News from EVOC Director Ella Simpson

Voluntary Sector Forums

Over the last few months Harriet Eadie, the Director of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh and I have had a series of useful and positive meetings with local voluntary sector forums. Two key themes have emerged – the future of Neighbourhood Partnerships and (separately) the value of having a locally-based voluntary sector forum to share information and experience and to support a joint local agenda for the voluntary sector. The feedback we received will remain at the centre of ongoing strategic discussions at a city-wide level. Harriet and I hope to be able to visit local forums annually.

City of Edinburgh Council Commissioning Strategy

The Council’s overarching Commissioning Strategy is now reaching a crucial stage in its development. The voluntary sector Checkpoint Group, which I chair, has provided a robust critique of the process and has set the bar high regarding the scope and nature of the consultation process. My Checkpoint Group colleague David Griffiths (also a member of EVOC’s Management Board) and I were invited to the Council’s Audit Committee on 9th May to participate in a discussion about the Commissioning Strategy development process so far. The Audit Committee was struck by the scope and volume of responses to the consultation and agreed that a complete analysis of the consultation process would not be undertaken until the Council’s own consultation response was known. The Council’s Policy and Strategy Committee will discuss its response at its June meeting.

Reshaping Care for Older People Change Fund

EVOC was charged with the task of producing a plan to develop community capacity building and co-production actions in line with the key objectives of the Change Plan . Over 30 people attended a workshop held on 11th May and Brid Cullen has been consulting organisations and focus groups to ensure that the submission will be creative and comprehensive, and will meet the needs of older people in Edinburgh today and in the future. The Change Fund is a high priority for the Scottish Government, and I am encouraged that EVOC (on behalf of Edinburgh’s voluntary sector) has been given responsibility for taking forward this element of the work. Keep an eye out for further updates as they become available.

EVOC is committed to being a useful resource for the city’s vibrant voluntary sector and to support that aim open, honest two-way communication is essential. Whilst the voluntary sector in Edinburgh as elsewhere is currently dealing with some pressures, I am convinced that the core ethos that informs all that we do will continue to thrive within the city’s rich voluntary sector and will continue to serve the people of Edinburgh well.

All neighbourhoods

EVOC's Law Event: it's not a game

EVOC is hosting a Law Event that will offer a selection of courses on legal topics, aimed at the voluntary sector.

It will take place from Monday 20 June to Wednesday 22 June at Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association on McDonald Road in Edinburgh, with prices from £25 per session.

Please take a look at this event poster for more information. You can register your interest and receive a booking form by contacting EVOC Learning.

Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Trust

EVOT operates a grants programme for voluntary organisations with annual turnover of under £200,000.  Priority is given to local charitable organisations operating in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

The closing date for the next round of grants to voluntary organisations is Thursday 30 June 2011.

For further information and criteria please see the website pages.

Application forms can be obtained from Trust Administrator, Janette Scappaticcio on 0131 555 9109.

Social Innovation Camp: Scotland 2011

Social Innovation Camp 2011 takes places from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 June 2011 at Informatics Ventures in Edinburgh. We’re bringing together some of the best of the UK’s software developers and designers with those at the sharp end of social problems.

They’ll have just 48 hours to build some web-based solutions to a set of social problems – from back-of-the-envelope idea to working prototype, complete with software. But first off, we start with a call for ideas: we want to find the most exciting ideas for how the web could change stuff that really matters.

Our call for ideas is now open. Have a look at our ideas criteria and some of past success stories to find out more about what we’re looking for. And you might find the suggestions on our blog for writing a really good idea helpful.

Email your ideas by midnight on Friday 20 May.

Fostering Good Community Relations Workshops

The Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council is holding two events in June. The workshops are open to members of the Edinburgh Equalities Network and any other individuals / organisations who have an interest in advancing equality and fostering good community relations in Edinburgh.

