Two Edinburgh charities have been awarded around £1 million by The National Lottery Community Fund.
North Edinburgh Childcare received £770,000 and Multi-Cultural Family Base (MCFB) have been awarded £233,613 with 30 other groups in the capital sharing in £1,299,743 of funding.
North Edinburgh Childcare say they will be able to transform and expand their existing premises, allowing them to increase the services they already provide and support even more families across the city.
Other Edinburgh groups include:
| AdvoCard | £7,750 | This group will use the funding to purchase equipment to enable staff to work remotely so that they can continue to provide advocacy for people with mental health issues and substance misuse. |
| Blackhall Playgroup | £8,750 | This group will use the funding to prepare their playgroup for the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown. They will also put in place measures to enable the return of some children and to provide resources for those who cannot return. |
| Blind in Business Charitable Trust | £9,941 | This group will use the funding to support blind and visually impaired young people in sharing their isolation stores and experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond. The pilot project will target families in Edinburgh with around 50 young people taking part. |
| Chabad of Edinburgh | £4,620 | This group will use the funding for care packages, including freshly prepared meals which will be delivered to elderly people who are self isolating or quarantined in the local community. |
| Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland | £37,500 | This group will use the funding to deliver a new Scotland-wide ‘Hospital to Home Respiratory Support Service’ providing an enhanced discharge pathway for those who have experienced hospitalisation following COVID-19 or other respiratory conditions. |
| Cinemaattic Productions CIC | £3,250 | This group will use the funding to make available online and through streaming video a programme of cinema events replacing the programme which has had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 lockdown. |
| Colours of Edinburgh | £640 | This group will use the funding to deliver a Refugee Arts Festival. |
| Craigentinny/Lochend Social Centre | £10,000 | This group will use the funding to improve the health and wellbeing of their local community through the delivery of holiday playschemes and day trips for the elderly. |
| Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity | £10,000 | This group will use the funding to offer additional support to vulnerable children and families shielding due to ongoing health conditions. |
| Euan’s Guide | £10,000 | This funding ,over the next 12 months, will support the continuation of an on-line forum for disabled people allowing them to stay connected and to share information on challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown. Moving face to face events will also be held online to ensure social connections are not lost. |
| Gorgie Collective | £9,770 | This group will deliver remote creative outreach activities to their local community which will help create important connections that support individual well-being during this stressful period of isolation. |
| Granton Parish Church of Scotland, Edinburgh | £10,000 | This group will use the funding to install a new kitchen in the Church Hall which will be used by a range of local community groups. |
| GREATWAY FOUNDATION | £10,000 | This group will provide telephone and online support to vulnerable members of the BAME community in Edinburgh who have been isolated since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. |
| Hearts and Minds Limited | £28,058 | This group will use the funding to deliver a Scotland-wide digital programme of therapeutic clown support during the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme will engage children in hospitals, hospice care and special needs schools as well as adults affected by dementia in residential care settings. The project will see up to 50 live interaction sessions delivered over the next 6 months benefiting around 250 children and adults. |
| Heartsong Ministries | £10,000 | This group will use the funding to support members of the BAME community in Edinburgh who are most at risk from the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. |
| Kids Out UK | £9,300 | This group will use the funding to distribute food vouchers to families in Women’s Aid refuges across Scotland. |
| Kindred Advocacy | £10,000 | This group will use funds to continue their work providing support for families with children with additional support needs in Edinburgh and across the Lothians. |
| Leonard Cheshire Disability | £7,500 | This group purchase digital equipment to provide people with disabilities the opportunity to digitally converse with family and friends whilst isolation measures prevent face to face visits. |
| Milan (Senior Welfare Organisation) | £10,000 | This project will build on this group’s existing work to provide a COVID-19 tailored response including remote sewing sessions, deliveries of parcels and food to those shielding, and sending a regular paper newsletter to those without digital access. |
| Multi-Cultural Family Base | £233,613 | This group will use the funding to deliver support services in Edinburgh to vulnerable children and families primarily from minority ethnic communities who are struggling with the transition into primary school. Children will develop social and communication skills, and build new friendships. Parents will become less isolated and get support to develop their parenting skills. |
| Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre Lothian | £10,000 | This group will use the funding to provide a wider range of targeted digital services to meet a growing client demand for support for people living with MS and other long-term health conditions. |
