SMK was established in 2005 to help develop a new generation of campaigners who are tackling the root causes of injustice. Set up in memory of Dame Sheila McKechnie, SMK is entirely dedicated to helping campaigners create positive and lasting social change.

SMK runs programmes for individuals and groups providing support, advice and a place to share information on key areas of effective campaigning: from strategy, tactics, and targets to evaluating successful campaigns.

Whatever your issue, whether you are trying to improve disabled access on local transport or promote solutions to conflict, we can help you to develop new tactics and plan high impact campaigns through our awards programme, workshops and training programmes, and bespoke consultancy.

SMK Awards 2010

The annual SMK Campaigner Awards provide a support programme for emerging and grassroots campaigners.

The awards are for individuals who are new to campaigning or operating with few resources and who show passion, tenacity and the potential to create change – locally, nationally or globally. You might not see yourself as a “campaigner” but if you are demonstrating commitment to a cause then SMK wants to hear from you.

The awards scheme offers a development package to winners, the aim is to equip campaigners with the skills they need to make a greater impact and achieve real change.The package of support does not include cash prizes but uses a model of action learning to share knowledge and acquire skills. This programme is completely bespoke involving an initial assessment; one-to-one coaching sessions; development workshops; and shadowing or mentoring opportunities. Read more about what is involved and what previous winners have received at the Award winners support programme page.

We grant awards to campaigners working across a wide range of issues. You can look through the awards categories or FAQs to learn more about the programme.

We are now accepting applications for 2010. Download an application form for yourself or, if you know of a campaigner who would benefit from our programme you can nominate someone you know for an award.

Applications can be submitted until 12 noon GMT on Monday 28th June 2010 Visit http://www.smk.org.uk/ for more info

More than 100 housing associations have agreed to introduce the ‘living wage’ for their staff.

The deal means that none of the 2500 employees covered by the agreement will be paid less than £7 an hour.

The Scottish Living Wage campaign was launched by the STUC, Unison, Faith in Community Scotland and the Poverty Alliance in a bid to persuade employers in the private, public and voluntary sectors to raise the salaries of low paid staff.

Campaigners argue that many workers who are paid the National Minimum Wage, or just above it, struggle to provide for themselves or their families.

The Scottish Living Wage, currently set at £7 an hour based on calculations done by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has already been backed by Glasgow City Council, which signed up last year, and Scottish Enterprise, which agreed the minimum with its staff last month.

Representatives of the housing association movement will be presented with an employers’ award at the STUC Congress in Dundee tomorrow after becoming the latest organisation to negotiate a living wage deal.

Foster Evans, director of employers’ association EVH – which led the negotiations for the 101 housing associations involved – said he was delighted to be associated with the scheme. “The union Unite raised it as part of their negotiations with us, and agreed to accept a cost of living increase at slightly below the rate of inflation to enable us to introduce it,” he said. “It may not be the most radical change ever but it is a strong signal of intent. We want to be amongst the increasing group of employers that support basic social justice initiatives.”

Mr Evans said the staff who would benefit included cleaning and catering staff in some housing associations as well as some workers in sheltered housing. He added that most housing associations employ their staff directly and board members who give up their time to run local housing associations tend to be well placed to see the benefit of better pay in their own local communities.

Unite regional officer Jackson Cullinane said: “The inclusion of our request for a Living Wage was based on our union’s firm commitment to address low pay and pay inequality. Its achievement will benefit women and young workers in particular.”

He added that the agreement to forego part of an inflation-linked pay increase for all in order to benefit the lowest paid was a testimony to the principles and values of members.

Eddie Follan, campaigns officer of the Scottish Poverty Alliance added: “This is a great example of how the living wage can be used in pay negotiations.”

He said the campaign would continue to press for more employers in the public sector to back the standard. An estimated 700,000 employees in Scotland are paid less than the living wage.

Author: Press and Journal 23/03/2010

Scotland’s land reform legislation is ensuring the long-term sustainability of communities the length and breadth of the country.

More than 60 communities bodies have submitted over 112 applications to purchase land and almost 80 applications have been approved since the Land Reform Bill was passed in 2004.

Successful community buy-outs include:
    * Comrie in Perthshire where a disused prisoner of war camp has been used to provide allotments, playing fields, storage and business units
    * Silver burn in Midlothian where a disused water tank has been turned into a community centre
    * Neilson in Renfrewshire where a former bank is now a community hub

Speaking during a conference on land reform hosted by Highland Council, Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said:

“Community buyouts of land and other assets have played a central role in empowering and creating long term sustainability for communities throughout Scotland.

