Fourteen dementia projects share £145,000 fund
Fourteen projects across Scotland have been awarded funding to enable them to offer grassroots, community-based support for people affected by dementia.
The About Dementia, Age Scotland and Scottish Government partnership fund awarded grants worth a total of £145,921 to the successful applicants through the ‘Encouraging and Supporting Grassroots Activity Fund’, part of a larger £1million investment by the Scottish Government. Applications were open to organisations and community groups looking to provide grassroots, community-focused support for people affected by dementia.
The fourteen successfully funded projects are:
St Madoes and Kinfauns Parish Church: The Madoch Centre, Perthshire
An Talla Solais (Ullapool Visual Arts), Ullapool
Sharing A Story, East Lothian
Lingo Flamingo, Scotland-wide
British Deaf Association Scotland, Scotland-wide
Yoker Resource Centre, Glasgow
Recovery Enterprises Scotland, East-Ayrshire
Caraidean Uibhist, Southern Isles of the Outer Hebrides
Nomad Beat, Scottish Borders
Harlawhill Day Care Centre, East Lothian
Mearns Kirk Helping Hands, East Renfrewshire
LifeCare Edinburgh, North Edinburgh
St Andrews Dementia Hub, South Lanarkshire
The Forget Me Notes Project, Edinburgh
These projects will offer a range of activities to support people living with dementia and their families.
Like previous rounds of funding facilitated by this partnership fund, the application process for this strand was highly competitive. Applicants could request awards of between £5,000 and £20,000, with £145,921 available in total. 78 applications were received, requesting a total of over £1million. Applications were assessed by About Dementia staff alongside a ‘lived experience panel' consisting of people living with dementia and unpaid carers, who were also heavily involved in shaping and co-producing the fund criteria and assessment process.
The successful projects will be announced today at About Dementia’s Stakeholder Engagement event in Stirling, which has been designed to facilitate conversations around the new National Dementia Strategy and the launch of a new Dementia Friendly Communities Network in Scotland.
Kevin Stewart, Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, said:
“Community led support for people living with dementia keeps people connected to their local communities doing things they enjoy after their diagnosis.
“I will always champion the grassroots groups that deliver these services on the front line – and am pleased to see such a wide variety of projects receive funding as part of the £1 million government investment delivered through Age Scotland and About Dementia.”
Kainde Manji, Head of Dementia at Age Scotland, added:
“We are thrilled to be awarding grants to these 14 organisations. Our panel were hugely impressed by the diversity of applications received and the range of activities on offer. The popularity of this fund underlines yet again the importance of the work taking place at a grassroots community level to support people living with dementia where they are. This work is vital in enabling people to live well following a diagnosis, and in tackling social isolation. However, we know this doesn’t come about by accident.
Community organisations across Scotland are facing huge challenges, from the cost of food and heating, to the loss of local government funding. The new dementia strategy is a huge opportunity to shore up support for these irreplaceable community assets, and we are delighted to be playing a small part in delivering on this.”
Applications are now open for the next strand of the partnership fund, the Meeting Centres Seedcorn Fund, which will support the development of five Meeting Centres across Scotland. Five awards of £10,000 are available and applicants must show a commitment to opening a Meeting Centre within one year. The fund closes on 2nd December 2022.
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