Community Support

Web: https://www.bridgendfarmhouse.org.uk/

Web: https://charteriscentre.com

Web: https://www.salisburycentre.org/

Web: https://BanzaiEdinburgh.org.uk

We are community and local energy specialists, based on Constitution Street, Edinburgh. We have been working on local and community energy projects since 2011, including electricity and heat generation, energy efficiency, carbon footprinting and net zero strategy development, amongst much else. Our aim is to deliver greater local control of energy generation and supply, allowing communities to benefit from lower energy bills, lower carbon emissions, and long-term energy security.

As a leader in our city’s community food and health sector Edinburgh Community Food, following the four principles of dignity, works to promote health equality by providing affordable, healthy food, offering food education and supporting community health initiatives. We offer both support for low-income communities and tackle health inequalities across Edinburgh through our Food and Health Development work and supply of free, subsidised and paid-for food to households across the city. We also work within Edinburgh’s hospitals, supporting staff, patients and visitors and deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to businesses across the city. ECF has recently won the 2021 Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) Presidential Award and the 2021 Caroline Walker Trust Charity Campaigner of the Year Award.

An informal group for residents of Willowbrae to communicate local news, events, community efforts, tips to lead a more sustainable life, crime watch, and to offer mutual aid and support. This includes a Transition Streets group and Mothers CAN group, and links to the Eco group at the local Primary School. Community efforts include activities such as hand weeding streets to prevent Council from spraying glyphosate.

supporting dance artists and engaging people with the benefits of dance

Granton Goes Greener is an environmental project based at Granton Parish Church in North of Edinburgh. The core of the project is clothes swap shop, where we encourage our service users to reduce their carbon print by using second hand clothes, books and other items. We do organise occasional upcycling workshops and run a weekly sewing class.

We work in partnership with others to address the causes and effects of racism and to promote race equality. We aim to break down barriers to the full participation of minority ethnic communities in all aspects of civic life.

Dads Rock runs free groups, and services for Dads and Families in Edinburgh.

Vintage Vibes was set up to combat isolation and loneliness among over 60s in Edinburgh. With the support of our great team of volunteers, we create long lasting one-to-one friendships offering support, companionship and the opportunity to be more socially connected and active in the local community. We are exploring ways to engage with environmental issues actively in our project, given that over 60s are particularly vulnerable to climate change and underrepresented in discussions on this vital topic.

Edible Edinburgh is one of a network of Sustainable Food Place Partnerships, supported UK wide by Sustain. The cross sectoral partnership plays an important role in the development of sustainable food systems, campaigning for change and informing policy. City populations have a buying power and scope to free up land to grow more food locally. Also to influence the public spending on food to ensure that people can benefit from good, sustainable food.

BVT (Balerno Village Trust) set up an Energy Group in 2010 that eventually formed CBS Harlaw Hydro (a micro hydro community benefit coop) in 2013, which went live in 2015 and gifts surplus funds back to the BVT every year. We are currently undertaking a Net Zero CARES funded project in our 1950s community centre, with a whole host of challenges due to the condition and age of the building and the lack of volunteer time available.

Leith Community Growers is a small community group that works in the Leith Walk area. We aim to create accessible communtiy- and greenspace in and around Leith. That involves building planters and bat boxes, creating new gardens, growing spaces and wildlife habitats, organising various workshops, seed swaps and harvest festivals or giving out free community meals. We have regular drop-in gardening sessions at the Meanwhile Site with lots of regular and occasional volunteers, who are passionate about local food and growing projects.

Architecture & Building Surveying support to the not for profit sector in aligning our built environment with our response to the various sustainability crises facing us.

Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC), founded in 1971, is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity made up of individual members and representatives from a wide range of organisations. ELREC is a member of the Scottish Alliance of Regional Equality Councils and has a remit to work across the areas of City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils. ELREC runs the Communities’ Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Project which is funded by Climate Action Fund (CAF), The National Lottery Community Fund. The aim of the project is to encourage and support BAME communities in Edinburgh to reduce waste, increase reusing and repairing and to shift to a more sustainable consumption.

We run and host a wide range of activities in Southside Community Centre, including a gardening group in the centre's grounds.

Our Communities team in Scotland support locally based community groups and organisations to develop and run programmes encouraging the people they work with to walk, wheel and cycle more. We do this in partnership with other teams in Sustrans, and with other organisations such as Paths For All, Forth Environment Link, Living Streets, Cycling Scotland and Cycling UK in Scotland. We have a specific mission to support those who experience inequalities, and we know that walking, wheeling and cycling may be a means to an end, not the main purpose of your activity. Contact us for advice on running a community based project that includes an element of walking, wheeling or cycling, or for ideas on how you can support your local community to walk, wheel or cycle more.

​Bridgend Farmhouse is a sustainable community-owned centre for learning, eating and exercise in South Edinburgh. We aim to grow together to develop a flourishing community and place.

Cargo Bike Movement is a charity that was established, initially informally, in April 2020 in response to the first UK Covid-19 lockdown. Since then, we have gone through the journey of being a Community Interest Company (CIC) and now a registered charity (SC051593)!

Edible Estates is a partnership of organisations which work together to promote community greenspace projects. We work across a variety of communities, but our approach is particularly well suited to social housing estates. We use food growing as a tool for urban regeneration, promoting individual health and well-being, and community cohesion.

In summary, with our activities centred on Leith Community Croft at the NW corner of Leith Links, we connect people with each and the land/nature and promote responsible global citizenship.

Edinburgh Climate Cafe principly acts as an information providers and offers a space for people to take time and explore the various conepts, ideas and solutions in relation to climate change. We offer this mostly through street provision but also respond to information requests to attend events galas or as a supporting role to similar provision.We deliver works