“Having the ability to direct their own future has promoted community confidence, developed participation and cohesion as well as ensuring a sense of pride and long term sustainability.

“While the legislation has been successful so far, it is important that we maintain an open dialogue. We must consider lessons learned and whether new approaches should be adopted.

The issue of funding of community buyouts of land has been a hot topic in recent months and I would urge communities to take a creative approach.

“While the Big Lottery is the largest funder it is not the only one. Using a number of different funders to secure land is a very successful one which more should consider.”

The Community right to buy in Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 provides the opportunity for community bodies representing rural areas in Scotland with less than 10,00 head of population to register an interest in and buy that registered land once it is offered for sale. It provides community Bodies with a pre-emptive right to buy the land in which they have registered a community interest.

Community bodies have so far registered an interest in land including fields, woodlands and a range of other assets such as buildings, such as churches, a school and a community interest. The right to buy requires a willing seller. A community may in fact register its community interest and that land not come up for sale. A registration continues for five years and community bodies have the opportunity to re-register that interest. The first communities to extend their interest will do so in late 2009.

Statistics on the community right to buy are:
    * There have been 113 registrations of which 79 (or 70.5 per cent) have been approved by Scottish Ministers
    * To date 23 applications have had the chance to go ahead and purchase land. Of these 7 have been successful and a further 2 were concluded outwith the Act. A further one is currently concluding the transfer of land
    * Of the applications approved by Ministers, the right to buy has been triggered on 27 applications (24 per cent)

There are 5 rights to buy proceeding at present:
    * Camuscross (Isle of Skye) (Allt Duisdale reservoir)
    * South Lochaber (former Glencoe Hospital)
    * The Isle of Bute (Rhubodach Forest)
    * Benbecula (parcels of MOD land)
    * South Kintryre (Machrihanish airbase)

Extract from the summary of MAKING GOOD SOCIETY – the Report of the Commisssion of Inquiry into the future of civil society in the UK and Republic of Ireland  of final report of t

Now is the time to reshape the financial system to align it better with values that emphasise responsibility, good governance, human well-being, and environmental sustainability. The full meaning of the recent financial and economic crisis will not be clear for many years, but what is clear is that it has prompted a widespread desire for change. Governments have been primarily concerned with restoring the system, through bailouts and new regulation. But the Commission believes this is an opportunity to reshape the financial system, not just to avoid future crises, but also to align it with values that emphasise responsibility, good governance, human well-being and environmental sustainability. We advocate growing a more civil economy, which requires a bigger direct economic role for civil society, as well as more open and responsible practices in the rest of the economy. Civil society has long been directly involved in economic activity. In the 19th century, strong friendly societies, consumer cooperatives and building societies developed new financial services to meet the needs of a rapidly urbanising population. Today, civil society remains involved in many areas of the economy, including retail supply chains, such as fair trade and the trade justice movement, energy production, and health and social care. Social enterprise has increased significantly, and in the UK is estimated to have a combined turnover of £24 billion a year. The co-operative movement has a turnover of £28 billion.

What is a civil economy?
A thriving civil economy mirrors a thriving democracy. Constitutional and accountable political institutions supported by political parties, an independent judiciary, a free press, impartial law, civic bodies, and an involved citizenry sustain democracy in a civil society. The parallel institutions of a civil economy can be understood to be constitutional and accountable corporations supported by engaged shareowners and their accountable representatives, independent monitors, credible standards, and vigilant and active civil society associations participating in the marketplace. There are a number of characteristics of a more civil economy:✦
• It is open and pluralist, welcoming entrepreneurship and innovation, whether financial or social, through traditional company or other structures, including mutuals and social enterprise.
• Economic actors are clear about their responsibilities and accountable to their owners, but have due regard for other stakeholders, including communities and workers, and for theenvironment.
• Institutional owners, such as pension funds, are accountable to their savers and push corporations towards sustainable prosperity through responsible management.
• Information standards and flows allow for independent scrutiny on the part of individuals, civil society and the media.
• The success of the economy is not measured in terms of short-term economic growth or financial gains, but in terms of the sustainable well-being of current and future generations.

