Author: Workforce Scotland

Do you want to find out more about how to involve people in improving our public services? Are you keen to work with the public to come up with new solutions to policy problems? Then Participation Week could be for you!

Workforce Scotland has teamed up with the Scottish Government and range of public service partners to host a series of events between 8 and 12 June 2015. Each event will focus on a particular aspect of participation or collaboration and will provide all public service staff with an opportunity to find out more about developing policies and public services that are truly inclusive.

Participation Week will showcase tools and techniques to help develop policies and services – with practical examples and digital engagement ideas that could help you reach anything from six to 6,000 people.

The sessions will include conversations about what support is needed for staff to help to deliver greater participation, as well as an opportunities to share experiences, ideas, tools and techniques with colleagues from across Scottish Public Services.

To register for an event, please follow the links below or, alternatively please visitwww.workforcescotland.com/participation.

Launch Event: Participation and Citizen Ownership

8 June 2015 – 9.30-12.00

Grassmarket Community Project, Edinburgh

This session will set out the challenges and the benefits of putting people at the centre of our work. Chaired by Sarah Davidson, Director General of Communities, Scottish Government, with input from Andy Williamson, of Democritise, Oliver Escobar of What Works Scotland and Chris Yui of SCVO. 

To register for this event click here.

Participation in Action: experiences from Glasgow Disability Alliance and Bridging the Gap

8 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh 

This session will include a dynamic mixture of presentation and film footage so come along if you want to see how participation makes a huge difference to disabled people and communities.

To register for this event click here

Young People – Scotland Listens and Acts

8 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Children in Scotland, Haymarket, Edinburgh

The session will focus on co-design and engagement of young people in policy and decision-making featuring innovative case studies from each organisation. Hosted by Young Scot, Children’s Parliament, Scottish Youth Parliament and Children in Scotland.

To register for this event click here.

The Future Public Servant – what might we look like?

8 June 2015 – 14.30-17.00

Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh

Take part in this conversation to help co-create a vision of the ‘public servant of the future’ to help us put people at the centre of public services.

To register for this event click here.

Enabling Collaborative Leadership: Pioneer Programme Taster Session

9 June 2015 – 9.30-12.00

SCVO, Hayweight House, Edinburgh

Interested in exploring how collaborative leadership can work in public service partnerships? The Enabling Collaborative Leadership Pioneer Programme aims to find simple ways to learn from and with others. This session will provide an opportunity to find out more about the Pioneer Programme and experience some of the approaches.

To register for this event click here.

What can we learn about Participation from the Commonwealth Games?

9 June 2015 – 10.00-12.00

Scottish Government, Atlantic Quay, Glasgow 

DCC Steve Allen was the senior police officer  in Team Scotland delivering the Commonwealth Games.  His experience of that time provides us with a master class in Collaborative Leadership.

To register for this event click here.

What Might Successful Participation look like?

10 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh

Sarah Davidson, Director General Communities, Scottish Government chairs a session with guest speakers including Simon Burall, Chief Executive of Involve, the civil society organisation working nationally and internationally to  promote citizen participation in government decision making; and from Prof. James Mitchell of What Works Scotland who has been involved in developing our understanding of successful participation in Scotland.

To register for this event click here.

Participation: Telling the Story – a Conversation Café Event

11 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh

This session provides space to think about where participation can make an impact on our work and also how we use language which is engaging and invites people to take part in the work

To register for this event click here.

Modernising Participation: Two Practice Examples

11 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh 

This session will feature two live examples of how Scottish Government, partner organisations and citizens are working together to influence transport policy and shape the passage of the British Sign Language Bill. Presenters include Susan Grasekamp, Chief Executive of the Scottish Disability Forum and Kerry Ann Dolan from the ferry operators CalMAC

To register for this event click here.

What can we learn about Participation from the Commonwealth Games?

11 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

DCC Steve Allen was the senior police officer  in Team Scotland delivering the Commonwealth Games.  His experience of that time provides us with a master class in Collaborative Leadership.

To register for this event click here.

