Category Archives: PB

Gallery of exciting projects coming soon!

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Applications to £eith Chooses 2020/21 are now closed – thank you to all who submitted. We are currently validating the applications. Once this process is complete, soon after Christmas, you will be able to see a ‘gallery’ on this website of all the projects that are seeking funding, and you can start thinking about who you want to vote for (you can only vote once, but you get 4 votes).

If you are an applicant, it is your job to alert all your members and followers to your application, and make sure they know how, and when, to vote for your project.

Voting week will open on 25th January 2021 – we will give you plenty of reminders and information about how to vote.

 

Apply now – £eith Chooses 2021 is happening!

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We are hurtling towards the closing date for applications which is the 11 December. We will be delighted to receive an application from Leith community projects in line with these themes:

In these Covid times, we are:

  • Challenging food poverty in Leith
    and/or
  • Reducing isolation / ensuring connectedness

Download an Application Form here.

The £eith Chooses team will offer support to applicants online or by phone, please get in touch if required caroline.lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

 

 

£eith Chooses – the timeline

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Your community project might be able to ‘win’ a grant of up to £5,000  from £eith Chooses 2021. Go for it! Apply now! Pass the word around!

Apply – as soon as possible! Download an Application Form now.

Help – To discuss your application and get advice and support, email caroline.lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Applications close – 11th December 2020.

Projects showcased online – December 2020- January 2021.

Voting (online only)  – between 25th and 31 January 2021.

Awards – announced early February 2021, and money into your bank account after that, as soon as the paperwork is through.

If you need further information / advice, email caroline.lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

 

£eith Chooses is LIVE!

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There is £46,102 available for community projects in Leith, to be allocated in January / February 2021 by democratic vote – the local community will vote online for the projects they would like to see funded.

Apply now if you are a constituted group with a bank account and a good idea for a 6 month community project (up to £5,000) that matches the following theme(s), download a form here.

Theme

In these Covid times- 

  • Challenging food poverty in Leith
    and/or
  • Reducing isolation / ensuring connectedness

£eith Chooses Community Discussion Meeting!

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All members of the Leith community, or with an interest in participatory budgeting, are invited to an online community meeting on Tuesday 10th November at 18:30 – 20:00 (max). Get the link from Eventbrite.

Because £eith Chooses 2020/2021 will be a bit different from previous years, we’d like to catch everybody up with the news of how it will run. We want to be as transparent as possible and to give everybody the chance to ask questions and chat about things.

We’d also like to report back the results of the recent £eith Chooses survey. It was fantastic that so many people took the trouble to respond, we really appreciate it. Not all of the suggestions can be implemented, this time round anyway, but it would be good to air and discuss the ideas.

To get the link, and attend, please register with Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eith-chooses-online-community-discussion-meeting-tickets-127231216995

The meeting will be via the (free) Microsoft Teams platform

See you online!

£eith Chooses 2021 – it’s happening!

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Many thanks to all who responded to our recent survey. What a rich and heart-warming show of care, commitment, and bright ideas!

The overwhelming consensus was that £eith Chooses 2021 should go ahead, even in the current challenging and less than ideal circumstances. And it’s happening!

The good news is that, with a little help from the Council, we have found a way to arrange online voting for £eith Chooses 2021, so we won’t need to have a ‘Panel’ to allocate funding after all. We will still hold at least one public meeting online, to support participation, bring everyone up to speed, and to discuss a number of the points brought up in the survey. More news on that soon!

But because time is now short (how did that happen?), we need to push on with the project meanwhile. The Themes used previously received a majority approval rating in the survey results, so we’re sticking broadly with those same topic areas.The 2021 theme is:

In these Covid times- 

  • Challenging food poverty in Leith
    and/or
  • Reducing isolation / ensuring connectedness

There is £46,102 available for projects (max. £5,000 per project)

Application Forms are now available here, and groups will have until 11 December 2020 to fill them in and return them.
The £eith Chooses team will offer support to applicants on demand, but that will be online or by phone, rather than in person. Watch our website for details.

Voting will take place online in January 2021. We will do what we can to help people who cannot easily get online, to vote.

Please get in touch with any questions, or to request an application form. Caroline.Lamond@edinburgh.gov.uk

Helping to bridge the digital divide

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In these extraordinary times, the £eithChooses Steering Group has been thinking about the ‘digital divide’ that separates those who can from those who can’t benefit from modern technology. We have put together a short paper – £eithChooses Tech Guide– which provides some basic guidelines to help charities and community groups to avoid wasting valuable resources and to deliver the most useful support to their service users.

Many people in Leith are unable to access the internet and so cannot benefit from online resources due to a lack of money to buy their own computer/laptop/tablet/smartphone, or pay for internet connections. Or they are cut off by a lack of knowledge and skills, or a lack of training and support. With the schools, libraries and other public resources closed, currently, and no staff to assist, they are doubly excluded. Being on the wrong side of the ‘digital divide’ is both a result of inequality and a cause of additional inequality.

Children in this situation lose out educationally at the best of times, and especially currently while the schools are closed, with teaching and learning moving online. Even when the schools reopen in August, it is likely that a proportion of education will continue online.

Many charities and community groups in Leith are very aware of this area of need and are trying to help, in various ways.

But before buying technology for someone, it’s important to check (1) whether they could benefit from funding through one of the government or local authority schemes, and (2) that the right technology is being bought. Nobody wants to waste money or effort getting the wrong thing, or something that won’t do the job it is needed for.

If you feel it could be useful, please download and pass the paper on to any of your colleagues, staff and service users, as you feel appropriate. The paper includes easy to read information on:

  • Help with funding & Funding for education
  • What technology to get?
  • Access to the internet
  • Tablets – iPads – Cheap tablets
  • Laptops
  • Smartphones

Download here:

£eith Chooses Tech Guide V1

£eithChooses Introduction page for charities and community groups 

Please note that the information and advice contained in the paper is offered in good faith, but may not be appropriate in all circumstances. It is obviously wise to also ask for advice from others who may be familiar with the buyer/user’s needs, and to ask the supplier to confirm that the item is suitable for the particular circumstances of the purchaser. It is also wise to get a receipt from the supplier, and ideally a warranty for the equipment. £eithChooses cannot be held liable for any consequences of equipment purchase.