Day: November 12, 2013

In the bleak midwinter: meeting called to co-ordinate community-centred response to poverty challenge

The impact of the Bedroom Tax, general poverty and the rise of Food Banks in the area is a clear indication that many in our community will be facing a bleak and possibly health destroying time. 

The comments made by the Trussell Trust, who organise the Food Banks, that they are limited to crisis response – ie 3 or 4 food packs per year per family – shows that we require a much bigger response. Community Centres in every area should be at the heart of the response. The question is how do we do this?

We wish to join together with all Community Centres, the City of Edinburgh Council and organisations like the Red Cross and similar bodies to work out a common strategy of how we as Community Centres could find ways of providing assistance to this section of our community.

We would like to invite all Management Committees of Community Centres and other interested bodies to a meeting to discuss this at:

West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre on Thursday 14 November 

from 12.30 –3pm

RSVP to:

Gwen Campbell

Pilton Central Association, West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre

Telephone 0131 551 3194

WPNC

Post PEP nomination papers pronto!

PEP AGM papers-1

Pilton Equalities Project’s (PEP’s) annual general meeting takes place on Thursday 21 November at 11am, but if you’d like to become a board member you must submit your nomination papers by this Friday (15 November).

All of the information you need can be found on the attached papers (above) – or you can email pepequalities@btconnect.com

Go on, support a local community project!

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Celebrate the history of Circle

Best wishes to all at Circle Scotland, the national children and families charity based in West Pilton Park, who are holding their annual lecture tonight in the Botanic Gardens Lecture Theatre.

Tonight’s speaker is Dr Mark Smith, Head of Social Work at the University of Edinburgh, and the theme of the lecture is ‘Celebrating the history of Circle’.

Circle was born as an independent charity in 2006, but the organisation has a long and illustrious history – Circle was created from Family Service Units, which were established in areas of deprivation just after World War Two.

Circle’s is a story worth telling and tonight’s event promises to be fascinating. Hope it goes well.CIRCLE

Edindex is ten years old

EdIndex, Scotland’s largest choice based letting system for social housing celebrated its tenth anniversary yesterday (Monday 11 November).

The system was introduced in 2003 by the City of Edinburgh Council to allow people the chance to bid for social housing, while providing greater choice when applying for homes. EdIndex was used to replace a complex system that involved numerous applications to individual landlords, by providing access to 23 housing associations and co-operatives throughout the city, through one single application.

Since it’s creation, more than 32,000 people have been housed in Edinburgh through EdIndex. Over 3.6 million bids have been received over the last ten years, including people going into social housing for the first time and existing tenants looking to move home.

The system is designed to be as accessible and flexible as possible and bids can be made online, in person, by email, letter or telephone. When homes become available they are advertised online and in the weekly publication ‘EH – Your Key to Choice’, to help applicants choose the most suitable property for them.

Housing Leader Councillor Cammy Day, said: “This marks an important milestone for EdIndex, which represents a modern, user-friendly system that puts choice at the heart of bidding for social housing. As the number of applications continues to increase, it is more important than ever that we have an easy to use process that is fair for all applicants. Over the years, EdIndex has gone from strength to strength and has been adopted by a number of other organisations across Scotland, demonstrating its value and success.”

Demand for social and affordable housing in the capital continues to increase and an average of 946 people are registered on EdIndex every month. Applicants are prioritised depending on their housing need. Applicants’ points increase the longer they are registered on the system.

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