Making Space for Democracy: Tools and Techniques

11 May 2015 – 14.00-17.00

SCVO, Hayweight House, Edinburgh

How do we get the discussions and work around the challenges of citizen participation and democratic renewal going? Led by a team from Imagination Lancaster this will be a lively and hands-on workshop featuring idea, tools, tips and techniques for doing just that.

To register for this event click here.

Dialogue Taster Session

12 June 2015 – 9.00-11.30

NHS Education for Scotland, Westport, Edinburgh

Dialogue is about harnessing collective intelligence through having better conversations together. The National Dialogue Community of Practice aims to support the transformation of public services by using dialogue methods to enhance the quality of relationships through conversations. This session will provide an opportunity to find out more about Dialogue and how it might work for you.

To register for this event click here.

Charettes – Community Participation in Planning

12 June 2015 – 9.30-11.00

Architecture and Design Scotland, Canongate, Edinburgh

Over the past four years the Scottish Government has been promoting the use of charrettes as a method of engaging communities directly in the development of plans for their area.  This session will share learning and examples. Hosted by Petra Biberbach,  CEO of PAS and Sandy Robinson, Principal Architect, Scottish Government

To register for this event click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Do you want to find out more about how to involve people in improving our public services? Are you keen to work with the public to come up with new solutions to policy problems? Then Participation Week could be for you!

Workforce Scotland has teamed up with the Scottish Government and range of public service partners to host a series of events between 8 and 12 June 2015. Each event will focus on a particular aspect of participation or collaboration and will provide all public service staff with an opportunity to find out more about developing policies and public services that are truly inclusive.

Participation Week will showcase tools and techniques to help develop policies and services – with practical examples and digital engagement ideas that could help you reach anything from six to 6,000 people.

The sessions will include conversations about what support is needed for staff to help to deliver greater participation, as well as an opportunities to share experiences, ideas, tools and techniques with colleagues from across Scottish Public Services.

To register for an event, please follow the links below or, alternatively please visitwww.workforcescotland.com/participation.

Launch Event: Participation and Citizen Ownership

8 June 2015 – 9.30-12.00

Grassmarket Community Project, Edinburgh

This session will set out the challenges and the benefits of putting people at the centre of our work. Chaired by Sarah Davidson, Director General of Communities, Scottish Government, with input from Andy Williamson, of Democritise, Oliver Escobar of What Works Scotland and Chris Yui of SCVO. 

To register for this event click here.

Participation in Action: experiences from Glasgow Disability Alliance and Bridging the Gap

8 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh 

This session will include a dynamic mixture of presentation and film footage so come along if you want to see how participation makes a huge difference to disabled people and communities.

To register for this event click here

Young People – Scotland Listens and Acts

8 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Children in Scotland, Haymarket, Edinburgh

The session will focus on co-design and engagement of young people in policy and decision-making featuring innovative case studies from each organisation. Hosted by Young Scot, Children’s Parliament, Scottish Youth Parliament and Children in Scotland.

To register for this event click here.

The Future Public Servant – what might we look like?

8 June 2015 – 14.30-17.00

Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh

Take part in this conversation to help co-create a vision of the ‘public servant of the future’ to help us put people at the centre of public services.

To register for this event click here.

Enabling Collaborative Leadership: Pioneer Programme Taster Session

9 June 2015 – 9.30-12.00

SCVO, Hayweight House, Edinburgh

Interested in exploring how collaborative leadership can work in public service partnerships? The Enabling Collaborative Leadership Pioneer Programme aims to find simple ways to learn from and with others. This session will provide an opportunity to find out more about the Pioneer Programme and experience some of the approaches.

To register for this event click here.

What can we learn about Participation from the Commonwealth Games?

9 June 2015 – 10.00-12.00

Scottish Government, Atlantic Quay, Glasgow 

DCC Steve Allen was the senior police officer  in Team Scotland delivering the Commonwealth Games.  His experience of that time provides us with a master class in Collaborative Leadership.

To register for this event click here.

What Might Successful Participation look like?

