Welcome to The Highland Council’s fortnightly briefing for groups with an interest in local community resilience.
Covid, Colds, and Flu related information
- NHS Inform Covid data
- NHS Highland local vaccination information – this includes information on the winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Flu vaccination programme which is now underway.
Funding
SCVO is a key source of funding information for the third sector. Funds that may be of interest include:
- Henry Smith Charity – Strengthening CommunitiesDesigned to support small charitable organisations working at grassroots level in the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. Applications can be submitted at any time.
- The McCorquodale Charitable Trust
Funds a wide variety of charitable organisations. Applications can be submitted at any time.
- Sir Iain Stewart Foundation
The fund has broad purposes, but favours children, older people and small, local projects. Applications can be submitted at any time.
Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund 2023 – 2026
Scottish government funding to support projects and organisations to facilitate progress towards the priorities of A Connected Scotland (2018) strategy and contribute to the recovery and reduction in societal harm associated with the Covid-19 pandemic and mitigate the impact of the ongoing cost of living crisis. Application deadline 31 March 2023.
Cost of Living Suppport ScotlandNational Lottery funding from £10,001 to £75,000 for projects to help support individuals, families and communities currently experiencing hardship as a result of the cost-of-living increases. The programme aims to fund activity that reduces the impact of, or prevents financial insecurity so that people have more resilience and are more able to identify ways to deal with the impact of increased cost of living in their lives, are able to shape activity in their community to address the increased cost-of-living, and have more access to support and services that will help them to deal with the increased cost of living.
Welfare, poverty reduction and resilience
- Highland Cares Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Training – Between April and June the Highland Council Education Psychology Team will be hosting a new training series. Trainings on offer are supporting teenage mental health, suicide awareness, and trauma informed. The training will be run online via Google Meets, booking is not needed, and links and descriptions are included in the attached document.
- Emergency Alert System Launched – The Cabinet Office has launched a new system allowing government and emergency services the capability to send an alert directly to mobile phones when there is a risk to life. A UK-wide alerts test will take place in the early evening of 23 April which will see people receive a test message on their mobile phones.
- Announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/launch-of-life-saving-public-emergency-alerts
- More information: https://www.gov.uk/alerts
- FAQ: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1143765/Frequently_asked_questions_about_Emergency_Alerts.pdf
- Highland Adapts – This story map platform has been created to help capture lived experiences of weather and climate change within the Highlands. These stories will help us better understand future opportunities and risks.
- Highland Good Food Partnership – The first two dates for a year-long programme of free workshops for community growers have been released. For further information please email [email protected]
- Getting your growing Going – Saturday 1st April – Inverness Botanic Gardens
- How to make Hugelkultur (no dig) Raised Beds – Monday 3rd Aprill – The Field, Alness
- Cost of living support – Highland Council webpages on support and information to help with the cost of living.
- Help during the cost-of-living crisis – Scottish Government advice and information.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
- NHS Highland Mental Wellbeing – a collection of resources and signposts to help people of all ages to look after their own mental wellbeing. Register for the event by following the link.
- Cost of living crisis and your mental health
Many people are feeling the strain as the cost of living continues to increase. This resource provides information on how you can maintain your mental wellbeing at this time, alongside information on how to manage your money as bills rise.
Emergency Planning
- Met Office Weather Warnings – https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2022-11-04
- Met Office Weather Ready https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/weatherready
- Scottish Flood Forecasting – Provides up to date information on when and where flooding is expected to occur over a three-day period.
- Floodline Scotland https://floodlinescotland.org.uk/
- Ready Scotland – preparing for emergencies https://ready.scot/
Douglas Crawford
Business Analyst
Community Support and Engagement
Highland Council