The legacy of civil society activity in the economy
• Campaigning, economic boycotts and court action in relation to the slave trade contributed to the development of human rights legislation and economic sanctions.
• The labour movement led to the development of employment law and health and safety regulation.
• The environmental movement helped to develop carbon trading, green businesses and the organic movement.
• The trade justice and antiglobalisation movements that emerged to address poverty in the global south led to Fairtrade and have created shifts in public values.
• Concerns over technological monopolies led to civil society developing the open source movement and the creative commons license.

But civil society’s economic roles are more marginal than they once were. The creation of the welfare state undermined much of the rationale of civil society savings and insurance initiatives, and business expanded its role in the provision of bank accounts and mortgages for poor communities. Meanwhile, the moral voice that allowed civil society to influence the rest of the economy in the 19th century – for example, championing reforms to end slavery and child labour – became muted. The Commission believes that a strong and healthy economy depends on a plurality of organisational forms, business models and values. We therefore advocate:
 first, building up a greater diversity of economic organisations rooted in civil society, including co-operatives, social enterprises, charities and trusts,
 and, second, increasing the influence of civil society on decision-makers throughout the economy, including regulators. Specifically, the Commission advocates
increasing the transparency and accountability of financial institutions through mandatory reporting for major institutional investors, requiring them to set out the social and environmental impact of their investments and how they exercise their voting powers, and mandatory lending disclosure for major financial institutions to ensure they are serving the needs of all communities, without discrimination (drawing on international models such as the US Community Reinvestment Act).
The Commission also argues for action to enhance pluralism in the financial sector and sees virtue in more clearly tiered financial system, with different rules, capital requirements and regulations for local finance, national finance and global activities. The large public holdings in banks have brought an unparalleled opportunity to restructure financial services so that they better serve society. This would include remutualisation of failed financial institutions at a local or regional scale, alongside mutual insurance and mutual scrutiny of these institutions to contain risk.

Civil society should champion the development of low-cost financial products that reflect people’s changing needs. These could include mortgages that allow for flexible repayment options and new investment vehicles for people who want to hold their savings in forms that benefit the local community and economy.

Despite the scale and resilience of the social economy, mainstream financial institutions and fund managers have not significantly invested in it. We favour institutional investors setting a minimum benchmark of 2.5% investment in social enterprises that not only generate profit, but also produce social and environmental returns. Regulators should see this as an essential part of prudent fund  management. The Commission also advocates increasing the power and voice of civil society by strengthening its capacity to influence financial institutions and regulators through building its own specialist institutions that have the knowledge and authority to challenge conventional financial thinking. Civil society also has an important role to play in developing and promoting independent, credible standards, so that people can make informed choices about which financial products they
purchase. Specifically, we recommend a ‘comprehensibility threshold’: no product should remain on the market if more than half of its consumers misunderstand fundamental features of how it works.

The time is also ripe for mobilising citizen investors, the millions of ordinary people with pension plans and savings, so that their future incomes are derived from companies that operate responsibly and sustainably.
 And organisations such as charitable foundations and faith-based organizations that have between them tens of billions of pounds in investment assets should pool their collective financial and moral clout to grow responsible and social investment.
Stable, responsible and transparent financial activity must be at the centre of any vision for the future of the financial sector and therefore a key component of the civil economy. The financial sector can only develop these with increased civil society activity.

Community Land Bank Consultation
Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens

Community gardening and interest in food growing in the UK is growing and land demand for this purpose is exceeding supply: allotment waiting lists with local authorities are in many places at record highs, and in other places groups are negotiating individual deals for land with a variety of landlords. Waiting lists nationally for allotments are reported to be in the region of 100,000 with a ten year wait for a plot in Poole and a seven year wait in Edinburgh.

Community-managed gardens and farms make a major contribution to the quality of life locally in relation to a broad range of social and environmental objectives. Green space, bio-diversity, exercise, community cohesion, mental health, education, the welfare of older people and carbon reduction all have resonances within community gardening activities.

The Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG) has commissioned this research  to examine whether a Community Land Bank (CLB) could be established as a social enterprise to address the burgeoning demand for access to space for local food growing and for the development and furtherance of community gardening generally. The proposition is that a Community Land Bank would be situated in the “non-statutory” and community sector.  This involves land not protected by the Allotment Acts and would involve gardening under a very different set of rules than those applying to local authority allotments. 