10 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh

Sarah Davidson, Director General Communities, Scottish Government chairs a session with guest speakers including Simon Burall, Chief Executive of Involve, the civil society organisation working nationally and internationally to  promote citizen participation in government decision making; and from Prof. James Mitchell of What Works Scotland who has been involved in developing our understanding of successful participation in Scotland.

To register for this event click here.

Participation: Telling the Story – a Conversation Café Event

11 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh

This session provides space to think about where participation can make an impact on our work and also how we use language which is engaging and invites people to take part in the work

To register for this event click here.

Modernising Participation: Two Practice Examples

11 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh 

This session will feature two live examples of how Scottish Government, partner organisations and citizens are working together to influence transport policy and shape the passage of the British Sign Language Bill. Presenters include Susan Grasekamp, Chief Executive of the Scottish Disability Forum and Kerry Ann Dolan from the ferry operators CalMAC

To register for this event click here.

What can we learn about Participation from the Commonwealth Games?

11 June 2015 – 14.00-16.00

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

DCC Steve Allen was the senior police officer  in Team Scotland delivering the Commonwealth Games.  His experience of that time provides us with a master class in Collaborative Leadership.

To register for this event click here.

Making Space for Democracy: Tools and Techniques

11 May 2015 – 14.00-17.00

SCVO, Hayweight House, Edinburgh

How do we get the discussions and work around the challenges of citizen participation and democratic renewal going? Led by a team from Imagination Lancaster this will be a lively and hands-on workshop featuring idea, tools, tips and techniques for doing just that.

To register for this event click here.

Dialogue Taster Session

12 June 2015 – 9.00-11.30

NHS Education for Scotland, Westport, Edinburgh

Dialogue is about harnessing collective intelligence through having better conversations together. The National Dialogue Community of Practice aims to support the transformation of public services by using dialogue methods to enhance the quality of relationships through conversations. This session will provide an opportunity to find out more about Dialogue and how it might work for you.

To register for this event click here.

Charettes – Community Participation in Planning

12 June 2015 – 9.30-11.00

Architecture and Design Scotland, Canongate, Edinburgh

Over the past four years the Scottish Government has been promoting the use of charrettes as a method of engaging communities directly in the development of plans for their area.  This session will share learning and examples. Hosted by Petra Biberbach,  CEO of PAS and Sandy Robinson, Principal Architect, Scottish Government

To register for this event click here.

Author: The National

A grassroots event in Argyll is set to challenge the nature of local democracy in Scotland. In the aftermath of council decisions considered by many in Argyll and Bute to be to the benefit of the council rather than the people it represents, a number of community campaigners began chatting online. With a common belief that current local democracy arrangements – in Argyll and Bute and throughout Scotland – simply are not working, the group feels that the structure and ethos of councils, and not just their actions and decisions, must be challenged. They are calling for fundamental reform of local government in Scotland – and have some high-flying supporters including broadcasters and well-known politicians.

As discussions moved from protesting against decisions – such as failing to support a community buy-out of Castle Toward and objecting to a ruling cabal within the council deciding on hurtful service cuts in secret (even from other councillors) – the Argyll and Bute residents decided to hold a public event: The People’s Council.

This will be a one-day event in Oban exploring local democracy reform from a grassroots perspective. Speakers include writer and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, Common Weal’s Robin McAlpine, Paddy Bort of the University of Edinburgh, campaigner Cat Boyd, local MSP Mike Russell and Councillor Vivien Dance, among others. The aim of the event is to plan and organise how people can effect change in our local communities and across Scotland. Everyone knows that local democracy in Scotland is broken. The People’s Council wants to try and fix it. The event will take place at Oban High School on Saturday June 6th and will run from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Tickets are £10/£7 and can be purchased online from Ticket Tailor, or via www.thepeoplescouncil.org. A number of free tickets are also available.

Broadcaster Lesley Riddoch said: “Scotland has Europe’s largest councils by population and physical size. That means distant decision-making, low levels of participation and constant battles between communities and councils. Argyll and Bute Council’s shameful failure to transfer Castle Toward to the local community as agreed was one of the lowest points in the history of Scottish local democracy. But now activists from across Argyll are demonstrating real leadership by deciding to get even – not angry. These campaigners have kick-started a process to devise a new workable template of truly local government in Scotland involving folk from all over Scotland – the People’s Councils. There’s been support for this novel, grassroots idea at every meeting I’ve spoken at during the election campaign — from Assynt in the Highlands to Duns in the Borders. Truly local councils are an idea whose time has come – well done Argyll for getting the ball rolling.”

