Category Archives: Community Councils of Leith

Voting in 2019, and Booster Vote

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This short video explains a bit more about how voting will work at this year’s £eith Chooses, and about the new ‘booster vote’.

In the past, small and new, or not widely known groups have very often missed out, at £eith Decides / £eith Chooses. In particular, sadly, this has affected groups whose projects mainly involve ethnic minorities. The key is in the word ‘minority’ – such groups just don’t manage to get the vote numbers. It’s not just a problem in Leith, it’s a weakness of Participatory Budgeting in general. This year, any group that has made special efforts to engage with minority ethnic communities (including language minorities) – as applicants, partners, project workers, participants, beneficiaries etc.could qualify for a ‘booster vote’.

Contact the £eith Chooses team, to find out if / how your project might qualify.
Email – Caroline.Lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

2 weeks to go! Get your application in!

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Come along to a drop-in support session to check your application is on the right track, and to see if you could qualify for ‘boost vote’ status.Talk it through –

  • Tuesday 8th January, McDonald Road Library 1:30 – 5:30 pm (Business Hub downstairs)
  • Thursday 10th January. Leith Library Ferry road, 3-5 pm
  • Tuesday 15th January, McDonald Road Library 3 – 8 pm (Business Hub downstairs)

If you can’t make any of these, but want to discuss an application idea, email

Caroline.Lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

The themes for this year’s £eith Chooses reflect the fact that many people in Leith are really struggling, these days. Proposed projects should show that they will benefit people in Leith who are in need, and they must fit one of the themes –

A ‘boost’ for some projects

If a project application shows that special efforts are being made to inform / involve / benefit minority ethnic communities, it could qualify for a ‘booster vote’. Come along to a support session or get in touch for more details about how to qualify for this.

Partners!

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Why not partner up with another (or more than one) organisation, for your £eith Chooses project bid? This is a great way to work cooperatively, rather than in competition with each other, for funds. A small group without a constitution can be ‘sheltered’ by a bigger group taking responsibility for governance. Groups doing similar things, but maybe with different ‘end users’, can share ideas and resources. And of course, partnering is a good way to widen your voter base!

£eith Chooses – Apply Now!

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There is £44,000 of City of Edinburgh Community Grants Fund money available for community projects. Groups can apply for one project, up to a maximum of £5,000 (bids for lesser sums are also warmly welcomed). NOW is the time to apply!

Project bids should be for community projects that will be delivered in Leith and benefit the community in Leith, and that tie in with one or other of this year’s key themes.

Key dates

Support Sessions

Tuesday 8th January 2019  – Support Session at McDonald Road Library (drop in any time between  1pm – 5:30pm)

Thursday 10th January 2019 – Support Session at Leith Library (drop in any time between 3pm – 5pm)

Tuesday 15th January 2019 – Support Session at McDonald Road Library (drop in any time between  3pm – 80pm)

If you want to talk through your ideas and possible application, please come along to this session and meet members of the £eith Chooses Steering Group, who will advise you.

If you can’t make the any of those dates, please get in touch asap, and we will make another arrangement to meet with you.

21 January 2019 – Applications close

23 February 2019 – Voting Day, Leith Community Education Centre, Kirkgate

Help the Scouts go to camp

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The  154 Scouts received a £eith Chooses grant of £500 earlier this year. Here is a brief report of what they’ve been up to, spending that money. All sounds great!
We used the money to organise the ‘Leith Chooses Canty Bay Camp’ in June 2018, which was attended by 12 Beavers, 14 Cubs and 11 Scouts. Beavers slept in tents (many for the first time), visited Tantallon Castle by minibus, and learned emergency First Aid. 
Cubs obtained different stages of hiking badges, visit Tantallon Castle to obtain their local history badge and complete their nature badge, the latter of which is only possible in rural settings and near the seaside. The camp also facilitated three Cubs staying overnight for their first ever camp, contributing to their ‘Nights Away stage 1’ badge.Scouts hiked to and from North Berwick to the camp site. They cooked their own dinner using a Trangia (Cowboy Stew!), hiked to Tantallon Castle, and played games. They went swimming at North Berwick pool as well.They set up their own tents and helped set up the tents for the Beavers.

Some of the badges that this trip contributed to are: First Aid Badge, Local History Badge, Nature Badge, Chef Badge, Navigator Badge, Camping Badge, Nights Away, Teamwork Challenge, Outdoor Challenge award and Swimmer Activity Badge.

