Community development

Views are currently being sought to inform the development of a new refugee integration strategy for Scotland.

The Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council are working to develop the strategy and want to hear the views of a wide range of organisations, groups and individuals with an interest in refugee integration.

The world’s first 100% community-owned distillery, GlenWyvis, welcomed almost 150 new members on the day of the launch. The distillery already has some 2,600 original members who invested in the 2016 share offer and the new share offer was designed to capitalise on continued interest by opening the door to new members.  A total of over £75,000 was raised in the first 24 hours.

David O’Connor, chairman of GlenWyvis Distillery said:

The Lanarkshire LEADER programme has awarded a grant of £69,720 to the WAT IF? community development trust to support the employment of a Development Manager for three years.

Woolfords, Auchengray, Tarbrax Improvement Foundation was established in 2012 and aims to support rural regeneration and community development in the three villages. It also manages the distribution of community benefit funding generated from surrounding local wind farms.

The 2017 SURF Awards are now open for entries in five categories.

The SURF Awards are open to all community regeneration projects in Scotland that are currently in place or that have been completed within two years of the closing date.

The awards:

A new project coordinated by Voluntary Arts Scotland is offering anyone aged 50+ who helps run creative cultural activity a chance to access free training in digital skills.

Basic digital skills could be anything from establishing a Facebook page for your group or designing an eye-catching poster for an event, to using mobile technology to reach new members.

The Plunkett Foundation have published two reports highlighting the impact of community owned shops and cooperative pubs in the UK.

The reports show that by the end of 2016, there were 46 cooperative pubs trading in the UK, including six pubs that opened that year. There are 338 community owned shops in the UK, with 31 in Scotland. These shops provide vital services to 1,400 remote rural communities and have created 1,114 paid jobs and 9,605 volunteer positions.