The strategic objective for a CLB would be a net increase in the land available for gardening and a contribution to addressing increased demand.  The assumption is that there is a potential supply in the form of land under the management of a variety of landowners (some of which may be awaiting development in some form) which could be made available for gardening until it is time for it to go forward for its designated use. From FCFCG’s consultation with a range of expert bodies, the indicative objectives identified for a CLB are:

• To act as a formal brokerage between land-holders and community groups
• To hold land in trust if appropriate
• To offer objective advice to landowners and tenants over purchase, sale or lease of land, and suitable legal structures for community ownership
• To offer (for leased sites) security to landowners and tenants over length of tenancies and return of land in good condition at the end of the lease period
• Potentially to reduce tenure costs as a consequence of scale, standardised agreements, etc, and to secure a central fund/endowment from which costs might be covered
• To offer case studies to reassure prospective landowners, as a model for their own negotiations
• To offer some protection to community land – as community farms and gardens have no protection compared to local nature reserves or statutory allotments.
• Potentially to offer umbrella liability insurance for small groups to help them become established and cover their legal responsibilities.

The research included interviews with a diverse range of organisations including bodies supporting community gardening groups and those that might provide land on a temporary or longer term basis. Strong interest in the CLB proposition was obtained from public and voluntary sector organisations. Concern was expressed about the lack of security of tenure but, on the other hand, the potential innovation that a CLB could provide was appreciated. Key findings from the interviews are as follows:
 
1. Demand for space to grow food and for gardening generally exceeds supply by a considerable margin, but this is hard to quantify. 
2. The source of the demand is diverse, socially, economically, ethnically and demographically.
3. Whether demand will be sustained, or grow, is more difficult to predict as past experience indicates periodic fluctuations.
4. The economic situation, and the likelihood of high unemployment over the next several years, may also be factors tending to push demand up as it has in the past.
5. An ageing population, especially if pensions fail to recover from the financial crisis, is likely to be attracted to community gardening.
6. Suppliers of land would require the comfort of knowing that the land was well-managed at the local level as well as centrally. 
7. Some interviewees indicated that they may be able to contribute a site; anecdotally, schools, the NHS, some local authorities, some Registered Social Landlords, some farmers in the Green Belt, some garden centres and potentially Network Rail and the Co-operative Group would appear likely to take a positive stance and are indicative of the types of organisation that both have land and would have an interest in an intermediary management body like a Community Land Bank. 
8. Corporate sector landlords were reluctant to be interviewed so it was not possible to gauge their views in this study.
9. Public sector suppliers of land and social landlords are likely to stipulate that its use, in part at least, support the organisation’s objectives (for example, health or education or community cohesion) and would be unlikely to release land, even temporarily, for purely private use.
10. There was a firm consensus that a Community Land Bank would have a useful role in mediating between the suppliers and users of meanwhile land, and that an organisation capable of ensuring that robust leases were available and that management issues would be dealt with would facilitate the release of land. 
11. Affordability is an issue as it is unlikely that revenue streams from the gardening community will be sufficient to cover all or most of the operational costs.  On the other hand, where gardening activity has the effect of improving the site and preserving or enhancing its value, it is fair to assume that the landowner should at the very least cover the cost of the overhead.
12. To be successful and operationally viable, a CLB will need to develop partnerships with other agencies in order to secure funding and/or land through a contribution, albeit indirect, to the delivery of other services or ecological, environmental, community and social benefits.
13. There is significant interest and support for a Community Land Bank as an agency to support access to unused land for meanwhile gardening, both from potential providers of land and other resources and from prospective users.
14. The idea of meanwhile gardening as a form of access to land would be broadly welcomed, so long as it is not perceived as a substitute for optimising access to land on a more permanent basis.
15. There appear to be three types of land that could be secured and managed by a CLB: short-life, temporary uses of land that could be used for learner sites; somewhat longer, medium term sites from public sector sources (like the NHS); and possibly long-term sites by bodies seeking a manager for unused land (like Sustrans).

A feasibility study and business plan is recommended to develop the CLB concept in more detail in relation to legal structure and governance and its initial staffing and operational systems. Such a study would need to be conducted in relation to specific sites that could be considered for commencing operations from mid 2010.

Thus far, this work has been funded by Westminster Government and as such applies to England. A meeting is being held in Edinburgh, 17th June at Manor Place to discuss the potential for a Scottish CLB. Contact angus@localpeopleleading.net if you are interested.
 