All of this has really helped the young people bond, learn about their environment and grow in independence – allowing them to become better citizens and neighbours in the future.

Art on the Police Box

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Another great £eith Chooses project takes shape. You voted for ‘Art on the Police Box’ and here it is!

Police Box owner Monty Roy writes: Our first artworks have been installed on Leith walk policebox with the help of Edinburgh Tool Library (ETL) who made the weatherproof panels and fixings. (Don’t panic, the wonderful Stewart Bremner art deco illustrations are still safely preserved underneath.) We are hoping to have an official launch in October.

Aptly, since 2018 is designated the Year of Young People, young artists is residence at ETL have been involved. Below are photos of the current artworks.

New artworks are being worked on by Stafford Centre Mental Health project and by students at Leith Academy for installation late 2018 early 2019.

Police Box No. 1 is by Page Hardie, who uses salvaged household paint to create abstract patterns that are free flowing and unique.

Urban Constellation is by Vivienne Kelly. Vivienne is inspired by urban animals and the patterns and invisible ‘pathways’ they (like us) carve through our neighbourhoods. She wants us to see the magic in the mundane. (Hard to show on this photo- you’ll have to get up close to investigate, like Monty and Leith Walk Councillor Susan Rae, shown here.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

£eith Chooses Projects come to life!

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It is great to see that £eith Chooses projects funded by the votes of the local community back in March are now taking shape, for the benefit of the community. Leith Primary School sent a photo of the ‘Trim Trail’ recently installed outside the school on Leith Links, with the following ‘Thank You’ message:

Thought  I’d drop you a note to say thank you on behalf of Leith Primary Parent Council, staff and pupils for the funding we received from £eith Chooses.  As you can see from the photo below our wooden obstacle course is now complete and the children love it.  The contribution from £eith Chooses, along with over £3,000 we fundraised, has allowed us to greatly improve the outdoor space.  Not having had a gym hall for four years, and a large temporary unit housing the nursery in our playground has been very frustrating.  Having this obstacle course completed will mean the first stage in improving the outside space for the pupils even further.  

Thanks again
XXXXXXX
LPPC Secretary

£eith Chooses Evaluation & Reporting

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We have been carrying out a series of evaluation exercises:

  • survey of all project applicants (closed 20 May)
  • survey open to the whole community (closed 20 May)
  • open face to face discussion session (15 May)

We have also received feedback by email, and will  be meeting for private feedback discussions with project groups over the next week or so.

Thank you very much to all those who took the trouble to give their time and thought to responding; all of the feedback is interesting and useful.

If you have any further feedback that you wish the £eith Chooses organisers to be aware of, please send it in NOW / asap, or it will be too late to be included in the reports and recommendations.

The next phase of the project is to analyse all the feedback and write up reports (to Scottish Government and to City of Edinburgh Council), with recommendations for the future. These reports should be available by June, at the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership meeting, and online.                      Watch this space!

Where are things at now?

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The votes are counted and the results are now available. See who has won funding, and how much, on the Awards 2018 page.

‘Award Agreement’ forms have been sent out to all projects in the Small and the Large grant pots. As soon as these are completed and returned, a cheque will be issued  by Leith Links Community Council (with Scottish Government Community Choices funding). Please post the Agreement Form back, your cheque will be sent out to you by post.

For projects in the ‘Medium’ pot,  the City of Edinburgh Council process works slightly differently. Once the Agreement  form is sent out by email, please complete and  return, then electronic money transfer will be effected.

A ‘Survey Monkey’ evaluation questionnaire will be circulated very soon to project applicants and another for voters and the general public. We will welcome responses from as many people as possible, e.g. voters, as well as project applicants. We will also welcome any feedback you wish to provide by email, directly, to leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

A face to face feedback discussion session, primarily for applicants, is being planned for Tuesday 15th May, to facilitate interaction between participants, identify issues, share suggestions for improvement, and generate new ideas.

£eith Chooses – Voting is now CLOSED

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As advertised, online voting for £eith Chooses projects has closed, at 5pm Saturday 17th March 2018.A huge THANK YOU  to everyone who applied for project funding, who attended the Project Day on 3rd March, who volunteered and helped on the organising team, and also to everyone who has voted.

All votes – from card vote ‘posted’ in the ballot boxes on the day and online since then – will now be counted up. The projects that received the highest number of votes overall, in each of the three ‘grant pots’, will be offered a funding award.

The results will be made public later this coming week – watch this space…!