Local agency secures £437,000 Big Lottery grant
People experiencing loneliness and isolation are amongst those benefitting from £2.5 million of National Lottery funding announced today – World Mental Health Day. It’s great news for North Edinburgh in particular, as respected local organisation North Edinburgh Drug & Alcohol Centre is to receive over £473,000 – the biggest grant of all.
The funding comes from Big Lottery Fund Scotland, which awards National Lottery funds to good causes across the country. (See full list of awards below)
The announcement is a timely one for NEDAC. The organisation has faced a very uncertain future since losing out in a competitive tendering process to Lifeline, a £60 million national charity, in March last year. NEDAC moved out of their offices in Muirhouse Shopping Centre but continued to provide a much-reduced, but much-needed, service to support long term clients and their families from a room in North Edinburgh Arts Centre.
Lifeline, meanwhile, collapsed in May this year, with the local service contract taken up by CGL from a base at the North Local Office in West Pilton Gardens.
The award of £437,208 will now allow North Edinburgh Drug and Alcohol Centre to provide addictions counselling and advocacy support to people with substance misuse issues, and help them rebuild relationships with family and friends.
Announcing the grants, Martin Cawley, Director, Big Lottery Fund Scotland, said: “Thanks to National Lottery funding, people and communities are coming together and building social connections, thereby reducing loneliness and isolation. This in turn is improving access to services for isolated people and communities, helping them to lead happier and healthier lives.”
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