 

Culture change from the top down

Extract from NLGN report – Greater than the sum of its parts – Total Place and the future of public services

In one of the most detailed studies so far on Total Place, the research finds that whilst billions of savings could be achieved at the local level by better joined-up services, a lack of coherencebetween Government departments and a historic reluctance to devolve threatens to derail the project.  

NLGN’s report argues that major change is needed at the centre to break existing top-down models and cultures of accountability and service delivery, which lead to significant inefficiency and wastage in public services. For instance, one local pilot uncovered as many as 50 different benefits each with their own form, rules and administrative machinery; another has calculated that it costs as much as £135m to spend £176m on economic development projects. NLGN’s analysis shows that major benefits can be unlocked by a more collaborative approach to public sector assets and building services around the citizen at a local level.

 The report advocates the setting up of a new Department for Devolved Government to subsume CLG and the Cabinet Office and the Scottish and Welsh offices to drive devolution across Whitehall and release greater freedoms and powers for locally elected politicians to coordinate activity and decide how and where services are delivered. As part of this, accountability for public health budgets and local policing should be devolved immediately to all local authorities.

It also argues that localities and national government should come to a new series of deals on devolving public money and delivery responsibilities across a wider range of services such as employment and skills. These Place Proposition Agreements would allow local areas to set out how they could provide improved services for less money as a response to the expected cuts in public sector budgets.

Further recommendations in the NLGN report include:

• Allowing councils full discretion over spend across regeneration, transport and housing in a single capital pot;
• Establishing a new Joint Parliamentary and Local Government ‘Total Place Progress Committee’ comprised of MPs and local council leaders to scrutinise cross-government activity;
• Strengthening existing Local Strategic Partnership arrangements and moving towards more statutory, incorporated and focused Public Service Boards;
• Undertaking total counts of public resources and asset mapping across all local areas as a catalyst for collaborative approaches;
• Setting up a Collaborative Leadership Academy to develop leadership across the public sector.

The New Local Government Network (NLGN) is an independent think tank that seeks to transform public services, revitalise local political leadership and empower local communities.

1. The mystery of the Uig van
Extract from Scottish Community Land Network website…..
 …..nice to hear of the mystery purchase of a new van for the Uig community shop. The Uig shop on the Isle of Lewis uses a van to collect supplies from Stornoway and to deliver goods to customers.  But their previous van was on its last legs, putting future deliveries and the community-run shop’s supplies at risk.  Then, out of the blue, a mystery benefactor stepped in and purchased a lovely new refridgerated van for the shop.  And before you ask, it wasn’t even an episode of the Secret Millionaire…….

2. The purchase of this woodland is the final piece in the jigsaw of Birse’s sustainability plan

Birse Community Trust had planned to buy Balfour Wood for years to complete the re-instatement of the three forests that used to belong to Birse parish on Deeside.  When the Trust’s application to the Lottery was rejected, it seemed that BCT would not be able to buy the Wood before the purchase deadline passed.  Then, with a week to go before the opportunity would be lost potentially forever, an anonymous benefactor step in with an incredibly generous donation to save the day.  Members of the Trust have been surprised and delighted that they are able to buy the Wood at the 59th minute.……

From the Save Overnewton website http://www.saveovernewton.org/

Glasgow City Council has chosen to ignore to concerns of the user of Overnewton Community Centre and pressed ahead with closure plans despite serious doubt over the financial figures and a complete lack of consultation with users.  Only the SNP, Greens and a few Labour councillors voted against the closures and we thank them for standing up for the users of ORC and the people of Glasgow in general.

GCC’s surveyors recently visited the community centre and found what the users have been saying all the time: the Centre does not need £78,000 – £125,000 of repairs. It needs less than £2000! Full report (1 page) from here

Rebranding exercise for Culture and Sport Glasgow

Commenting on reports that Culture & Sport Glasgow have spent £50,000 developing a new brand identity, at a time when they have withdrawn vital funding from community facilities across the city, SNP councillor Craig Mackay commented:

“The council have just approved Culture & Sport’s recommendation to close eleven community centres and halls across the city, based on a budget shortfall. I was therefore stunned to hear that at the same time they are spending tens of thousands of pounds on external consultancies to re-brand themselves.

“£50,000 would have been enough to keep several community halls open for a further year, which would have been sufficient time to develop sustainable community management structures outwith Culture & Sport. These halls provide a vital service to grassroots community organisations and sports clubs, and are one of the core functions Culture & Sport was set up to support. A shiny new logo will do nothing to help these groups, and this re-branding exercise could easily have waited until the financial situation was more favourable.

