Tag: Saheliya

£8 million National Lottery funding will help bring people and communities together this winter

The Festive season can be an especially lonely time for many thousands of Scots, but over £8 million National Lottery funding announced today (TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER\) means that charities and community groups across Scotland can continue to bring people together all year round.

The latest round of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund is shared amongst 246 community projects.  A full list of projects is attached.

An award of £121,192 means that Restalrig based charity, The Ripple can continue to deliver their ‘Older Person’s Service’ for over 65s which offers a range of activities, trips and support services helping people in the community come together, making them feel less isolated.

Rachel Green, Director of The Ripple, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded a grant by The National Lottery Community Fund. We have a thriving social club for over 65’s on a Friday but this funding means we can now extend our opportunities across the whole week.

“Older people bring so much to our community, and we are looking forward to working with them to plan activities and events that will help them stay physically well, connected to their community and keep them energised and active as life moves on.”

Branch Out Together also welcomes the award of £98,774, which will allow them to continue their ‘Basecamp’ youth club for autistic children. The programme offers children the opportunity to develop skills in social communication and interaction using games and arts and crafts projects.

Michael Penny, Chief Executive of Branch Out Together, said: “It’s great that The National Lottery Community Fund is supporting our Basecamp project which will allow us to help more children and their families.

“Children with autism will get the chance to make friends, have fun and grow confidence around others.”

There’s also Lottery joy for Wester Hailes-based With Kids, who will use their £150,000 grant to expand their child mental health support service across South West Edinburgh, and Niddrie’s Caring in Craigmillar receives over £59,000 to provide dementia-friendly activities. Euan’s Guide is also a big winner, picking up over £144,000 to provide opportunities for disabled people in Edinburgh to write reviews on accessibility.

Among the local organisations receiving small grants are Ama-zing Harmonies (£9900), Friends of Victoria Park (£2150) and Saheliya (£10,000), who will be using their award to deliver a series of talks, workshops and activities to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

Announcing the funding, Kate Still, Scotland Chair, The National Lottery Community Fund said: ““It’s fantastic to see this latest round of funding go to charity and community groups helping people in communities across Scotland come together.

“The connections we have to our family, friends and the wider community makes us feel we are not so alone and that we are part of something bigger.  The strength and comfort that we draw from this will be important for us all as we face some challenging times ahead.

“National Lottery players can be proud that they are supporting this vital work, not only during the Festive Season but all year round. “

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes funding on behalf of National Lottery players who raise more than £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. 

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk  

£15 million to help improve mental wellbeing in communities

A new fund has been established to help tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and the mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic. The £15 million Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund aims to support adult community-based initiatives across Scotland.

Grass roots community groups and organisations will be able to benefit from the funds to deliver activities and programmes to people to re-connect and revitalise communities building on examples of good practice which have emerged throughout the pandemic.

Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart launched the fund at Saheliya in Edinburgh, a specialist mental health and well-being support organisation for black and minority ethnic women and girls.

Mr Stewart said: “This funding reflects the importance we place on promoting good mental health and early intervention for those in distress and will help develop a culture of mental wellbeing and prevention within local communities.

“It is vital now, more than ever as we start to re-open society that we support the mental health and wellbeing of individuals. I am very keen that this benefits communities across all of Scotland.

“I was pleased to be able to visit Saheliya this morning and meet some of the people involved with running and the project, and some of the people they help.”

A range of charity-support bodies and social enterprises, known as third sector interfaces,  will manage the fund in partnership with local integrated health authorities and other partners including Community Planning Partnerships and local authority mental health leads.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is part of the wider £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February 2021 to ensure delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan in response to the mental health need arising from the pandemic.

£4 million Social Economy Growth funding for community projects

Projects around the country supporting local action to address poverty and social exclusion are to share £4 million of funding. Among them are North-Edinburgh based North Edinburgh Arts, Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG) and Leith’s Saheliya. Continue reading £4 million Social Economy Growth funding for community projects

Local projects share Big Lottery success

The New Year will bring more opportunities for Scots to learn and share new skills, thanks to £6,221,069 million of National Lottery good cause cash announced today. Among the big winners are Leith-based Saheliya, who receive over £700,000. Continue reading Local projects share Big Lottery success

Funding for Leith community group

Leith-based community project Saheliya has been awarded almost £43,000 after Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) secured funds from the Scottish Government’s Community Fund.

Saheliya will receive £42,482.00 over the next two years to provide learning activities to improve language and communications skills to over 90 ethnic minority women living in the North Edinburgh area. A number of PoLHA’s tenants use the service.

Mary Hastie Business Development Co-ordinator at Saheliya, said: “This funding is vitally important and allows us to reach out to women and young girls who are disengaged and feel disempowered and give them a voice. This money will allow us to provide vulnerable women with the confidence and skills needed to access additional services to support and encourage integration within the wider community.”

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive at PoLHA, said: “We are committed to supporting communities and creating a sense of purpose and belonging for our tenants. Saheliya is a fantastic initiative and I am delighted we have been able to support them through access to the Scottish Government’s Community Fund.”

PoLHA

SAHELIYA – a friend indeed

BME womens group Saheliya celebrate their twentieth birthday later this month. Saheliya is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘women friends’, and the project has been a true friend to many hundreds of women since it was established in July 1992. 

Manager Alison Davis explains that, although some issues being encountered are changing, the need for the support service remains as great as it ever did:

“Since 1992 Saheliya has been providing support to BME women in Edinburgh who have mental well-being issues – mainly women who are not accessing mainstream services. During these twenty years the profile of our service users has changed: now our average service user has moderate to severe rather than mild to moderate mental well-being problems. Their problems relate mainly to experiences such as racism, Islamaphobia, honour violence, in-law abuse, forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), trafficking, torture and other organised violence. Compared to only 1% five years ago, presently 38% of our service users are from refugee communities. For eighteen years, we had only one case of FGM; we now have FGM survivors on waiting lists for our services.

“We provide a wide range of learning activities to sustain recovery and to maximize social and economic integration; this includes accredited childcare training with the potential of work experience placements in our childcare service.

“Through our therapeutic and case work support and because of our organisational focus, we are able to identify changes in the local demographic profile and in needs for specialist services that are not easily identified by mainstream agencies or generally acknowledged by BME community organisations. Our organisational statistics and our specially devised database and monitoring and evaluation systems enable us to map mental health support needs, prevalence of harmful cultural practices, and effective support packages. Saheliya is an important resource for mainstream policy makers and service providers in planning responses to population changes and for service delivery.

“We believe that our wrap-around services, move-on opportunities, and collection of statistics makes us an important organisation for Edinburgh and for Scotland as a whole if we are to ensure inclusive services and achieve integration.”

The organisation is holding a

20th Anniversary Celebration Stakeholders Event

on Thursday 15 November from 9.30am to 1.30pm

an opportunity to meet staff, learn about Saheliya’s work and participate in workshops. 

For further information about the anniversary event, or about Saheliya’s range of services, telephone 556 9302 or email info@saheliya.co.uk