Welcome to the February Sport Social Enterprise Newsletter! 

Hi 

The Community Wellbeing Exchange was launched this week. It’s great to have 6 sport SEN members in this round of funding with a good geographical spread and focus on different sports, offering different approaches, the participating organisations include: Eat Sleep Ride CIC, Projekt42, Outfit Moray, Kanzen Karate, Coach My Sport and Newmilns Snow & Sports Complex.  Participants will have access to an allocation of £1000 to spend on a wide range of activities and services that aim to address mental health & wellbeing.   

March is Scottish Tourism Month and, as part of this, SENScot is hosting a Community-led Tourism week (21st-25th March). The week will include a series of online conversations on community-led tourism and to connect with industry, communities and policy makers to talk about the opportunities and barriers facing community-led tourism in Scotland. Sport SEN member Adventure Centre for Education will be contributing to a session Chaired by Jude Reid, Scottish Sports Future sn the Outdoor Tourism Strategy. 

sportscotland wants to understand how COVID-19 has impacted clubs.  They also want to hear about areas of support and/or resources that will help clubs as sport returns.  Please take a few minutes to answer the questions or share with your network of clubs.  Results will help us plan support and resource through our partners and on our website.  The Club snapshot survey closes on Friday 25 March 2022. 

What are social enterprises up to? 

The team at the Actify Platform have been collating and growing the number of modules available using hashtags! Check out our most recent hashtags, ChangingLivesThroughSport and #MentalHealth on the platform home page.  In March they will be covering #Inclusion and there are lots of ways to get involved including uploading content to your own Actify Hub. If you’re not sure where to get started then get in touch or check out our “Get Involved” module on the Platform.  

Actify also have some training opportunities coming up which include – Digital Delivery Training which helps sport and physical activity organisations to integrate digital technology into their services; Thrive Learning Programme which helps practitioners understand more about how to use physical activity or sport to achieve a range of outcomes. More details on dates and how to sign up can be found here.  

Funding and Support 

National Lottery Communities Fund & Awards for All Scotland have provided a simple guide to their main funding programmes for Scotland. These are:  
National Lottery Awards for All Scotland (up to £10,000) for community or sports projects.  
· Young Start (up to £100,000) for projects with children and young people where they play an active role in development, design and delivery.  
·  Community Led (up to £150,000) for broad community wellbeing activities, in a local area, led by local people.  
·  Improving Lives (up to £200,000) to tackle specific needs, local or regional projects.  
·  Scottish Land Fund (up to £1 million) for community-led organisations that want to take ownership of land assets, land rights or buildings important to their local community.  

The Catalyst Fund - a new type of social investment offering loans through a flexible, revenue-based repayment model. The fund is open all year round for social enterprises looking for social investment of over £50,000 to help them start and grow their business.  There is a new schedule of information webinars organised for the coming months.  

Social Enterprise and Net Zero - designed to support social enterprises and the wider third sector to make the transition to carbon net zero.  Loans are available from £10,000. Organisations who have a particular circular economy focus or are proposing specific projects with a focus on re-use, repair and leasing/sharing models, may also be eligible for a small grant award.  

Firstport’s Boost It - helps social enterprises that have been trading for up to three years to strengthen their businesses so they can successfully sustain trading. It can also help social enterprises at the start-up stage if they need an injection of capital to be able to get their idea started. You can apply for any amount between £30-50K as a repayable grant.  

SEN Sessions and Community Learning Exchanges 
 

Virtual Community Learning Exchange with EnvironMentalHealth CIC (Wed 9th Mar, 1-4pm). This session with EnvironMentalHealth CIC will provide insight on how community focused Mental Health First Aid can support a collaborative approach to identifying and addressing mental health issues within their local community. With the Covid19 pandemic having a huge impact on the mental health and wellbeing of Scotland’s communities, this exchange offers an important resource for community based social enterprises to increase their collaborations and empower individuals to support one another in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.  Register here.   

SEN Session: Social Enterprise: Sustainably tackling poverty through employability (Wed 16th Mar, 10.30-noon). Poverty is a growing problem, with around 1 in 5 people in Scotland living in relative poverty. Although there is no single solution, fair employment is seen as one of the most effective ways of alleviating poverty - and this includes supporting the employability of people furthest from the labour market.  This session will hear from speakers from The Poverty Alliance who will outline the overall context and policy landscape of poverty in Scotland; Joseph Rowntree Foundation will examine research relating to poverty through an employability lens; and social enterprise, FARE Scotland, will demonstrate how they create pathways into employment, providing industry-led training and work experience for people who experience poverty.  With time for Q&A and discussion on the role of social enterprises in tackling poverty, with a specific focus on employment and employability. Register here.    

SEN Session for Social Enterprise Counselling Service Providers (Thu 31st Mar, 10.30- 12pm). With SEN members reporting a continuing increase in demand for counselling services, we are providing another opportunity for social enterprise active in this area to come together to share their thoughts on what opportunities and challenges this is currently posing and how they are responding to this. For more information email mary@senscot.net.  Register here.   

Health SEN Meeting (Thu 7th April, 2-3.30pm)  An informal session to connect with other social enterprises who have a health & wellbeing focus, discuss common issues, and relevant policy areas/developments and share your successes.  Register here.    

Partners and Stakeholders
 

This month’s #SportHour takes place on Monday 7th March on twitter. This is a chance to join and discuss the incredible sporting landscape in Scotland, including ways to get involved in sport, explore new opportunities and hear from the sporting community on a wide range of sporting topics. This month’s topic is inclusion with input from co-hosts Euan's Guide, Scottish Refugee Council, and Young People's Sport Panel member.  

Scottish Govt’s support for the development of a network of Community Climate Action Hubs across the country, got underway this week with the first in a series of regional meetings  – which will run over the next month. See link for meetings in your area. The Hubs are intended to bring a more strategic regional approach in offering effective support to communities in making the transition to low carbon and climate resilient living - and also, of course, to facilitate better networking: