Community Choices Fund success for local Community Council

The Scottish Government has announced the successful applicants for the latest Community Choices Fund. Sixteen community organisations and 17 local councils will share the £1.5 million fund, with more than 90 applications submitted for 2017/18. Among the successful applicants are Leith Links Community Council, who receive £82,800 for their Local Democracy at Work initiative, while the City of Edinburgh Council receives £44,000 to support it’s participatory budgeting programme.

The fund, now in its second year, will see more local participatory budgeting events and decision making happening across the country, along with support for the successful community groups and councils.

The list of successful applicants is available here, and includes:

• The Cranhill Development Trust in Glasgow will use £39,590 to work with One Parent Families Scotland in Riddrie and Cranhill to help reduce the impact of school holidays on family poverty and food insecurity
• Midlothian Council will also work with schools and parents to tackle poverty, using its award of £30,000 to support families in Mayfield, Woodburn and Gorebridge cover the costs of the school day
• The joint community councils of Moray will work with people of all ages to improve general health and wellbeing in the area using £66,500
• Dundee City Council has secured £80,000 to involve communities from across the city in infrastructure projects

This £2 million Community Choices Fund 2017/18 builds on the Scottish Government investment in participatory budgeting over the last three years. £1.5 million was available for applications and £500,000 is for a national support programme.

Local Government and Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “What is so important about the Community Choices Fund is that it puts decisions about how we invest in communities into the hands of the people who live and work in them. Each of these projects is about making people more equal and improving their lives, for the communities themselves to lay out exactly how that should be done.

“Since 2014, £4.7 million has been invested through the Community Choices Fund.  Last year it helped support more than 1,300 local projects selected through a vote by members of the local community.  This further £1.5 million will now pave the way for even more people to get involved and make a real difference in their family, friends and neighbour’s lives.”