The purpose of the workshops is to give participants:

• Better understanding of the Equality Act 2010 and the implications for community relations
• Better understanding of barriers and how these can be overcome to foster good community relations
• Better awareness of how to gather equality evidence
• Being more confident in raising equality issues
• Being more confident in engaging with individuals of protected characteristics

The workshop programme will include:

• Exercises on the themes of "Who do we think we are?" and "Equality dilemmas"
• An update on the Equality Act 2010 and what are the legal obligations for public sector organisations
• Small group discussions on identifying practical ways of removing barriers
• Discussion on understanding the common fears of participation and how to tackle those fears

The workshops will take place on:

Thursday 9 June - Business Centre, City Chambers from 5.30pm to 8.00pm (Buffet refreshments available from 5.00pm)
Thursday 16 June - Business Centre, City Chambers from 2.00pm to 5.00pm (Buffet refreshments available from 1.30pm)

To book a place for either of the workshops contact Anne Elliot on 0131 469 3764. If you have any access/communication/transport/dietary needs please let Anne know when booking your place.

‘How to’ Raise Money from Trusts

Ideal for those new to trust fundraising, this course offers a comprehensive introduction to a crucial funding source.

Through discussion and group work participants learn how to make creative use of directories and databases of trusts and foundations whilst developing an objective appreciation of what trusts are looking for from applicants.
With an in-depth practical look at writing a good proposal, this is the first step for those looking to widen their fundraising options.

This course takes place on Wednesday 25 May at COSLA, Rosebery House, 9 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5XZ.

Prices are from £230. For further information and discounts for small organisations please call Kim Hobbs on 0207 391 4816. Cost of the course includes the book The Guide to the Major Trusts vol 1 (rrp £65.00).

To book a place, please see the Directory for Social Change website.

Venue for hire on George Street

Ace IT computer training is hiring out venue space at 115 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4JN.

For more information see this flier, or contact Jenny on 0131 477 3883.

Depression Awareness Training

NHS Lothian is a full partner of the European Alliance Against Depression and as part of an integrated intervention approach is providing a half day course focusing on depression. The course aims to raise awareness of depression and its identification among members of the community who are likely to come into contact with people experiencing emotional distress.

If you have queries about the content of this course, please contact Marie Sutherland on 0131 537 698. To book a place, please complete the booking form and return to Marie.

Tuesday 14 June from 9.30am – 1.00 pm at Building 4, 5-7 Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH7 5BL.

Keeping Children Safe

'Keeping Children Safe' - also known as the 'Community Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme' - was launched in Lothian and the Borders on Thursday 31 March, following successful roll out in all other regions of Scotland.
The scheme means that parents, carers and guardians of children under 18 can ask the police if a person who has contact with that child has a record for sexual offences against children.

If it’s found the person does pose a risk of harm to the child, information may be given to the parent, carer or guardian as a protective measure. If there is a serious or immediate risk, measures to protect the child will be taken through recognised Child Protection Procedures.

Anyone wanting to raise a concern about a child can do so by calling Lothian and Borders Police, where their call will be directed to the Keeping Children Safe co-ordinator based at Fettes. A dedicated team of officers will be based at the Amethyst Unit from 31st March 2011 to ensure a timeous response is provided to members of the community who make an application through this scheme.

Please see this newsletter providing basic details about the scheme.

Scottish Accessible Information Forum: can you help?

The Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF) is recruiting for new volunteer members. SAIF is a Scottish Government funded advisory group working to promote and improve accessible information for disabled people throughout Scotland.

As a group dealing with issues affecting disabled people, it is a priority that the majority of members have direct experience of disability. They therefore strongly encourage the participation of disabled people. To support this, they provide all our materials in members’ preferred format and organise any support required for meetings. They pay for members travel and accommodation when required.

More details and an application form can be downloaded from the SAIF website.

You can also telephone the SAIF Project Workers, Susan or Steve, on 0141 226 5261 to find out more, or fax 0141 221 9695.

