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November 2021
Hi
Following facilitated SEN sessions, earlier this month SENScot submitted this Response to the National Care Service Consultation. Some of the key points addressed are that proper recognition be given to the valuable support and services provided by social enterprises and the wider third sector and that it is crucially important to explore and embrace a community-led approach.
This month we are also delighted to share the Summary Report on the Collaborating in Communities to Improve Mental Health (Pockets & Prospects Project). We are delighted to have worked with CHEX and Scottish Communities for Health & Wellbeing to demonstrate how small amounts of funding, when well-managed, can have a disproportionate positive impact on communities. We look forward to progressing this, with further support from Scottish Community Alliance.
If you didn’t manage along to one of the info sessions on the Co-Shadowing Project we’re developing with Outside the Box, there’s still time to get involved. Please get in touch if you’re interested.
All the best,
Mary
Development Manager
Social Enterprise Network Scotland
Learning & Knowledge Exchange Opportunities
Let’s Get Sporty Community Learning Exchange (Wednesday 8th December)
Let’s Get Sporty in Dumfries provides young people with training, mentoring and employment opportunities through the delivery of sport & physical activity, priding themselves on supporting young people to develop in a professional, inspiring environment delivering quality services in their local community. Email Jayne for more info.
The Larder Community Learning Exchange (Monday 13th December)
The Larder in Livingston uses food as a catalyst for change. It provides real solutions to poverty through needs-led transformational learning opportunities for young people with multiple and complex barriers and access to high quality affordable food. Email Jayne for more info.
Leadership & Wellbeing Within My Community (December 21 to March 22)
Social Enterprise Academy are facilitating this series of six live FREE sessions. These are aimed at people who want to think about solutions for health and wellbeing questions and how these might be implemented within their community. The sessions will be an interactive, peer-led learning experience that makes our programmes transformational. More info.
RenSEN on Social Enterprise Week
Supported by the local TSI, Engage Renfrewshire, RenSEN held a series of sessions during Social Enterprise Week. Their blog includes RenSEN members (many of whom operate around wellbeing) telling their own inspiring stories. Read blog.
Cross Party Group on Health Inequalities (Monday 6th December, 6-7.15pm via Zoom)
This session will be chaired by co-convenor Paul O’Kane MSP and the topic will be ‘Responses to the inverse care law in Scotland over the last 20 years’. More info.
Social enterprise and the climate emergency – Social Enterprise Cross Party Group (Tuesday 14th December)
This event will be focusing on the role of social enterprise in tackling the climate emergency post-COP26. Agenda and speakers will be published soon. Book here.
Social Enterprise in Scotland Census 2021 is now underway
This is the fourth official study by the Scottish Government into enterprising charities and social enterprises across the country. Every two years it combines publicly available information from regulators with survey and financial data, to help understand the characteristics and needs of the sector and inform future support. More info.
SEN Member News
Families in Trauma have lots of news this month, along with their beautiful new logo that more accurately describes the journey that many families find themselves on, they have also developed a delivered a ‘co-produced’ peer support course for online participants and are now officially delivering ‘emotional CPR’ (eCPR) through Scotland. Read more.
You Can Cook has a fantastic new YouTube channel, where they will be uploading one recipe every Friday for the next six months focusing on food from around the world. The team have been working hard behind the scenes since the Covid-19 Lockdown to bring people a huge variety of mouth-watering, easy and simple recipes to make in the comfort of their own home.
Thriving Survivors are running a Christmas Wellbeing Hamper Appeal for the survivors they are working with and are currently looking for donations. Find out what they are looking for and how you can get involved here.
Shaper/Caper have a fantastic couple of opportunities available at the moment including RESPIRE offering unpaid carers a creative break and Dance for Parkinsons. More info about Shaper/Caper.
The Advisory Group (TAG) have shared their most recent inspiring videos from their Game Changers project, including Dance Story (The journey of dancing in Glasgow for people with disabilities during Covid) and Amy’s Story with Dance4all, partners in the Game Changers initiative.
Projekt 42’s yoga and wellness team want to help you build self-care into your daily routine. To help you get started, they are running 4 weeks of free yoga. Yoga can improve your mind and body, adding purpose and community to your day. Visiting a yoga class won’t just help you get fit and flexible, you can also expect to reduce stress, increase concentration and improve your posture. For 4 weeks they are offering an hour of free yoga per day, aimed at bringing the community together and creating a space where everyone can move and grow together. Classes are delivered from their Mental Health Hub at Ocean Terminal and are suitable for beginners. More info.
All Strong Scotland CIC have lots of new developments including programmes and gym memberships for young unpaid carers. Find out more and check out their Wellbeing Bundle here.
Kaleidoscope Counselling are celebrating their first birthday and due to being met with such high demand for their services over the past year, they are planning a move to new premises. They hope their new space in Glasgow's east end will allow them to see more service users and expand their capacity. More info.
Scottish Recovery Network has produced this short animation exploring what Peer2Peer is and how to get involved. This is ideal if you’re looking for help and resources to develop peer roles and approaches. They also just had this blog published in TFN for Co-production Week Scotland 2021.
The Wee Retreat CIC are launching a new support service for wellbeing practitioners. By creating a safe space for all wellbeing practitioners, Nurture & Grow aims to do what it says on the tin- nurturing the wellbeing, passion and skills of practitioners and helping them to grow their businesses. Read more.
Talking Mats won the National Health & Social Care Award at the Scottish Social Enterprise Awards, with the award recognising their excellent vision, clear strategic direction and strong evidence of social and wellbeing impact. They are also now in the finals for the UK Health Social Care awards on 8th Dec. Congratulations to the whole team and wishing them success for the UK awards next month. Read more.