“I have been working with community organisations in an effort to save the Overnewton Recreation Centre in Yorkhill, and this news is simply a further kick in the teeth for the groups who will be displaced by its closure.”

Nina Baker, Green councillor for Anderston/City described the decision as a “disaster”.

She added: “I am furious that Culture and Sport Glasgow is spending £50,000 on a new logo at the same time they are closing Overnewton Community Centre for want of only £1,800 of basic repairs.

“Culture and Sport have their priorities all wrong if they think it is better to spend all that money on an image makeover rather than on keeping essential community centres open.

“They have never made any attempt to work with the community to find new users so the income could improve and are only interested in getting rid of the hall.

“They are a disgrace – all style and no substance.”

Ms Baker said the only alternative community meeting points in the area are in church halls some distance away, Kelvin Hall sports complex or in Partick.

She added: “If they take the community hall from us there will be no council community centre in the entire ward.”

A spokesman for CSG insisted £50,000 was a small amount to pay for a new brand and said the money was included in the marketing budget.

He added: “We presently have 55 different brands, including Glasgow Museums, the Mitchell Library and the Glasgow Club and we need to find a new brand structure to connect better with the public.

“We generate £21million in customer income every year.

“The £50,000 is a tiny amount compared to the millions spent by other organisations on rebranding.”

The Overnewton centre is one of 11 which will be closed down in a bid to save £3.4m next year.

The spokesman said: “The city council took the decision on which to close on the basis of the number of people using them and repair costs.”

Tim Pauling, The Press and Journal

Community projects throughout Scotland are to benefit from the final share of a multimillion-pound fund to help reduce climate changing gases.

Successful winners range from a project to help students in Aberdeen reduce their carbon footprints to a scheme to encourage people to eat local foods in the Highlands.

In Perth and Kinross, Letham Residents’ Association was awarded £71,000 to encourage local people to grow their own food and to compost waste.

A total of 90 projects were awarded £5.5million by the Scottish Government yesterday. It was the final slice of the £27.4million Climate Change Fund agreed for ecological projects by ministers with support from the Green Party.

Aberdeen University Students Association (AUSA) was awarded more than £111,000 for a variety of projects designed to give students the tools and knowledge to cut their carbon emissions.

AUSA president Robin Parker said: ‘This is an incredibly exciting moment for AUSA, putting us at the forefront as a student community in finding creative solutions to the challenges presented to us by climate change.

“The project is based on enabling and empowering students to find out more about the carbon impact that they are having and to take action themselves to reduce it.”

Transition Town Forres Ltd will get £41,000 to develop, manage and evaluate a range of projects, including a large community garden, energy group and re-skilling programme.

The Park Ecovillage Trust, in Moray, was awarded £241,500 to provide hands-on eco-kits for the region’s schools, showing how whole sustainable systems work so that pupils can take action at home and at school.

Transition Black Isle will get £86,000 for a carbon cutting programme including introducing the “Black Isle Diet” to encourage local food consumption and establish community gardens.

Coimhearsnachd Bharraidh agus Bhatarsaidh Ltd, in the Western Isles, was awarded more than £139,000 to establish a household energy efficiency taskforce to help people examine home energy use.

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “We have tapped into communities’ desire to do more to help the environment and I look forward to seeing what will be achieved long-term through this exceptional fund.”

Green MSP Robin Harper said: “The Climate Challenge Fund is a chance for communities to innovate and lead, and to find opportunities instead of problems.”

Positive Action in Housing Ltd is a Scottish wide charity working with communities, housing providers, voluntary organisations and faith groups to enable everyone to have an equal chance to live in good quality, affordable and safe homes, free from discrimination and the fear of racial harassment and violence.

We offer advice, information and support to people from new migrant, refugee and minority ethnic communities. We run a free, confidential and impartial casework service for those facing poverty, homelessness, racism or poor housing. We run a Hardship Fund and provide emergency shelter and practical resources for destitute asylum seekers and their families.

We provide volunteering and sessional work opportunities. We support human rights and anti-racist campaigns. We inform social policy from a user-led perspective. We offer training, consultancy and best practice guidance to Registered Social Landlords, voluntary organisations and minority ethnic/refugee organisations.

A volunteers perspective….

Alison Swinfen is an education professor at the University of Glasgow, researching languages and intercultural studies. Over the last few years she has provided accommodation to a number of destitute asylum seekers, and spoke to us about her experiences.

