Today is the International Day of Charity, and to mark the occasion Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) staff, along with an elderly black Labrador called Sally, are to deliver ‘thank you cards’ to voluntary organisations across the city Continue reading EVOC says thanks to Edinburgh’s voluntary organisations
Tag: EVOC
Resilience screening: 11th September
Edinburgh Compact and Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC) are pleased to invite you to save the date for a screening of ‘RESILIENCE: The Biology of Stress and The Science of Hope’.
Continue reading Resilience screening: 11th September
Improving services? Have your say on Community Planning
“Community planning is all about how public bodies work both together and with local communities to design and deliver better services that can make a real difference to local people’s lives” – Council leader Cllr Adam McVey
The views of capital residents and partners are being sought as part of a drive by the Edinburgh Partnership to plan and deliver better services for the community.
Continue reading Improving services? Have your say on Community Planning
EVOC thinkSpace events
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EVOC celebrates 150 years
Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council (EVOC) celebrated it’s 150th anniversary with a reception at the Scottish Parliament last week. Continue reading EVOC celebrates 150 years
North West Locality: all will become clear!
A little piece of civic history was made last week when the first ever meeting of North West Localities Committee was held in the City Chambers on 9 February. It was at times a complex and complicated meeting but it’s set the council on a course of new ways of working with partners. Continue reading North West Locality: all will become clear!
Edinburgh’s economy: A tale of two cities
“The time has come to take a good look at why there are still people living in Edinburgh who are not sharing in this prosperity” – Councillor Gavin Barrie, Housing & Economy convener
An Economy Strategy to tackle inequality and poverty in the Capital has been published by the city council. The draft strategy which will be considered by councillors at the Housing and Economy Committee on Thursday, recognises that although Edinburgh remains the second most prosperous UK city outside London, jobs growth alone has not been sufficient to tackle poverty and deliver sustained improvements in living standards for everyone.
Consultation carried out with all political parties and businesses, as well as local communities and the third sector, revealed a consensus of opinion that Edinburgh’s economy should aim to create jobs and inspire innovation but that it should also do much more to ensure that the benefits of that prosperity are accessible to all residents across the city.
It has been created around three themes – innovation, inclusion and collaboration and includes ten steps to achieve this goal. The council alone cannot achieve this and needs ownership and leadership from other city partners such as the Edinburgh Partnership and Edinburgh Business Forum.
Cllr Gavin Barrie, Housing and Economy Convener, said: “Our Economy Strategy sees an important shift in the focus of our work to help Edinburgh’s economy to grow. It is going from strength to strength and has shown great resilience during tough economic times. The time has come, however, to take a good look at why there are still people living in Edinburgh who are not sharing in this prosperity.
“We need to grow our economy so that it is fair in terms of wages, opportunity, access to housing, education and good careers. Much of that work has already started through our commitment to build 20,000 new affordable homes in the city and the £1.1b Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region deal, which will provide £300m for world leading data innovation centres, £25m for regional skills programme to support improved career opportunities for disadvantaged groups and £65m of new funding for housing to unlock strategic development sites.
“The strategy also fits in well with the most recent Scottish Government Economic Strategy and UK Industrial Strategy, both of which have placed increasing emphasis on the need for inclusive growth for our economy.
“Locally, the strategy also represents one of the first major practical steps towards achieving the City Vision for 2050 that we have been developing with contributions from people across the city since September 2016.”
Hugh Rutherford, Chair of the Edinburgh Business Forum, said: “To stay ahead of our global competitors, Edinburgh needs a laser focus on our world leading sectors – financial services, tech, life sciences, creative industries and tourism.
“But we need more than sectoral growth – we need responsible and sustainable ‘good growth’, making sure everyone benefits in a way that’s not happened before. Crucial to the success of this will be the private sector, all levels of education, and the third and public sectors working together to achieve this common goal.”
Ella Simpson, Chief Executive, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council, said: “I am pleased the Strategy explicitly acknowledges poverty and inequality in the City and highlights actions which aim to reduce the impact on people’s lives. The strategy needs to recognise the existing communities and people as the bedrock for fair growth in the city and it is important that we provide support to business, from all sectors, to be the best employers they can be.”
The Strategy’s ten steps, which all have their own actions plans.
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Establish Edinburgh as the data capital of Europe.
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Develop Edinburgh as a city of resilient businesses with the space to grow.
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Create a step change in the growth of green and socially responsible business in Edinburgh.
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Deliver new approaches to tackling the barriers that reinforce worklessness, poverty and inequality.
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Reform Edinburgh’s education and skills landscape to meet the needs of our changing economy.
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Deepen our relationships with employers to unlock good career opportunities.
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Create a transformational city centre fit to power Scotland’s economy.
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Build a world class Waterfront, and deliver business and residential growth in West Edinburgh.
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Build affordable places for people to live and work.
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Deliver sustainable and inclusive growth in our world leading culture and tourism sectors.
Edinburgh Compact 2017 launched
EVOC AGM and conference to focus on place
Compact Voice, the latest guide to Edinburgh’s third sector and it’s work with public service partners, has been launched. The report is packed with facts and figures about the capital’s voluntary sector: how it is made up, how it organises itself, how it is funded and Compact Voice also covers current concerns and issues for the sector. Well worth a read.
A5 Compact Brochure 2017 [FINAL] 3A5 Compact Brochure 2017
Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council’s (EVOC) annual general meeting and conference takes place on Tuesday 7 November from 9am – 2pm. There are still a handful of places available, so sign up for your free place now!
Book Your Free Place
Workshops on the day are:
- Partnership Working With School Communities
- Prevention Within the Context of Grants Review and Funding Cuts*
- Good Governance – Doing Things Right Means Doing the Right Things
- Participatory Budgeting an Effective Tool for Community Engagement?
- Social (in)security
*We have updated our workshop on setting up a Commission on Prevention to look specifically at prevention in the context of funding and grants, in light of the review of the Health and Social Care grants programme.
All workshops will be available to sign up to on the day, and you can find more information about the topics and speakers by visiting the website.
Pensions time bomb: ICAS calls on Scottish Government to rescue charities at risk
The Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland (ICAS) is urging the Scottish Government to act now to stop charities building up unaffordable pension liabilities in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). ICAS has set out recommendations in a new report to the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA). The report (below) has been welcomed by Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council. Continue reading Pensions time bomb: ICAS calls on Scottish Government to rescue charities at risk
Setting up your charity: free workshop
EVOC are running a free workshop learn about what is needed to set up a charity, who can help and what paperwork templates are available to make your journey towards charitable status a smooth one.
We will also look the relatively new legal form for charities, the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). Book your place here.