Independent MSP John Finnie said: “In far too many local authorities decisions reached indicate just how far, both in terms of geography and mind-set, those charged with representing communities are from what really matters. That must and will change as the growing debate around the need to ensure meaningful local democracy, which reflects community aspirations, gathers momentum from events like ‘The People’s Council.”

Author: Euan McCall/Ayrshire Post

A village is looking to a bright new future after being offered huge chunks of land – for free. Lord David Kenney, the Marquis of Ailsa, has offered land from his estates to the people of Dalrymple. And if Dalrymple takes the land – worth tens of thousands of pounds – it could emerge as a model rural community in Ayrshire.

“This is really exciting and positive for Dalrymple,” said Councillor Elaine Dinwoodie.“Cassillis Estate has made the offer to the village. And people are coming up with ideas for how the land could be used for the greater good of everyone.”

A meeting is being held this week in the community centre to further advance ideas. And Councillor Dinwoodie said East Ayrshire Council is happy to help and advise – without interfering in what residents want.

Dalrymple sits six miles outside Ayr, and this new land gift could change the village for good. Leaflets were put through just about every door in the village to tell people about the Wednesday night meeting, at 7pm.

Community councillor Katie McNeillie said a development group has been formed. “Nothing is set in stone,” said Katie. “We’re still looking for ideas, and all suggestions are welcome. Once the village has a set of plans agreed on, we’ll go back to Cassillis Estate. And if they are happy, the land will be released. The land in question is in two key areas – right in the heart of the village, in Barbieston Road, across from the Spar store; and between the school and Purclewan Burn.”

The land in the middle of the village is split into three plots, with four more plots behind the school. Ideas emerging include a natural play area, surrounded by a bike trail, in the middle of the three central plots. And the one closest to the road could be landscaped to improve the look of the village.

 As well as the Dalrymple land, the Marquis of Ailsa’s estate includes the iconic Culzean Castle. The plot closest to the back of the school is likely to be required as the school expands.

And other land there could be used as allotments, both for the school and villagers. Large swathes of land close to the burn tend to get waterlogged. And these may be developed as a wildlife habitat, with access via a raised walkway.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the village,” said Katie McNeillie. “Estate factor Chris Savage has been coming to our meetings. And he is taking back some of the positive ideas.”

It’s a crucial time for Dalrymple, as the village could lose ageing facilities like the community centre and library. But it is hoped a community wing at the school will cushion the blow.

Cassillis and Culzean Estates are run by Lord David Kennedy, the ninth Marquess of Ailsa. And they extend for thousands of acres across the north of Carrick. Lord David has spearheaded progressive farming, forestry and conservation on the estate over many years. He became marquess in January, following the sudden death of his elder brother Charles, 58, in Florida.

Author: Kenneth Hogg, Scottish Government

Dear Colleague

I am writing to invite you to participate in and help lead a unique and innovative opportunity to transform communities, organisations and businesses across Scotland.  Our world is changing rapidly around us.  In mobilising change to deliver the outcomes we want to see, I believe we need to align ourselves with a sense of the emerging future as well as learning lessons from the past.  We want to put participation and engagement at the heart of public policy in Scotland and across communities.  U.Lab is an exciting new programme which stimulates and facilitates change in a way that values these goals.  It offers a highly participative, future-focussed learning journey, designed to generate new approaches to delivering results and to accelerate the translation of ideas into action.  U.Lab will run over September and October 2015 and will be open to anyone to participate, at no financial cost. I hope that participants from across Scotland’s communities will join us, along with colleagues from across the public, private and third sectors.  A few of us from Scotland participated in a trial version of U.Lab earlier this year: we all found it a uniquely powerful and inspirational experience, and wanted to widen this opportunity to others.

