Category Archives: Leith Neighbourhood Network

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

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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!

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£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!

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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!

Get help with planning your application for £eith Chooses 2023/24

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Time is passing – applications to £eith Chooses close on 10 October, only a month away…

Please come to a short session on Wednesday 20th September, at Norton Park Conference Centre, to get your £eith Chooses application into gear. The £eith Chooses team will be there to help you.

Please say whether you wish to attend 3-5pm session or 5:30-7:30pm, and sign up by emailing Jade Mooney at leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

We will go through the application form to make sure everything is clear, point out frequently made mistakes, and have plenty of time to answer questions, discuss any points raised, and arrange further support etc. as required. Tea, coffee, biscuits etc. will be available.

Many thanks to Norton Park for hosting.

 

£eith Chooses Support Session for Applicants: 20 September

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If you are planning to apply to £eith Chooses this year, you are invited to attend a support session on Wednesday 20th September, at Norton Park Conference Centre.

We will go through the application form to make sure everythig is clear, point out frequently made mistakes, and have plenty of time to answer qustions, arrange further support etc. as required.

Please register and sign up by emailing Jade Mooney at leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk and please say whether you wish to attend 3-5pm or 5:30-7:30pm
Places are a bit limited (we are in a board room, not the main hall) so please book early, and please let us know if you have to cancel. Many thanks to Norton Park for hosting.

 

Open for applications – Support Session 20th September

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Have you started to think about your project application to £eith Chooses, yet? If you would like information and/or support with your application, there are various options.

Any or all of the following are available to you:

  1. Come to a group Support Session on Wednesday 20th September, with the £eith Chooses Team. The lovely folk at Norton Park have generously offered free use of their facilities. There will be two sessions; one from 3pm – 5pm and another from 5:30pm – 7:30pm. SAVE THE DATE! Let us know which session you’d like to attend and we will keep you a place.
  2. Email in and ask for the information you need and/or the kind of support that suits you best –
    – We can offer someone to visit you at your place of work or any place and time of your choosing to talk through your plans, privately.
    – You can ask for a  ‘mentor’. We can offer you a named person from the £eith Chooses Steering Group who will be your contact  link on an ongoing basis and can be available for regular consultations.

Getting started earlier rather than later is the best way to get the most out of  these support options

To follow up on all or any of these options, please email Jade Mooney at leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

Meanwhile, download the 2023-2024 Application Form and Guidance Notes here:

Format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Guidance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

PEOPLE MAKE LEITH £eith Chooses 2023/2024 opens today!

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£eith Chooses 2023/2024 is now open for applications! There is £52,000 available for projects of up to £5,000 each.

The theme for £eith Chooses 2023/2024 is – yes, we know Glasgow thought of it first-

How to apply

  • Reflect on the 2023-2024 Theme: People Make Leith
  • Think about what kind of project your organisation would like to offer to the community, within this theme
  • Download and read the 2023-2024 Application Form and Guidance Notes
    • These are available below in DOCX format (for modern word-processors), DOC format (for older word-processors) and PDF (Adobe Acrobat, Apple Preview etc) formats.
  • Formulate your community project and calculate budget 
  • Consult partners, if appropriate. Remember that two or more groups may form a partnership, to best deliver a project that meets the theme.
  • Seek support with your application from the £eithChooses team, if you want
  • Write and submit application

2023-2024 Application Form and Guidance Notes

format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Guidance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

Timeline

  • Applications open – 16 August 2023
  • Support available – sign up for Q & A sessions (September dates to be announced very soon) and / or email in to ask for information or for further personalised support
  • Applications close – 10 October 2023 (any extensions will be announced at the time)
  • Project Gallery available to view online – from 4 January 2024
  • Voting – online 22 January to 4 February 2023, plus an in-person voting day (29 January)
  • Results Announced – early February 2024
  • Funds Disbursed  – on or before 1 April 2024

Contact can be made via: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

£eith Chooses 2022-2023 is open!

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£eith Chooses 2022-2023 is opening earlier this year – it is open for applications NOW!

Applications for projects up to £5,000 will be accepted from 1st August 2022 until the end of September 2022. Please download the Guidance Notes and an Application Form here (choose whichever is your preferred format, below), and start working on your application straightaway.

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

Project applications should align with this year’s theme: Sustaining Leith: supporting and protecting the most vulnerable in our community.If you feel you would like to discuss your ideas, or need some help or advice with your application, please get in touch and a member of the Steering Group will make contact with you to offer support. Email: caroline.lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

Why so early this year? We know from feedback from applicants in the past that it can be an uncomfortable struggle to be finishing off an application at the tail end of the year, just as Christmas is approaching, so moving everything a bit earlier is an attempt to remove that barrier. Voting will be in January 2023.

£EITH CHOOSES 2021 – how will it work?

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During this Covid crisis, safety must come first. The £eith Chooses / Community Grant money allocation process will be different this year – but we want as many people and organisations in Leith as possible to have a say in how the process is carried out.

Please click on this link, https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LeithChooses2021 and complete the short survey.

Only constituted organisations that benefit the Leith community can apply for a project grant, but everybody can have a say in how they think things should be run.

Please respond by Monday 28th September 2020

If you are representing an organisation, please fill in the organisation’s contact details in the survey.

If you are responding as an individual, we won’t keep your data (Data Protection rules) so if you want to follow up and volunteer to play a part on the £eith Chooses process, please email  caroline.lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

Thank you
The £eith Chooses team

Government funding available

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Do you know people who are struggling, at the moment? The Scottish Government is providing an additional £350m to councils, charities, businesses and community groups to support communities affected by coronavirus.

Click here for news of special funding opportunities

The funding is designed to be flexible, cutting down on red tape to enable them to respond swiftly and according to local need for people impacted economically or through reduced contact with society, including anyone struggling to access food.

Included in the emergency funding package is the £40 million Supporting Communities Fund which community groups can apply for to support local people at risk because of age, isolation, carers, homeless people and asylum seekers and signposting people to sources of help such as applying for benefits.

There’s also a £70 million Food Fund which will help organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors address issues of food insecurity, especially for older people, and families who may not be able to rely on free school meals.

A Wellbeing Fund of £50 million will help charities and others who require additional capacity to work with at-risk people who may be worst affected by the crisis, including homeless people and those experiencing fuel poverty.

£20 million will be allocated to a Third Sector Resilience Fund, to help ensure the health and continued viability of the third sector organisations affected by cash flow and other issues.

For more information on the funding and to apply, please contact SocialJusticeMailbox@gov.scot

For full details of the announcement please visit Scottish Government website.