Handing power to the people in Edinburgh
Ten community projects awarded 10-year funding in radical £15m plan to transform lives from the grassroots up
Something remarkable happened in Edinburgh today with the announcement that a pioneering fund is guaranteeing ten years of support to a raft of potentially transformational projects designed to tackle poverty, racism and climate change across the Capital.
It is the latest milestone in the life of the Regenerative Futures Fund. Following an open city-wide application process, eleven organisations and collaborative partnerships have been selected to receive sustained support over the next decade.
One of the major hopes is that it will harness longer-term thinking to create a new way of enabling communities, with their pooled knowledge and lived experiences, to lead the work needed to tackle the fundamental issues of poverty, racism and climate challenge.
And it wouldn’t have happened without the extra-ordinary and thoughtful input of a panel of “ordinary” city residents whose own lives have been impacted by these issues.
Each award will provide up to a million pounds over ten years, offering rare long-term, unrestricted funding designed to enable deep, lasting and system-changing work in communities across Edinburgh. The funding decisions were made by the Residents’ Panel established by the Regenerative Futures Fund.
From food to finance
The Fund said: “Projects supported include those building financial security and tackling stigma around poverty within Edinburgh’s Sikh community, supporting paid opportunities for Black creatives to address structural barriers in the arts sector, and co-designing local food and medicine production and distribution.
“Other awards span a range of organisations and partnerships across the city, delivering initiatives such as advocating for improved local housing conditions, supporting community-led climate focused activities initially within the Sudanese community, and engaging local communities around the development of heat network implementation.”
Co-Head of the Fund Leah Black, who originally had the “kernel of an idea” to establish a long-term funding model while cycling a city towpath, paid tribute to the work of those on the Residents Panel, and to the funders who bought into the vision. “We are deeply grateful to all involved, and to the Residents’ Panel whose time and insight shaped every stage of this journey. In the wealthiest city in Scotland, where 17% of people – including 21% of all children – live in relative poverty, we are operating in a complex environment. Poverty, racism and climate change are interconnected, real and present challenges for us all, and tackling them requires long-term commitment, trust and collective action.”