 “I’ve been volunteering for two or three years now. The first person who came was actually with us for about 5 months which I think is Positive Action’s record, and they sent us a lovely box of chocolates after that. And then we had a couple of folk for just two or three weeks, then someone else longer term and then another for about 6 weeks. “Being in the house when Joyce was reunited with her sons in Kenya whom she’d lost touch with was incredibly special. It was just such a happy moment and to be able to share that was a huge privilege. “Watching Shah Lin’s English get better and better too was amazing. When she first arrived she could barely speak but by the time she left she was much more confident, and we’re seeing the same thing with Rima at the moment, who’s just turned 17. She’s brought High School Musical and Dawson’s Creek into our lives. We just love having her around and learning how to look after a teenager. She’s learning to cook now so the house is full of the smell of lovely Eritrean food. “
Obviously when people stay they kind of want to give you something back so we’ve eaten some really amazing stuff.  Shah Lin was incredible, when she got her money from Positive Action in Housing she used to go to the  Chinese supermarket and cook amazing stuff for us in the evenings. We’d come in from work at the end  of the week and there’d be this fabulous food waiting. We used to say ‘no, we’ll cook this week’ but it was really important to her. I think it gave her a sense of worth that she was able to do that. “It’s not  that people are coming with terrible stories. They may have terrible stories or they may not, that’s not the point. They’re just sharing a home, which means different music, different books, different conversations. Initially people have taken a little bit of time to settle and gradually developed a structure and routine around ours. And then gradually we’d involve them a bit more, and then started eating together and cooking together. That’s just really special, to have people from diff rent parts of the world with us and sharing their stories. And we do have a lot of laughter in the house. “It was lovely at Christmas, we had a couple of people back who’d stayed with us previously. It was a really special day. We just sat round sharing, telling stories and remembering things that happened when they were here, just things that were funny. “I would absolutely recommend volunteering, it’s transforming in all the best ways. Keeping a good routine and normal structure I think is important, not stepping out of your own routine and not going overboard. Keep things kind of normal so people don’t feel that they have to behave like guests because that can get quite heavy, it’s a lot heavier being a guest than being a host. Good patterns and rules around washing up and so on are important, the kind of things you’d have with your kids or your partner or anyone. People will want to contribute, to give you something back. What’s important is that you give a rhythm and structure to life. Some of the folk I stayed in touch with will probably be friends for life.”

An asylum seekers perspective….

Clive, 39, a Minister from Zimbabwe, was made destitute, while his claim to asylum was still unresolved. He is forbidden to work, access benefits or even stay in homeless shelters. Having slept rough with nothing to eat, he approached us for assistance. He now receives basic emergency accommodation and food vouchers, while waiting for his case to be properly considered.

“When I first approached the Refugee Council after being made destitute, they had nowhere for me to stay, so I had literally nowhere. I would sleep in the street, and go without food. The Home Office said that before I was granted Section 4 they couldn’t help me. But I needed food and shelter, my health was not good. Since I’ve found Positive Action, I’ve never really been stuck.

“Staying with volunteers is better than hostels. In hostels I would share a dorm and someone would nick your toothpaste or your towel or soap, and that’s all you have. If someone steals that from you you’re stuck. In one hostel, after paying for my three nights, I was forced to clean the toilets, forced to make beds. The guy said ‘if you don’t do it, get out’. So I had no choice. I was also once put in a mixed dorm. People would go out to clubs and come back at 3am, they wouldn’t care. For 2 nights I couldn’t sleep.

“I stayed with volunteers on three occasions, first with a couple in North Queensferry. Then I stayed with a lady for a week in Edinburgh, then again with a lady in Glasgow for about two weeks.

“I was free to use the facilities, the kitchen and whatever I needed. I really felt at home. There was an  incident in North Queensferry. I have a heart condition, and at the time I didn’t have any medication. I collapsed and the couple took me to the hospital out of their own concern. I’m really grateful because if that had happened and I was alone, I wouldn’t be here. “We’d socialise, going for walks or to the beach. I honestly didn’t expect that, I’d expected to stay in my room and that’s it. I’m actually still in contact with them. We went to a football match, I’d never seen one before. They support St Mirren so we went to Paisley to see them play Hibs. “It’s a real comfort to know there is hope for people who are going through what I went through. I’ve been fortunate, but some people out there are not fortunate enough.”