Charities to benefit from fund to reduce welfare impact

A further twenty three organisations from across Scotland have been granted funding for innovative projects which aim to reduce the impact of welfare cuts and poverty in Scotland. Earlier this year, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, Angela Constance announced the £1.9 million Community Capacity and Resilience Fund, building upon work developed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Development Trusts Associations Scotland and the Scottish Community Alliance to ensure local third sector groups can deliver direct support to communities. This Scottish Government funding scheme aims to support projects that increase the capacity of frontline third sector organisations to mitigate the impact of welfare reform, promote social inclusion, combat social inequality, and increase partnership working. Round three of the fund has seen a total of £288,614 awarded to 36 different projects. Of those that were successful, 23 organisations from 14 local authority areas have received funding to embark on new projects. Irene Connelly, Programme Development Manager at SCVO said: “There has been some amazing work over the past 10 months and we’re delighted to be able to support organisations on a range of innovative projects. “We’re pleased to announce that 23 organisations across Scotland will be supported to deliver services and projects that help mitigate the effects of welfare reform, combat inequality, promote social inclusion and have a preventative impact in communities. This tranche of grants is in addition to those awarded in September this year to enable 13 organisations to scale up their projects. “This round of the fund saw us supporting projects involved in providing family support, money management and food integration. “Almost half of the projects are welfare advice or Universal Credit related, which is perhaps an indicator of the effect of recent welfare reforms.” The fund is open to from Scottish third sector organisations, with an income of £250,000 or less. Awards range from £1,000 to £10,000, with the average award being £8,000. The successful organisations will deliver services and projects between December 2017 and December 2018. The 23 successful new projects were: Aberdeen Action on Disability (Aberdeen), About Youth (Edinburgh), Castlemilk Baptist Church (Glasgow), Clydebank Citizens Advice Bureau (West Dunbartonshire), The Community One Stop Shop (Edinburgh), Cranhill Parish Church (Glasgow), East and Sutherland CAB (Sutherland), The Edinburgh Food Project (Edinburgh), Enable Ayr and District (Ayrshire), Fairway Fife (Fife), Hillhouse (Ayrshire), Hope Amplified (Glasgow and South Lanarkshire), Kincardine and Mearns Citizens Advice Bureau (Aberdeen), Rutherglen and Cambuslang Citizens Advice Bureau (Glasgow), Sovereign Credit Union (Ayrshire), Stirling Citizens for Sanctuary (Stirling), STRIDE (Dundee), The Community Bureau (Argyll & Bute), The First Base Agency (Dumfries), The Larder (West Lothian), The Whiterose Hall (Glasgow) and Whitlawburn Community Resource Centre (Glasgow).