| North Edinburgh Childcare | £770,000 | This group will use the funding to extend their childcare and employability training services through the expansion of their existing premises by the attachment of modular units and changes to the existing building in Pilton, Edinburgh. This expansion will create an additional 84 full time equivalent childcare places and provide 196 local parents and carers with increased access to opportunities for work, training or education. |
| Oi Musica CIC | £5,510 | This funding will support the continuation of weekly ‘Brass Blast’ sessions, a free brass and drumming group for 40 young people, and to support moving this online for the next five months. |
| Passion4Fusion | £4,500 | This project will provide mentoring and support for disadvantaged young people from migrant background and their parents living in Edinburgh and West Lothian with online life learning and virtual classrooms. |
| RCCG King Of Glory Edinburgh | £2,110 | This group will use the funding to purchase musical instruments and run a programme of tuition for young people. They will also distribute hand sanitiser and other essentials to members of the community. |
| Rowan Alba Ltd | £9,998 | This group are looking to provide support to their older members who are currently self-isolating due to underlying health conditions through one to one befriending. |
| Scotland Yard Adventure Centre | £9,970 | This group will use the funding to continue the ‘Girls Club’ for 16 disabled girls aged between 14-18. The club provides a safe and inclusive space for the young people to socialise and have fun. |
| Scottish Adoption | £9,250 | This online support service and expressive space for adopted young people aged between 11 to 18 years will allow them share their experiences and stay connected with each other during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Shelter, The National Campaign for Homeless People Limited | £10,000 | This group will provide additional telephone and online support to people across Scotland who are struggling to cope financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Upward Mobility Ltd | £10,000 | This group will use the funding to create online video content to engage adult students with learning disabilities to keep their community connected and informed during the COVID-19 crisis. |
| Wester Hailes Youth Agency | £9,713 | This group will use the funding to create online video content to engage adult students with learning disabilities to keep their community connected and informed during the COVID-19 crisis. |
| What?Why?Children in Hospital | £8,000 | This project will work with young people aged between 12-18 living in Wester Hailes and the surrounding areas using virtual individual and groupwork sessions to address the issues they are facing due to the COVID-19 crisis. |
Welcoming the award, Theresa Allison, General Manager, North Edinburgh Childcare, said: “We are absolutely delighted at this award which will go towards a new build and renovations of our existing building which will enable us to create an additional 84 full-time equivalent childcare places.
“Once built this has the potential to support approximately another 200 parents/carers to lift themselves out of poverty. We are so excited about the new build and refurbishment but even more excited that, for the first time ever, we will be able to offer a number of places to people aspiring to get into work or training. This is all possible thanks to people who play The National Lottery.”
Anne Spiers, acting CEO of MCFB said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive continued funding from the National Lottery for our 4-2-7 project, which supports Black and Minority Ethnic children in Edinburgh with the transition from home and nursery to school.
“One of our biggest successes last year, made possible by National Lottery Funding, was bringing women who had settled in Edinburgh from Sudan, Syria, The Cayman Islands, India and Pakistan together in our weekly mums’ group to produce a multicultural cookbook of their own recipes. We look forward to working on many more projects like this, aimed at empowering parents and helping children feel more secure and settled at home and within schools. Watch this space!
“Much of the focus of the work within this project is on building confidence, improving emotional well-being and giving children new strategies to manage different situations. Work takes place in schools, within playrooms at MCFB and, when appropriate, in family homes. A number of the children supported by this project have needed support due to issues they were facing, such as the impact of war related trauma and others have additional support needs relating to disability, migration, language barriers, poverty and family difficulties.”
Announcing today’s funding of just over £12.5 million to 311 projects in Scotland, The National Lottery Community Fund’s Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “These awards, made possible by National Lottery players, recognise the incredible work happening across Scotland to create stronger, more connected communities.
“I am delighted that some of this funding will be used to transform existing buildings into vibrant community hubs that will carry on the strong community spirit that has been so evident in recent times.
“National Lottery players can be proud to know that money they raise by buying tickets is continuing to make such a difference.”
National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes in the UK.
The National Lottery Community Fund in Scotland is currently focusing its funding on those projects that support organisations and communities responding to the challenge of Covid-19.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