U.Lab Scotland

You can find out more here In summary, U.Lab is a global programme run by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and led by Otto Scharmer, one of the world’s most respected thinkers and change practitioners.  U.Lab will run from 10 September until end-October 2015, and will be delivered partly online and partly through local groups meeting together (physically or online).  Participation will involve a commitment of a few hours (at least 3) each week, primarily through online learning materials which can be accessed 24/7 – whenever it suits participants.  U.Lab provides world-leading expertise on how to accelerate change; participants themselves will bring the particular issues that are important to them.  Given the potential we believe U.Lab has to support communities and improve outcomes the Scottish Government is working with Otto Scharmer to deliver additional bespoke Scottish elements of the global programme, including developing a supporting local infrastructure of hubs across Scotland. 

Invitation

The invitation to you is twofold.  The first is to participate yourself in U.Lab Scotland, and to invite others in your organisations, communities and networks to participate too.  The more the merrier, and the formal online sign up facility will be available in a few weeks’ time.  The second invitation, and the main reason for writing to you now, is to ask you to consider becoming a hub host and to encourage others to consider this role.  Although it will be possible for any participant to engage with U.Lab entirely online and on their own, we are keen that where possible participants also meet in local coaching groups where they can provide and receive support from others in developing their ideas.  Some hubs might be convening places for people who live in a particular geographical community and wish to focus on the needs of that community.  Other hubs could support a more geographically widespread community of interest.  The particular model developed would be up to those involved in each case.  Although the Scottish Government is working hard to support U.Lab in Scotland we will not be influencing the specific work done within the hubs – that will be determined by the participants.  In addition to hub hosts’ willingness to devote a few hours each week to U.Lab over the 2 month period and to facilitate hub discussions, the only other requirement would be that hosts were able to secure access to a physical space (usually a suitable room) or create an online space where participants could meet to discuss, display and develop their ideas.  In the trial version of U.Lab, hubs were often hosted in workplaces

including local authorities, businesses, social enterprises and shared community spaces like cafés or community centres, and even in hosts’ own homes.

Hub host training and support.

We would like to invite anyone interested in participating in U.Lab Scotland, and particularly if they are interested in becoming a hub host, to attend some of the following preparatory events in Edinburgh:

1 June: 11am to 4pm – open to anyone wishing to learn more about U.Lab and how we might use it to lead transformational change in Scotland.  Please book your space here

 3 July: 9.30am to 5pm – strongly recommended training event for all hub hosts.  We will be joined by Otto Scharmer and his colleagues to provide support and training to everyone taking on the role of hub host.  Please book your space here

1 September: 9.30am to 5pm – strongly recommended preparatory event for all hub hosts.  Please book your space here

Please contact Angie.Meffan-Main@scotland.gsi.gov.uk (0131 244 0545) if you have any queries. 

I very much hope you’ll join us in this hugely exciting journey.

KENNETH HOGG

Author: International Futures Forum

When money, love and virtue are raised in the same conversation, most people respond with surprise and scepticism. What do these concepts have in common? They belong to different realms. When they are raised by a former banker and elaborated into an approach that could transform the way we think about our world and the way we structure our organisations and society, then something truly radical is afoot.

The book, Money, Love and Virtue does not propose a detailed programme for reform. Instead it offers a way to bring qualitative discussion into a material area, so as to allow for construction of a world where money, love and virtue work together, not in contradiction.

Contents

The book is a series of interlinked essays dealing with key themes of money, love and virtue. They are not intended to present in-depth study of the issues, but to encourage deeper thinking about them.

•           Chapter 1 looks at the economy as the process of managing our material needs, and money as the unit of exchange within the marketplace. It looks at the introduction of credit and the role that money initially played in liberating humans from dependence, thereby explaining the strong association between money and our ideas of liberty.

•           Chapter 2 examines the process of ‘financialisation’. While constructive finance allows enhanced economic welfare and progress, finance has shown its dark side through high leverage, a focus on short-term trading, speculation, excessive extraction of income, and fraud, aided by deregulation and deficient supervision. The current financial model has contributed to inequality, a central challenge today, and to the destruction of our financial commons. It needs to be put right.

