Copy of New Plan pages | edinburghdeveloptgrp

Welcome to EDG Care Co-operative

New section

In the summer of 2020, EDG begun it’s new project Our Street Our Town, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and City of Edinburgh Innovation Fund , with the focus on the South Queensferry and Kirkliston area.

We are working with a whole range of people within the community, specifically those with disabilities and health conditions, their families and carers.

We want to find better ways to support people by bringing them together with local people who have skills and interests such as massage, cooking, IT, arts & crafts, hairdressing and sports coaching.

Our project will find new ways of working, and new ways of supporting each other by looking at what works locally. When local people become part of this project it offers an opportunity for them to do something for their community and influence what could be available to people as ideas and options that might emerge.

The EDG team will use their experience to host and facilitate people to come together in South Queensferry to share what works well. We know people often have ideas as to how things could improve and what needs to change. The COVID-19 crisis has presented many challenges, but it has also created a space for many people to think about doing things differently.

The National Lottery Community fund and the Innovation Fund are funding us to take our learnings from previous co-operatives developments into a geographical community to support the development of these two new co-operatives:-

1. A community care co-operative, bringing together a range of people who would like to improve their lives through mutual support

2. A workers’ co-operative, bringing together people with a range of skills and interests to identify local employment opportunities and meet the needs of others within their community.

New page

The Plan

New section

Covid 19 has interrupted our work and plans, but despite this we have been able to continue the background work.

In the summer of 2020, we sent out flyers to all households in postcode areas EH30 & EH29 describing our work and plans to develop the 2 co-operatives. We encouraged people to contact us. If they had talents or skills, they wanted to offer or they wished to purchase the skills of their neighbours.

For the remainder of 2020 and into spring 2021

We aim to:

Continue to spread the word, reaching out to as many local people as

possible (we appreciate your assistance with this!)

We would like to hold series of information sessions with one or two people in local cafés.
Once we have sufficient numbers interested in pursuing these co-op, after Christmas hold the first of 10-session group project at a mutually convenient time. These sessions will be to give information, establish what the group wants from a co-op, and to build connections between participants. It will be facilitated by EDG staff. By the end of this process the group will have a

charter in place and feel equipped to begin setting up the co-op (still with

support from EDG).

Spring / early summer time 2021 to hold an open air ‘market place’.
EDG will give ongoing support as the co-op becomes established and gets its support network in place.
EDG only withdraws once the above is achieved.