EVOC: Edinburgh Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is now open

EVOC is delighted to announce that this Fund is now open to expressions of interest. 

Expressions of Interest I Get Involved I Key Documents I Funding Overview

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We’ve had a busy November, discussing this funding with as many people as we can.

To try to make it more accessible, instead of long application forms we’re asking you to fill in a few key details setting out what you think your organisation or group can do to meet the needs of communities in Edinburgh. Please also tell us what support you might find helpful.

These expressions of interest will be publicly available for others to see on our website from mid-December, so do check back in a week or two. We hope this open process will stimulate partnerships and ideas.

Expressions of Interest
All expressions of interest need to be submitted using this online form, but we’ve also created a word version of the form to help you draft your application. 

The closing date for expressions of interest is Fri 14 Jan 2022.

For details of the process after this point please see the Partnership Plan.

Other Ways to Get Involved
If you don’t plan to apply to the fund, but would like to be involved in the process – e.g. as part of the decision-making collaborative – we would really welcome this and can discuss funding for your time where appropriate.

Please get in touch: funding@evoc.org.uk

Key Documents & Links

• Expression of interest online form.
• Word version of the expression of interest form to help you prepare for completing the online form. Please note we are only able to accept applications submitted using the online form above. 
• Fund Guidance – a two-page document summarising key points like who can apply, what can be funded.
• Partnership Plan (Tue 30 Nov) – this document has been updated to reflect partnership conversations and sets out Edinburgh’s approach to the funding in more detail and how the process will work.
• Summary of partnership discussions 
• Summary of collective advocacy discussions 
• Jamboard notes from discussion events 

Fund Overview

• £1.255 million has been allocated to Edinburgh to support Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing, for those aged 16 and above.
• The fund is to support mental health and wellbeing at a small scale, grassroots, community level. It can be used to increase capacity for existing groups and projects or for new initiatives.
• Groups do not have to have mental health and wellbeing as their main focus, but there needs to be a clear benefit to the mental wellbeing of people in their community.
• Initiatives with a focus on addressing mental health inequalities by supporting those who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic will be prioritised, particularly those supporting communities experiencing multiple forms of marginalisation.