SE & Employability Newsletter – August 2020

Our News

Community Learning Exchange and Thematic Network Meetings

Virtual Community Learning Exchange to Prep Table Scotland – September 17th (10-12, 1-3pm)
Prep Table (who recently announced their merger with Scran Academy) is a social enterprise aiming to make the food industry more open, fair and ethical for producers, suppliers, employees and customers.  Join their founder Fiona Donaldson, as she takes you through her social enterprise journey, from being completely new to the sector in 2017 to running a successful business delivering social impact.  Fiona will share her experiences – to help others be better placed to develop and strengthen their social enterprise sustainably, to navigate the challenges involved and to understand the importance of self-care to their social enterprise.  More information attached – email Jayne to book your place (places limited to one per organisation).

Employability SEN Network Meeting: Wednesday, Sept 23rd (2-3pm) – Drew Reid from Skills Development Scotland will be talking about how their Skills for Growth programme could benefit members. To book, email Jayne

Sport and Health SEN Meeting: Using Sport and Physical Activity to Promote Positive Mental Health – Wednesday 9 Sept (10-11.3am) – This session will focus on how to use sport and physical activity to address mental health within communities.  We will hear from various speakers about their approach and the support which exists to help organisations develop programmes and initiatives on this topic.  Contact Jude to book

Aberdeen Social Enterprise Network: Friday 11th Sept (11-12.30pm) – For an informal chat and discussion around the subject of recovering from COVID19.  Friday 11th September at 11am -12.30pm.  to sign up, email Janice

Health SEN Meeting – Wed 16th Sept (10.30-12) – Anne Connor from Outside the Box will be talking about a series of local sessions coming up to explore how smaller and community based providers can play more of a part in the world of health & social care. Contact Mary to find out more.

Community Food SEN Meeting – Fri 18th Sept (10.30-12) –  An opportunity for Community Food SEN members to come together and discuss the challenges faced as we move from Phase 3 towards Phase 4 of Scotland’s Route Map, what support is required and what they need from the SEN. Contact Mary for more info.

P4P event:  Building an Inclusive Supply Chain (10th Sept 1.30-3.15pm) – hear from senior buyers in Morrison Construction on how Scotland’s social enterprise can contribute to building an inclusive supply chain as well as hear from Community Focus Scotland’s on their recent success; qualifying to become part of Morrison Construction’s trusted supply chain. More info and book here

We were involved in the Low Moss Public Social Partnership (PSP) as the Ready for Business lead for Strategic Public Social Partnership development in Scotland.   The PSP was a collaboration between the Scottish Prison Service, community justice partnerships and third sector partners and piloted a new approach to throughcare support to those not eligible for statutory throughcare.  An overview has been published recently to draw out some of the unique learning from the Low Moss PSP, considering the factors that made this model effective.

Community Learning Exchange

If you have experience, expertise or knowledge that you would like to share then you can apply to the re-configured CLE programme which is now allowing social enterprises to deliver their knowledge and expertise remotely.  If you are interested in hosting a CLE, contact Jayne

Member News

Furniture Plus has updated its website with a ‘Get Help’ section and a referral form which can be completed to request help with sourcing furniture for individuals or families in need.

Ceangail, a social enterprise in Stirling which has delivered Stirling Highland Games since 2014, successfully delivered its virtual programme on Saturday called
The Best of Stirling with Stirling Highland Games.

Here’s the news and highlights from Scarf’s latest newsletter including information about their Heat fund and their partnership with another SEN member, CFINE.

Impact Arts are currently offering virtual programmes for young people across Scotland’s Central Belt – check our their autumn programme here

Listen to Jonny Kinross, CEO of Grassmarket Community Project chat with Rowan Morrison on The Lift podcast about running social enterprises, delivering social impact, valuing and empowering staff and the importance of showing vulnerability as a leader. 

Check out this interview with MH Scot Workplace Wellbeing by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland about how to support mental health at work after lockdown.

Glasgow Wood Recycling is recruiting a Marketing Assistant through Adopt and Intern.  More here

Funding / Finance

Disabled People’s Organisations Covid-19 Emergency Fund:aims to support DPOs to meet the needs of local Disabled people in 3 board areas:  Independent Living, Isolation and Income

Fore RAFT Transition Fund 2 opens on 21st September, offering unrestricted grants of up to £15K to any registered charity, CIC, CIO or Community Benefit Society with turnover of under £500K in the last financial year.   It is particularly looking to fund small organisations working with marginalised groups and led by people in the community that may have found it hard to access trust and foundation funding in the past. 

To apply, organisations must first register some basic contact details at the start of each funding round (done via the link below when the funding round opens). The number of registrations accepted for each round is capped and registration is run on a first-come, first-served basis. Once the cap is reached, the round is closed, so please register early.

Volant Trust’s Covid-19 Response Fund.  Registered charities, CICs and community organisations that ‘demonstrate a strong focus on alleviating social deprivation and helping vulnerable groups who have been particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic’ can apply

Connecting Scotland:  the second phase is now open, prioritising disadvantaged families with children and young people leaving care. These families will get a device, twelve months unlimited data as well as technical support to get online safely and securely.

Access to Work – People with a disability working from home or a workplace can now benefit from financial support due to an extension of the Access to Work scheme including support for special equipment, travel costs and mental health. (People who are clinically extremely vulnerable can get new applications for grant funding fast-tracked.