The closing date for applications is Friday 20 May.

Short Breaks Fund for carers

VOCAL has secured a grant enabling us to offer funding and assistance to carers seeking a short break. A short break, sometimes still called respite, is any activity which provides a break from normal living and care routines for the carer and/or the person receiving care.

A Short Break can cover a multitude of activities designed to suit the carer and/or person receiving care, and may include transport costs, accommodation, leisure activities, supported holidays or a series of short weekly breaks.

VOCAL is keen that as many carers as possible hear of the opportunity. Carers can apply themselves or professionals can support them to apply.

Please contact Jane Greenacre on 0131 622 6666 for an information pack.

Vacancies at Streetwork

Streetwork is recruiting for the following posts:

Project Leader F/T
AP 4 £23,230 pa
You will lead on service design and development for a new youth provision within Streetwork. With excellent partnership working and leadership skills you will manage the provision of street based outreach for young people at risk on the streets.

Project Worker F/T
AP 2-3 £18,438 pa
You will lead and coordinate one to one support, street based outreach and drop in sessions for women with complex and multiple needs under the management of the Project Leader. An understanding of the issues facing vulnerable women is essential as is an innovative and developmental approach to service delivery.

Support Worker F/T
AP 1 £16,819 pa
You will hold a key role supporting vulnerable women on the streets, in their tenancies and in a group work setting. You will be involved in the delivery of support plans and contribute to service development.

The project worker and support worker are open to women only (Equality Act 2010 Work Occupational Requirement Exception, Schedule 9 Paragraph 1.) Membership of PVG Scheme is a requirement of all posts.

For more information please email or phone 0131 556 9756

Closing date for applications is Monday 23 May.

Vacancy: Finance Manager

Children in Scotland is the national umbrella body, dedicated to supporting its membership to improve the lives of children and their families. As Finance Manager, you will play an important role in delivering on our vision. You will manage all financial processes across the organisation including managing a complex range of funding streams, to ensure a sound and sustainable future for the organisation.

Closing date is Friday 20 May.

Interviews will be held in the week commencing 23 May 2011

(Full-time – although Part time will be considered) Salary: £28,077 - £34,683

For further details and application pack see the Children in Scotland website.

Photocopier lease available

Platform PR are closing their Edinburgh office. They have a photocopier on lease which they want to donate to a good home. The cost of the lease has been paid and includes toner, developer and drum over the next 2 years. The photocopier has the capacity to be networked to PCs. There is a charge of 1.242p per copy for 5000 copies per quarter – the price comes down fractionally after that.

For further details please contact Joyce Mackinnon, Office Manager, on 0131 226 3000 or 01463 783018.

Edinburgh Canal Festival

The Edinburgh Canal Festival will take place at Edinburgh Quay on Saturday 9 July.

Raft Race – Boat Trips - Canoe Taster Sessions - Canoe Display – Stalls - Canoe Polo – Music - Wee Boat Floatilla – Community Mural – Stalls - Face Painting – Canal Dipping - Treasure Hunt – Bouncy Castle – and lots more!

If you would like to:

• Enter a raft, contact James Davie by email
• Have a stall, contact Re-Union Canal Boats by email
• Get involved in the day, contact Pat on 0131 453 4617

Official Opening 12 noon, Raft Race finals 4.30pm approximately

For more details see the flier. Come along and enjoy the fun!

Multi-Cultural Family Base relaunches Art Cards

Multi-Cultural Family Base (MCFB) has relaunched their Art Card social enterprise to help support their Art Therapy service.

With exciting new images and much improved quality and finish they are a great buy for those wishing to stock up on cards for any occasion.

They have used some wonderful unique and colourful images donated by friends and supporters of MCFB. The cards are A6 size (14.8 x 10.5cms), printed on a high quality card, come with optic white envelopes and are fantastically good value at £1.50 per card or £5 for a pack of 4.

