Edinburgh community projects face closure as council funding ends

Campaigners, who issued an eleventh-hour plea for a rethink ahead of a decision being made today, said the removal of the grants called into question the council’s commitment to racial equality.The city’s children and families committee is being recommended not to continue funding for the Leith-based Multi-Cultural Family Base (MCFB), which provides support to both recently arrived and established minority ethnic children, young people and families; Sikh Sanjog, which offers training, advice and counselling to Sikh women, children and families; and Intercultural Youth Scotland, whose work includes confidence-building courses, heritage dance sessions and an employability service.The campaigners say between them, the three charities support families from pre-birth to teenage years and cover a large demographic spread across the city.Anne Spiers, director of Multi-Cultural Family Base, said: “The proposed discontinuation of funding will have a devastating effect on over 200 of our most socially isolated and excluded children in Edinburgh.”She said MCFB’s Early Years Service had 19 years’ experience in addressing the barriers facing black and Asian minority ethnic (BAME) families while its Four Corners Project tackled social isolation for young people in poorer areas of the city.Trishna Singh, founder and director of Sikh Sanjog, said: “Our youth work provision has 30 years of experience in addressing barriers for some of the most vulnerable and excluded BAME families in Edinburgh.”Robina Qureshi, director of refugee and homelessness charity Positive Action in Housing, said only one per cent of the £3.4m grant total was going to services specifically designated for BAME communities, who make up 16.1 per cent of Edinburgh’s population “This brings into question the City of Edinburgh Council’s stated commitment to racial equality.”Meanwhile, One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS) will no longer receive funding for its Edinburgh Lone Fathers Project which has been supported by the council for 17 years to run groups for children and dads at weekends.OPFS manager Brock Lueck said: “There are many projects like ours who face closures and severe restrictions of services without this money.“We don’t have a right to these grants and I know the council has been tasked with saving a lot of money, but the process for deciding the grants seems to be a bit flawed.”