•           Chapter 3 discusses how the economy can come to undo material improvements and dehumanise society, causing discontent. While our renewed interest in the idea of happiness aims to restore the human dimension, it is not sufficient simply to provide new aggregate measures of happiness within our economic models. For true progress, we need to fully appreciate and restore the human dimension.

•           Chapter 4 examines  our assumptions about human nature and their effect on our actions. The author suggests we reinstate a presumption of the underlying virtue of humanity with a perspective that embraces consideration and respect for the person and concern for the common good. In this way we will be able to restore virtue and dignity to the market.

•           Chapter 5 looks at compassion, which enables virtue. Biologists observe that evolution has resulted in greater cooperation and altruism. Through collaboration, we can ensure that human needs are properly met within the economy and finance. True or enlightened self-interest must encompass the other and the universe at large.

•           Chapter 6 discusses love, which allows us to see the other in ourselves and to realise our full potential. Justice is the uniting of power and love. Love leads to unity and harmony, to a life well lived. It is the deepest manifestation of humanity and of happiness.

•           The Integration draws together all these threads. When working in harmony, money, love and virtue realise our social contract, a foundation of civilisation. In this way a humanistic world can blossom and contribute to the common good. 

Preview

You can read the introduction and first chapter using the widget below or (probably better) by clicking on this link.

Author: MACC

Machrihanish Airbase Community Company are officially launching Campbeltown’s Discover Space UK bid to become the UK’s first spaceport – revealing it is the only shortlisted candidate already twice approved for space flight.

The community-owned airbase in Machrihanish in Kintyre – nicknamed ‘the UK’s Area 51’– is one of five sites shortlisted by the UK Government to become the UK’s first operational spaceport in 2018.

As the only bidder to exceed the UK Government’s minimum runway length of 3,000m, as well as being over 1,000 acres in size and removed from densely populated areas, the Machrihanish site already has a technical advantage.

Today the website and campaign videos are launched to support the bid, tapping into their unique heritage and the mysteries surrounding the previous use of Machrihanish Airbase.

And check out the campaign video

Author: Oxfam, University of the West of Scotland

Appreciating Tea in the Pot

Note: These are the summary findings of a larger report which looked in some depth at the impact TITP has in its community. To see the full report click here

This report has looked at the activity of TITP in light of Oldenburg’s concept of the ‘third place’ as a ‘great good place’ in the life of a community. It is clear that there would be a good case for saying that TITP could be described as something like that – as a kind of a ‘great good place’ in Govan. Our research has enabled us to appreciate that the TITP volunteers have created, as we have seen described in the women’s own words, a place of social interaction, which engenders a sense of belonging, helps members feel less isolated and lonely, creates a sense of community and provides a political and intellectual forum in which members can grow, develop, become productively engaged in the broader life of their community, and bring about changes which impact both within and beyond their community. We have seen that members do not encounter problematic hierarchical structures within the group, and nor are there any class or ethnic barriers. The volunteers are viewed as ‘the characters’, who provide a warm welcome to new members in a neutral place where no individual feels they have to take on the role of ‘host’.

Having discussed the idea, the TITP women quickly recognised themselves very much as a ‘third place’ – a place beyond the ‘first’ and ‘second’ places of home and work which provides a space for people to meet, interact and to develop and feel a sense of belonging and community. That said, this is not straightforwardly a ‘third place’ in Oldenburg’s terms. It caters solely for women, most obviously. But clearly, it is providing to the members vital aspects of the ‘third place experience’ – and many of the benefits that go with that, both to the women, and to the wider community. Indeed, the raison d’etre of Tea in the Pot is in part that too few places like that exist in Govan, and for many women those that do exist are not easily accessible – either for financial reasons (£5 for a latte and a scone is not affordable for many) or for the kinds of personal reasons which have been outlined in the preceding sections of this report.

It might be appropriate to say that TITP could be seen as an attempt to improvise (creatively and empathetically) something like a third place which can be accessible to women who really need such a place. For that, its founders and its volunteers deserve immense credit. They don’t require that, of course, to continue with their efforts, but they will very much need to be resourced, and for that to happen it is vital that potential funders appreciate, as we have come to do through our research, the nature and importance of the contribution they are making and want to be able to continue to make.