To place an order, please contact Becky Robertson on 0131 467 7052.

The Art Therapy offered at MCFB provides much needed support to some of the vulnerable children, young people and families that they work with, and remember, unlike most charity cards sold through retailers – all of the profits will go towards a good cause. Please support them by placing an order.

Social Networks Training still available

Rock Training, the training arm of the Rock Trust, still have places available on Social Networks training days in May and June.

Social Networks training will enable you to

• Understand how Resilience, Transitions and Social Networks impact on the individuals using your services
• Support service users to explore their social networks, improve social skills and develop positive relationships
• Consider how their services can embed social networks practice in order to improve outcomes for individuals

This full day course is aimed at professionals and volunteers who work with people who have limited social networks. The course is also suitable for professionals who have short contact periods with people, enabling a first level assessment of potential issues.

• Wednesday 25 May in Edinburgh
• Thursday 9 June in Glasgow

‘Enjoyed the day. Very interesting and thought provoking’ August 2008
‘Well delivered, interesting and informative’ January 2009
‘Very informative, trainer excellent’ September 2009
‘Really enjoyed the day - great and interesting subject & material’ March 2010

Interested? Contact Rock Training on 0131557 4059 for information on how to book a place.

Ideas Academy – now live!

The CLD Standards Council for Scotland is pleased to announce that the new Ideas Academy section of their website is now live - but what is the Ideas Academy?

• Developing dialogue, debate and conversation that encourages us to lead, think and act beyond boundaries.
• Creative, provocative, inspiring and motivating.
• Ideas that aspire to this.

Contributions will be considered in terms of the validity of the argument, rather than assessing them according to the power positions of those who promote them.

City’s Top Volunteers Honoured

Edinburgh’s ‘Inspiring volunteer of the Year, 2011’ has been announced.

Working with young people from deprived backgrounds, befriending the socially isolated, developing databases and training hundreds in their use, helping thousands of pupils over the years to play football for their schools, or helping and facilitating youngsters to make positive choices in life; these are only some of the outstanding initiatives behind Edinburgh’s ‘Inspiring Volunteer’ Awards, 2011.

The award ceremony will take place in Edinburgh City Chambers on Tuesday 24 May, when the city’s Lord Provost, Councillor George Grubb, will present 50 inspiring volunteers with certificates in recognition of their achievements.

The awards recognise and celebrate the accomplishments of volunteers and the major economic and social benefits they provide to Edinburgh as a result of their activities.

This year, Michele Lindsay, a Classroom Assistant at Access to Industry who, among other activities, works with its ‘Passport Project’, will be named ‘Inspiring Volunteer of the Year 2011’. Anthea Coleman-Chan, Passport Caseworker/Tutor explained that ‘Passport’ is a one-to-one employability and education programme for people moving out of care, prison, substance misuse, homelessness or street sex work. Michelle initially volunteered for one day a week, but increased this to three when her skills and dedication became apparent. She also volunteers on the organisation’s ‘Brighter Futures’ project, engaging students from local SEBD (Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties) schools where her warmth, compassion and commitment have made demonstrable differences to those she helps.

Harriet Eadie, Director of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh , said: “Volunteers play crucial roles in many, many areas of our community. Without them, Edinburgh would be a much poorer place and I sincerely congratulate all those attending this ceremony as well as thanking them and the thousands of other volunteers who commit their time and energies for their great efforts. People volunteer for many reasons but, primarily, for altruistic ones underlined perhaps, by their passion for a particular cause. And there are many, many causes. But, in these difficult times when funding cuts are adding to the pressures on our community and there have been ill-considered calls for volunteers to fill the gaps created by job losses within the public sector as a result of those cuts, it is perhaps worth remembering that volunteers’ passions do not tend to include that of helping drive down the fiscal deficit.”

