FRESH START AMONG THE BIG WINNERS
Charities and community groups across Edinburgh are today sharing in the latest round of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Thanks to National Lottery players, they are amongst 453 projects sharing in £11, 824,401 for a range of activities, helping to empower and connect people in communities across Scotland.
West Pilton’s FRESH START is among the big winners, receiving £180,000. The local charity will use the funding to continue to support people moving on from
homelessness across Northwest Edinburgh.
Across the three years of the project, the group will support approximately 5,800 people with 450 volunteers. Volunteers will be individuals with lived experience of homelessness.
Fresh Start said: “We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our fundraising application to the National Lottery Community Fund.
“This award will allow us to continue to run our services, helping people with lived experience of homelessness, providing support through starter packs, the community pantry, community meals, empowering people with new skills, growing produce, cooking skills and having access to specialised advice.”
The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “National Lottery funding can make amazing things happen in local communities across the country.
“This project delivered by Fresh Start (Scotland), is a great example of community activity in action, showing just what can be achieved when people come together for a common cause or to help others.
“National Lottery players can be proud to know that the money they raise is helping to support this vital work which is making a real difference to so many.”
Edinburgh College received over £136,000 to continue delivery of their counselling service for students. The counselling is delivered by trained staff, either in
person or online, and is flexible to suit the schedule and needs of the individual in
need of support.
There was over £82,000 for Edinburgh Women’s Aid, who will use their funding to build an integrated mental health programme for women and children who have experienced domestic abuse.
As well as supporting hands on mental health delivery, this project will look to improve internal evaluation processes and engage with other services across Edinburgh to make their services more effective. The project will work with 555 people over the three year delivery period.
Dads Rock received £67,391. The project will continue to match trained peer support volunteers with new dads during the perinatal period who are experiencing anxiety, depression, difficulties in bonding with their new baby.
Passion4Fusion offer a range of programmes for the diverse needs of minority ethnic families in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Thanks to an award of £41,500 they will be able to offer a range of support services for black, African people dealing with long term conditions.
One service user Nala* (*not her real name) a 57-year-old African woman with a range of long-term health conditions who moved to Edinburgh to seek asylum.
Nala was missing important appointments as she struggled to read and interpret her medical letters in English. A worker from the project supported her to understand the health systems in Scotland, linked her with African groups and supported her at hospital appointments.
Nala said: “I am very happy I found people like me who can understand my situation. I was feeling very lonely and isolated but now I have my new African family I belong to.
“I am now able to do things that I haven’t been able to do in a while for instance, I really love going to the gym and I wouldn’t have done it without the support.”
Commenting on the project Huruma Health worker Lucrecia said “There is nothing more rewarding than helping others.
“As you can imagine, being alone in this country can be challenging and most of our service users have no immediate family members. The Huruma project creates culturally appropriate family support and a sense of belonging.”
Jonathan Ssentamu, Founder and CEO, Passion4Fusion, said “The Huruma Project continues to address the disproportionate impact of health inequalities affecting Africans in our community who are finding it difficult to access mainstream services.
“ This contribution is enabling us to support our service users, we’re so grateful for the continued support for our work.”
An award of £30,000 means that the Scottish Book Trust will run their ‘Reading is Caring’ programme for the next three years.
The programme uses shared reading to support people living with dementia and anyone who cares for them and is designed to ease daily challenges of dementia by creating special moments of connection, sparking positive memories and relieving stress.
Martha and her husband Sandy took part in the project while caring for Martha’s mother Susan, who was living with dementia at the time.
Martha said: “Thank you again for your wonderful course – it added new skills and confidence to the way I read with Mum for her last few months and that was something very special.”
Commenting on the latest funding, Koren Calder, Project Manager, Scottish Book Trust, said: “This funding from The National Lottery Community Fund will allow us to reach more people living with dementia and the people who care for them, by creating new, flexible ways to access the benefits of the Reading is Caring programme.”
A neurodiversity charity is to launch a three-year specialist service for children and young people in Lanarkshire living with the challenges of neurodiversity thanks to Lottery funding.
Edinburgh-based Salvesen Mindroom Centre has been awarded £109,343 from The National Lottery Community Fund, made possible by National Lottery players, to deliver a dedicated one-to-one support service for children and young people who have neurodevelopmental conditions and neurodiverse families in North and South Lanarkshire.
The initiative will be led by two highly-skilled outreach specialists within the communities and address issues including problems surrounding the assessment and diagnosis of neurodevelopment conditions; securing appropriate help at school or in further and higher education; and dealing with complex correspondence and multiple agencies.
Support will be tailored to individuals and families and is aimed at achieving positive changes on a practical level and, through advocacy, ensuring the voices of children and young people are heard.
Between 15 and 20% of the population are estimated to be neurodivergent and Mindroom has witnessed a 137% rise in people using their services in Lanarkshire since 2018.
Chief Executive Officer Alan Thornburrow says: “We have seen at first hand the difference that receiving appropriate resources can make to neurodivergent children, young people and neurodiverse families in crisis.
“Over a number of years, we have steadily increased our caseload in Lanarkshire in response to a growing demand for our services and we’ve had some amazing feedback from clients whose lives have improved.
“This award from the National Lottery will help us ensure that many more people are helped and their lives transformed. We put the needs of the client at the very heart of our rights-based approach and aim to empower individuals, families and carers to become more confident and active participants in whatever they choose to do.
“We already have valuable, established relationships with a range of agencies and organisations in Lanarkshire including the NHS, Love Autism, schools and social work departments. This longer-term funding will enable us to build on these vital connections and increase our provision so that more neurodivergent children and young people and neurodiverse families can receive personalised help and benefit from opportunities for enhanced support.”
The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair, Kate Still: said: “National Lottery funding can make amazing things happen in local communities across the country.
“This project delivered by The Salvesen Mindroom Centre (SMC), is a great example of community activity in action, showing just what can be achieved when people come together for a common cause or to help others.
“National Lottery players can be proud to know that the money they raise is helping to support this vital work which is making a real difference to so many.”
The Lanarkshire initiative, funded under the National Lottery’s Improving Lives scheme, will run from September 1 this year to the end of August 2026.
For more information on the Salveson Mindroom Centre go to:
Commenting on the latest grant round of funding The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair, Kate Still: said: “National Lottery funding continues to make extraordinary things happen in communities across Scotland.
“I am delighted that this funding will be used to support projects across Edinburgh which have been developed by and for local people which will allow communities to come together to make life better for everyone.
National Lottery player players can be proud to know that that money they raise is helping to support this vital work in Edinburgh.”
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