In Autumn 2018, Partick Housing Association was successful in securing a £20,000 grant from the Scottish Government’s Community Choices Fund. We were one of sixteen community organisations from across Scotland to receive a share of the £750,000 Fund.
Working in partnership with Annexe Communities, we set up the Partick and Thornwood Ideas Fund to distribute the grant to projects which will benefit people living in the local area. We invited the community to apply for grants to deliver projects under three broad themes; Environment, Young People (under 25) and Elderly. The Fund was open to individuals and groups to apply for pots of up to £1500.
We received a staggering 31 applications totalling £26,500. On Monday 3 December we held a Community Voting Event at Partick Burgh Hall, and invited the community to vote to decide how funds should be distributed. This method of distributing funds is known as Participatory Budgeting and gives people a direct voice in how funds should be invested in their community.
About 100 people attended the voting event, to hear from different projects. The individuals and groups seeking funding had prepared story boards and short presentations to explain their ideas.
One of the attendees said; “There was a fantastic atmosphere in the room with a strong sense of community. It was a great opportunity to hear about projects that I’m not familiar with. The event was well organised. Thank you to PHA for a great night, I hope you do more of this kind of thing”.
Following the vote, 22 projects were funded, one was part-funded, and seven were unsuccessful. A full list of the projects and results is available on our website.
Viki McCormick, Community Development Officer said “All of the ideas presented have potential to deliver activities which are really valuable to the community. Unfortunately it is the nature of participatory budgeting that not all projects can be funded – the decision making power is in the hands of local people.
Along with our partner organisation, Annexe Communities, we will work to support all of the applicants with the next steps regardless of the outcome of the voting event”.
We’ll share news of the projects and how they are progressing in 2019.
Click here to see the list of projects and funding status.
Were you at the event? Please click here to answer a few short questions and give us your feedback.