Lord Provost Grubb, said: “Michelle certainly is an ‘Inspiring Volunteer’ and worthy of the 2011 Award, on its own her contribution and commitment to the lives of disadvantaged young people in Edinburgh with the Access to Industry Passport project is very commendable, but considering she’s balancing family commitments and studying for a degree at the same time makes it all the more impressive. Volunteers like Michelle really make a difference in young peoples’ lives and are an inspiration to us all."

Online Ambition

Online Ambition is a free event bringing together people and advisers for an hour or so to look at

* digital cvs
* public profiles for jobs searches and college applications
* using social media for job hunting

We’ll be offering tips on

* the effective use of social media
* online profiles
* avoiding the damage that comes with the “wrong” image!

It’s for people

* who use the Internet
* looking for a job or a new job or applying for college.
* with FaceBook pages, setting up LinkedIn pages, online cvs etc.
* who have questions or want tips about using the Internet to maximise their job search success
* young people
* parents
* anyone at all!

Wednesday 25 May from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at Oxgangs Library, 343 Oxgangs Road North, Edinburgh, EH13 9LY.

It's free - just turn up.

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Leith

£eith Decides

On 3 May the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership Board made the decision to continue with a Participatory Budgeting approach to allocating part of the Community Grants Fund. This year's allocation is £44, 184. The decision will be made, on 14 June, how much of this years funding will be allocated through £eith decides and how much will be allocated through the year.

In the meantime, applications for up to £3,000 are invited to be submitted no later than 31 May  for decision mid-June. As timescales are very tight, please ensure that the application form is fully completed and signed with all supporting documents included. 

For reference please see the fund guidance and the grant conditions.

For more details, please contact Loraine Duckworth on 0131 529 6194.

What’s it Like to be Young in Leith?

Throughout North Edinburgh and Leith, community groups and youth centres are making heroic and inspiring efforts to overcome obstacles. On low (or even no) budgets and often beneath the radar of publicity there are terrific achievements in music, art, drama, film and discussion groups.

There will be an Open Space event on Friday 20 May from 1pm to 4.30pm at The Citadel Youth Centre to explore the questions, opportunities and challenges facing young.

In Open Space there are no key speakers and the agenda won’t be set until you turn up. The event will be facilitated with Maggie Havergal of Open Futures but what gets talked about is decided by the people in the opening circle.

At the end of the day, participants will produce a list of action points. The outcome will be shared with Leith Neighbourhood Partnership, our MP, MSPs and local councillors, and other relevant groups and organisations.
The event is free and open to people of all ages. But please book first, so the organisers know how many to cater for (Willy Barr of the Citadel is kindly organising a free buffet lunch.)

To book a free place or for further information, contact George Lamb on 0131 555 9329.

New projects from Citadel Arts Group

Citadel Arts Group has two new Leith-based projects.

Leith Plays - they are doing a show in Leith Festival and are looking for local people to get involved. For more information and details on how to get involved, see this poster.

Leith Hospital - they are collecting memories of Leith Hospital to make a book of memories.  This flier provides more information.

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Liberton and Gilmerton

Watercolour classes

Please join us for watercolour classes at Valley Park Community Centre, 37 Southhouse Road, Edinburgh, EH17 8 EU.

The classes take place on Tuesdays from 1pm to 3pm.

For more information see this flier or phone 0131 664 2210.

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South West

Altogether in the Park: free community celebration day in Sighthill Park

Altogether in the Park will be a fun community day for local families, especially those in Broomhouse, Sighthill and Wester Hailes. Featuring a Green Zone, a Fit & Healthy Zone and a Creative Zone, as well as a stage showcasing local talent, community stalls, free family entertainment and a funfair.

Saturday 4 June from 11am to 4pm. Free.

For more information see the Facebook page or get in touch by email.

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Send us your news

Do you have any news to be circulated among the Voluntary Sector Forums? For inclusion in the next issue, please send your announcements and events dates to Julia.

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