These UK Shared Prosperity Fund projects sit under the Communities and Place theme. It enables places to invest in restoring their community spaces and relationships and create the foundations for economic development at the neighbourhood level.
This strengthens the social fabric of communities, supporting building pride in place. The communities and place theme covers a wide range of local interventions, including:
CHAI is delivering four discrete projects, each designed to increase current welfare rights and debt advice services across Edinburgh.
Through the funding, CHAI offers welfare advice within local community mental health hubs and locality recovery hubs. They also offer welfare advice provisions established in local schools.
In addition, the Growing Families pilot has been expanded. This supports health visitors to ask families if they need money advice.
The project provides support, development and access to resources to Community Centre Management Committees across the city to enable them to develop sustainable plans for the future and strengthen their capacity to deliver services in their local communities. Designated officers are responsible for supporting committees by raising awareness of the funding streams which are available for wider support and by providing opportunities. Support, training and resources will be provided or signposted towards. The overall aim is to strengthen governance, skills and knowledge of Management Committees to ensure the long-term sustainability of their Centres so they can meet the needs of their local communities and provide opportunities for new and creative ideas to develop in them.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund funding supports three initiatives under the Good Food Programme.
Fareshare is a food redistribution project providing surplus food from the food industry to around 20,000 individuals and families a week.
The Cook School provides support for people on low incomes to budget, plan and cook low-cost nutritious meals.
Additionally, community pantries offer a dignified alternative to food banks providing families with nutritious food at a minimal cost.
Edinburgh Growing Together supports community gardens in Edinburgh's council estates.
The work includes project management, development, and community engagement support alongside improvements to infrastructure. The improvements involve establishing new connections to the water mains, new tool storage units, renovation of paths, and building and maintaining growing beds.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund funding supports four new community gardens, as well as providing ongoing support for established gardens.
Empty Kitchens Full Hearts has an existing core service delivery of turning surplus food into meals that are delivered to those in need across Edinburgh. UKSPF funding supports a volunteer co-ordinator who has overarching responsibility for the recruitment and coordination of volunteers across all areas of the organisation. In addition, the funding allocated for 2025 – 2026 is enabling the installation of new flooring for the packing floor of the warehouse.
The Thriving Futures Fund is an innovative grant-making programme from Turn2us Edinburgh Trust, delivered in partnership with five organisations across Edinburgh and supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Born from an ambition to support people in Edinburgh not only to survive but to thrive, the vision is for everyone in Edinburgh to have enough money to live well now and the resources - as individuals and collectively - to build confidence in the future.
The Stay Different campaign uses visuals, videos, and written content to encourage visitors to stay longer in the city and surrounding areas. It is designed to encourage visitors to discover the wealth of attractions available at different times of year, and to showcase the opportunities that appeal to a huge range of different personalities and interests. The grant also supports the development of material to increase the inclusivity of Forever Edinburgh's outreach.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund supports several areas of Fresh Start's work including growing spaces, cookery initiatives, advice and support, and community engagement. The funding enables a range of volunteering roles as well as supporting the organisation to facilitate focus groups and community research projects ensuring that the service continues to meet local community needs.
End Poverty Edinburgh (EPE) is an important part of Edinburgh’s infrastructure in meeting the goal to end poverty by 2030. EPE is a key partner in policy and political decision-making groups in Edinburgh, working with elected members and the Edinburgh Partnership to influence change through the End Poverty in Edinburgh Delivery Plan 2020 – 2030.
This funding will allow the Poverty Alliance to continue to host EPE and support them to achieve their objectives, which support ambitions in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the UK, to end poverty. End Poverty Edinburgh is a live and ongoing example of how citizens experiencing poverty can participate in improving and changing public services, strengthen a sense of community, and empower people within our communities furthest from power.
Vintage Vibes is funded through UKSPF to support isolated older people across Edinburgh, pairing them with volunteer befrienders and running engaging activities and events.
The grant supports volunteer coordinators to manage and recruit volunteers, ensuring that the wide range of benefits available to volunteers and older people are being experienced and enjoyed. The service aims to increase the capacity of volunteers supporting older people.
The Volunteer Centre is working with local partners in each of the four localities of Edinburgh to develop a holistic programme of gateway opportunities, formal volunteer opportunity development and capacity building for volunteer-involving organisations to directly tackle exclusion and inequality of opportunity in communities.
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