Health & Wellbeing

We support stakeholders across the food systems from farm to fork to adopt more sustainable practices to ensure more people have access to good food.

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.

Our activities promote eco-friendly practices, environmental education, and initiatives that foster a harmonious relationship with nature aiming to bring people back to balance again. By engaging our community in environmental stewardship, we aim to contribute to the collective wellbeing of both humanity and the Planet.

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.

Choirs For Climate offers resources for any choirs who are passionate about the environment. Get new music for your choir to sing, find causes to support, pick up tips on becoming an eco-friendly choir, and much more.

supporting dance artists and engaging people with the benefits of dance

Causey Development Trust works to transform West Crosscauseway from a vehicle dominated street into a safer, more attractive street for people that incorporates a new public space respecting the heritage of its surrounding buildings on the boundary of the World Heritage site. It will reduce through vehicle traffic and support people’s health and well-being, encourage more walking , cycling and wheeling and create a space for community events.

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.

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.

The Green Team is an environmental youth organisation working with children and young people through nature connection, outdoor learning, environmental education and practical volunteering to improve the greenspaces of Edinburgh in terms of habitats and biodiversity and leave things better than we found them. We work with young people of all ages through enjoyment and play, learning and teaching, discussion and enquiry and the development of practical and social skills. We are very keen on supporting young people to find their voice and influence their future and the future of the Green Team. Our staff led programmes are supported by adult volunteers who give their time, experience and skills to support young people to participate.

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.