithchooses.net/projects
Voting week will open on 25th January 2021 – we will give you plenty of reminders and information about how to vote.
These are extraordinary times, and extraordinary solutions are called for.
In the weeks since lockdown, the £eithChooses Steering Group and the community projects that won £eithChooses 2020 funding have been working together to come up with alternative project designs that stay within the original themes of £eith Chooses, but that are adapted to the current emergency situation. We are happy to report that this is going well, and we are confident that public money will be well spent to the benefit of vulnerable people in Leith.
Adapting their project has been easier for some organisations than for others, just because of the original design and focus of the various projects. Several projects that focused primarily on ‘fighting hunger’ have moved over to making available/delivering food to their service users in this time of emergency (rather than pursuing their original aims of people eating together, in various settings). This was felt by the Steering Group to be entirely appropriate, as it is recognised that many people are really struggling at this difficult time.
Projects that were focused primarily on ‘fighting social isolation’ have a harder job, since ironically – and tragically – enforcing social isolation is the main strategy, globally, of fighting the spread of corona virus! Online communication (Zoom) has become a major tool of course. However, recognising that many (and often the most vulnerable) people do not have access to the technological equipment or the knowledge and skills to use online communication, some projects are setting up phone-based systems to alleviate loneliness for isolated service users, to help identify people with urgent needs and problems, and to provide advice and support.
Several of the applicants that received funding through £eith Chooses are already well launched on their adapted project. We have set a deadline date of 28th June 2020 for all projects to finalise their adaptation plans (bearing in mind that the project has to be completed by 31 March 2021, due to the terms of the funding agreement), The £eithChooses Steering Group continues to communicate regularly and to meet weekly online, so that suggestions and discussions are ongoing, and decisions about proposed adaptations can be turned around very quickly.
The Steering Group has also launched discussion about possible scenarios for 2021.
To give yourself a head start before you come and vote next Saturday, check out all the projects that will be in the £eithChooses voting event on Saturday 1st February 2020. See our gallery here: https://www.leithchooses.net/gallery-2019-20
Make sure YOU take part in £eith Chooses 2020! Hear about it here from past recipients of funding.
Get your applications in NOW (by 6th January) and come along and vote (1st February).
Everyone is welcome to come to the LeithChooses launch event:
Please take our survey! Click https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3XM5TND
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