Healthy n Happy were busy hosting visits during Cop26 from DTAS and the Zero Carbon Tour elective bus, sharing information on the great work the Greening Camglen Partnership has been doing locally to tackle climate change. Read more.
Health News
Nature Based Health Activities Research
the ALLIANCE is currently conducting research exploring how people, communities and organisations in Scotland are using nature to improve mental and physical health. The research covers the work that is happening, the impact it has, the extent to which more is needed, the barriers to maximising its impact, and how those barriers might be overcome. There are a couple of days left to contribute to this research via the following surveys (open until 26th November):
Rural Lives: understanding financial vulnerability and wellbeing (Thursday 2nd December, 1pm)
IRISS are hosting this webinar for people to hear findings from the Rural Lives Report (March 21). This investigates why and how people in rural areas experience (and negotiate) poverty and social exclusion, with a focus on financial hardship and vulnerability. Register here.
The Community Benefits Gateway
This new online portal connecting NHS Scotland suppliers with communities in Scotland aims to improve lives and support healthier communities. It works with willing NHS Scotland suppliers to match with Scottish third sector organisations who are looking for assistance and support. More info.
Communities played a crucial role in the response to Covid-19
A joint update from the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General for Scotland outlines how Scotland’s public bodies worked with and empowered communities in the response to the pandemic, creating new ways of delivering support. The speed at which some communities were both enabled and empowered to work with councils, partners and charities showed how bureaucratic barriers can be quickly removed. Read more.
Coming out of Covid-19: reimagining Scotland
The Post-Covid-19 Futures Commission was established to support Scotland in emerging as positively as it can from the Covid-19 pandemic. Its aim was to support a better future for Scotland and to build a fairer and more resilient society, through addressing immediate challenges and longer-term policy and practice questions. Through taking advice and listening to RSE Fellows and others, including those with loved experience over the past 18months, the RSE has announced its findings and the recent event is available to watch here.
Community Food News
Ending the Need for Food Banks Consultation – open until 25th January 2022. The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on a new national plan for ending the need for food banks. This plan sets out the vision and approach that the SG is taking to prevent and respond to food insecurity, as well as the current activities and plans for next steps. This provides an opportunity for people to scare their view on these plans and to offer suggestions about what else will be needed to ensure that everyone can afford the food that they need. You can respond here. Its worthwhile checking out the Dignity in Practice Project for resources that could help hosting conversations about this if you are considering responding.
Local Food Strategy Consultation – deadline extension.
The deadline for responding to the local food strategy consultation has been extended to 2nd December. Nourish Scotland have supported a number of areas across Scotland develop their submissions and their own submission can be viewed here. You can submit your own response on the SG website.
Plunkett Foundation Training Event: Natasha's Law - Allergens and Labelling (Friday 3rd December)
This training event is suitable for community businesses who are trading. We will run through the main questions you may have regarding selling and serving food in your shop and cafes, takeaway and eat in. The session will take the format of a 45min presentation followed by a Q&A/discussion. Book here.
FareShare Community Volunteering Hub
FareShare have partnered with Do IT (the UK’s largest volunteering brokerage platform) to help easily to help easily connect with volunteers. Join the platform for free and create volunteer opportunities to get help with you FareShare food collections or any other roles within your organisation. Your volunteer roles will be promoted to both FareShare volunteers and Do IT site users (currently receiving over 200k monthly visitors). More info.
Tenders & Funding Opportunities
Go to Partnership for Procurement (P4P) and Public Contract Scotland to check current and forthcoming tender opportunities. Some relevant examples below:
Prior Information Notice: Inverclyde Council – Provision of Daycare and Outreach Services (Publication date 5.11.21)
Prior Information Notice: Aberdeen City Council – Provision of Counselling in Schools (Publication date 11.11.21)
Some current relevant funding opportunities are listed below, but for fuller listing go to SCVO-funding.
Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund
We informed members earlier this month about the new £15m Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund established to support mental health and well-being in communities across Scotland. The fund is being managed by Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) at a local level and aims to support adult community-based initiatives to help address the impact of distress and mental ill health caused by social isolation and loneliness, as well as addressing the mental health inequalities exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of these local funds are now open, so check with your local TSI for more information.
Radical Care | Creative Scotland
Radical Care is an action research project for organisations in these industries who want to try out new approaches to support those with caring responsibilities. They are looking to help offset the risk of initial investment in your project, to encourage you to test theoretical ideas, share best practice, as well as any common pitfalls to help others avoid similar challenges in the future. They want to learn from actual impacts and actual challenges of practical solutions. More info. (Deadline 12noon, Friday 26th November)
Empowering Communities Programme
Ahead of the anticipated reopening in Spring 2022, The Scottish Government are running two information sessions about The Investing in Communities Fund. The Fund aims to support community anchor organisations based in the places they serve by delivering activity in our most disadvantaged and fragile communities across Scotland (4 areas of focus - tackling poverty and inequality; sustaining place-based approaches; community-led regeneration; and ensuring a just transition to net zero. The webinars are planned for 1030-1130 on Tuesday 30 November 2021, and 1400-1500 on Wednesday 8 December 2021. More info.
The Promise Partnership
A Good Childhood is an investment of circa £3.25m from the Scottish Government. It is intended to deliver change in-line with Scotland’s commitment to #KeepThePromise and ensure children and young people grow up loved, safe and respected. The investment aims to build upon or put structures in place that will create the space to think, plan and co-design changes that ensure a Good Childhood. The priority area of A Good Childhood covers eight actions across interconnected areas of work. More info. (Next deadline is 3rd December 2021)