Comic Relief Change Makers -Themes are :- Children Survive & Thrive; Gender Justice; Safe Place to Be – Homelessness; Safe Place to Be – Migration; and Global Mental Health.  Funding of £150K – £600K available for 3-5 years.  Deadline extended to noon, 25th September

Events Industry Support Fund – a £6 million fund to help the events sector recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.  This fund will support businesses which have not received Scottish Government sponsored COVID-related funding from other schemes and which meet the eligibility criteria.  Opens from noon on Monday 31 August until noon on Monday 14 September.

The Foyle Foundation – Small grants of between £1-10K for charities with a turnover of < £150K or main grants of between £10-50K available for charities that can demonstrate ongoing financial viability over the next 12 months.  Ongoing programme

Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund (RRLF) – Loans between £100K – £1.5mn for social enterprises and charities that are improving people’s lives across the UK who are experiencing disruption to their normal business model as a result of COVID-19. Deadline for applications has now been extended to Wednesday 30 September.

Independent Age Grants Fund –  Reaching older people most likely to be missing out – now and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Deadline 9am, September 11th

Employability

Job Start Payment (previously Job Grant) is a new payment to help young people (16-24 or 25 if they are a care worker) with the costs associated with the transition into employment, after a period of time out of paid work. It is a one-off payment of £250, or £400 if the young person has responsibility for any children.

The University of Aberdeen is offering hundreds of free places on online short courses in 2020 and 2021 to help Scotland’s workforce upskill and reskill.  Free places are available on courses in a wide range of disciplines, including leadership, digital/data, energy, life sciences and health. You need to apply by 5pm on 4 September.

GCVS is holding an Employability COVID Catch Up on Friday 28th August at 10am.  Whilst looking at the effect of COVID on the jobs market, people’s employability needs and how the sector can best respond, it will also take a wider view of the city’s significant unemployment and underemployment.

Everyday Computer Skills is a free, new course with the Open University – a beginner’s guide to computers, tablets, mobile phones and accessibility, a course designed with and for disabled learners, through Lead Scotland in partnership with The Open University in Scotland (OUiS)

Provisions contained in Part 2 of the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019 come into force on 30 November 2020 and will:

  • reduce the period of disclosure for the majority of sentences,
  • bring more people within the scope of the protections under the 1974 Act,
  • provide an enabling power to bring forward regulations to create an independent review mechanism for certain sentences greater than 48 months,
  • increase the clarity and accessibility of the legislation, and
  • change the terminology used within the legislation to reduce confusion about the purpose of disclosure.  

Support/Resources  

Check out Just Enterprise’s autumn learning programme here

What is social investment? How do loans work? These are just some of the most common questions that SIS’s Head of Credit & Compliance, Alistair Johnstone, answers in a video blog A Guide to Social Investment Loans.

2 events from Community Shares Scotland.  Community Owned Businesses – Making it Easy (Sept 2nd) and Introduction to Crowdfunding and Community Shares (Sept 9th)

Applications are now open for innovative social entrepreneurship training programme, The Circle Academy – providing the tools and building blocks to launch and grow a More Than Profit organisation, alongside one-to-one support and guidance with industry experts.  Apply by Friday 28th August

Public Health Scotland has developed a learning hub to raise awareness and understanding of how to make services more accessible for people with communication support needs

Public Health Scotland’s ‘Challenging Poverty Stigma’ learning hub provides an opportunity for those who work in frontline public services or management roles to develop their understanding of poverty, stigma and discrimination;

The Scottish Centre for Conflict Resolution is running a series of free online training sessions focusing on conflict resolution as a means of early intervention;

The Scottish Government has updated its guidance on individual workplace risk assessment.

Scottish Enterprise has useful information pages on The Right Time to think about Ecommerceand Selling

This New World, Same Rules blog post explains how to simplify your thinking and nail what is important.

This DigiListen podcast, with the creators of DigiSafe, will explain how to get the best out of their step-by-step digital safeguarding guide.

Volunteer Scotland are offering FREE training on restarting your volunteer programme post lockdown, and keeping volunteers safe

The Curve is a series of free, 90-minute online workshops for third sector organisations, to build knowledge around best digital practices, raise awareness of digital tools and ultimately help increase impact with digital.  View recordings of previous workshops here.

Deaf Scotland has produced some useful factsheets and toolkits here

Law firm Bates Wells have launched a new Crisis Decision tool to help charities and social enterprises that are currently facing financial difficulties, covering guidance around collaboration, merger, cost-saving measures, income generation and more

Information / News  

The Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory has published some stark research findings on the health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities

A new report from Glasgow Disability Alliance states that Covid-19 has supercharged inequalities for disabled people and has has called for disabled people’s involvement, rights and support to be supercharged in response.

NESTA’s Better Together report outlines the key benefits of collaboration between the third sector and start-ups such as co-working spaces, accelerator programmes and investment funds. The report also highlights key barriers of collaboration and provides recommendations to address the funding gap.. Find out more.

Scottish Community Development Centre has been commissioned by Sustrans to research how and why communities engage (or don’t engage) with active travel projects.  Complete the short (ten-minute maximum) survey here.  

Latest Tweets

Social Entrepreneurs Network Scotland (Senscot) is registered as a Scottish charity under Scottish Charity No. SC029210 and as a limited company under Company Registration No. SC278156. Its registered office is at 41 Miller Street, Glasgow.

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Latest Tweets

Social Entrepreneurs Network Scotland (Senscot) is registered as a Scottish charity under Scottish Charity No. SC029210 and as a limited company under Company Registration No. SC278156. Its registered office is at 41 Miller Street, Glasgow.