Author: Kirknewton CDT

To read the pilot edition of Kirknewton’s new community newspaper – Kirknewton News  – click here

 

The newspaper has been produced with financial help from the Big Lottery by Kirknewton Community Development Trust

Author: Voluntary Arts Scotland

The 2015 Epic Awards shortlist has been announced, and seven fantastic Scottish arts groups are looking for your vote in the People’s Choice Award.

Here’s who made it onto this year’s Scotland Epic Award shortlist:

Clydeside Singers – Greenock-based choir for ages 50+ known for its joyous performances at local care homes and hospitals.

DD8 Music – Group of volunteer musicians who offered young people in the small town of Kirriemuir a chance to learn and record music.

Kirkcaldy Community Radio – Community radio station in Fife which uses volunteers to help keep the people of Kirkcaldy connected.

Kirkcudbright Art and Crafts Trail – A volunteer-run arts and crafts trail at over 100 venues throughout Kirkcudbright, involving 200 participants.

Libertie Project Creative Club – Craft group run by homeless volunteers that has had a powerful effect on its members.

Poetry Share – Fife-based poetry group which raised funds to publish its own collection of original poems.

Timebank Temptations – Edinburgh-based singing group that uses the basic principles of a time bank to bring joy to their community.

You can read all about the full shortlist from across the UK, and cast your vote here:

The 2015 Epic Awards shortlist has been announced, and seven fantastic Scottish arts groups are looking for your vote in the People’s Choice Award.

A consortium, made up of the Carnegie UK Trust, Scotland’s Towns Partnership, the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), and the University of Stirling, has unveiled the UK’s first online tool to help understand the facts, figures and interrelationships that underpin all Scotland’s towns and cities.

The launch, which took place last week in Musselburgh saw Margaret Burgess, Minister for Housing and Welfare, ’switch-on’ the new online tool.

Understanding Scottish Places (USP) answers a pressing need for better quality information to inform important decisions about how communities are organised and funded. It brings together 36,000 different pieces of data about places and people in Scotland into one online, visual, searchable database.

From today, anyone can access a full suite of information about any of 479 Scottish communities digitally – and compare that information with any other place across the country.

The launch of the new tool comes on the back of an Ipsos MORI survey carried out in March by the Carnegie UK Trust, leaders of the USP consortium, which encouragingly revealed that the majority (54%) of Scots value the services available in their local communities. Many of those questioned recognised the way in which places in Scotland are inter-related and rely on each other for different facilities and services, something that is explored further in USP. Almost 40% revealed that they travel to access the services they require.

Margaret Burgess, Minister for Housing and Welfare said: “We believe that USP is a powerful asset for people working across the country to design better strategies for their communities – whether they are in council, town partnerships or BIDs, traders associations, businesses or community groups.

“USP is a great resource, ideally positioned to help local people see how their area is working for them and be inspired to get involved in revitalising their towns. It is just one of a suite of measures that the Scottish Government is backing to help to deliver the Town Centre Action Plan. We hope that this platform will encourage communities to look across to other towns with similar characteristics and start to share more of their success stories.”

Martyn Evans, Chief Executive of the Carnegie UK Trust, joined Margaret Burgess for today’s switch-on, and said: “USP is a valuable tool for all of those invested in making our town’s better places to live. It recognises that different places have different needs, and require different services and resources. It explores the way in which each place has a unique identity and this is how we need to think about places when we design services, invest, and innovate. For the first time, the platform looks at the levels of interdependency between communities, to give us a more sophisticated and constructive picture of how our places work together.

“In the coming months, we will be consulting further across the whole country, to see what needs to be added to this platform to deepen that understanding and grow the sophistication of the data we can offer.”

The platform has been designed and built by the Carnegie UK Trust, Scotland’s Towns Partnership, the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), and the University of Stirling. It is available now at www.usp.scot. Co-funded by Carnegie UK and the Scottish Government, it is a practical output of the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Action Plan initiative.