Glasgow city Council announced on 28 August that Early Years Scotland (EYS), the leading third sector organisation for children from pre-birth to five years, had been turned down for the £100,596 a year grant that it applied for under the Glasgow Communities Fund.
It is one of 136 charities and agencies that have been rejected for any support by the new fund, previously known as the Integrated Glasgow Fund.
The organisation, which has almost 1,200 members, applied for the funding in order to be able to continue ‘vital direct support services’ for local Early Learning and Childcare settings, as well as the EYS Together We Can practical support sessions for parent and toddler groups across the city.
Jane Brumpton CEO, Early Years Scotland, said, ‘EYS is extremely disappointed to learn that we have been unsuccessful in securing this funding, which would have enabled us to continue to provide much needed direct, face-to-face support, which greatly benefits children and families the length and breadth of Glasgow.
‘We value, beyond measure, the place that parent and toddler groups play in the earliest years of children’s lives, as well as the positive impact they have overall. They support strong, rich and nurturing connections within communities, and promote family wellbeing.’
In a heartfelt statement, Ms Brumpton reassured members that EYS remains ‘strongly committed’ to supporting all ELC and parent and toddler group member settings through these extremely difficult and challenging times.
She said, ‘We promise to continue to be there for you, as and when you need us to be, to ensure you remain sustainable and resilient going forward. EYS is already actively working on new and innovative ways to continue to support services, where face to face delivery is affected.’
£4m transitional funding
Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council has bought forward an extra £4 million of transitional funding to help charities working in communities across the city. This fund will be made available for the ‘advice sector, violence against women organisations, and communities of interest and equalities groups supporting many of those most severely impacted by the pandemic’.
As we previously reported, a number of organisations including One Parent Families Scotland and Buddies were left devastated after their applications for grants from the Glasgow Communities Fund were unsuccessful.
Commenting on the committee’s decisions, One Parent Families Scotland CEO Satwat Rehman welcomed the cross-party agreement by the Glasgow City Council’s City Administration Committee that secures transition funding for the next two and a half years.
Although the organisation has not had any confirmation that it will receive any of the £4m funding, she said, ‘It is excellent news that this fund will support organisations like OPFS which were previously funded by the council through the Integrated Grant Fund and whose applications to the Glasgow Communities Fund have been unsuccessful.’
She added, ‘We are particularly pleased that there is recognition of the importance of services working with ‘communities of interest', of which single parents are one of the biggest groups in Glasgow and among the most severely impacted by the pandemic and resulting lockdown. We know single parents and their children are in a unique situation and require a specialist response. We have provided that response in Glasgow for 14 years and have supported parents to meet some of their greatest challenges yet in the last six months due to COVID-19. We look forward to discussions about how our work will be included in the transition fund.’
A spokesperson from the council told Nursery World, that the £4m fund ‘is not’ an extension to the Communities Fund and it would take in excess of £80m to cover the unsuccessful applications.
He added, ‘This is genuinely about transition – targeting new funding to key sectors (advice, violence against women, equalities and the arts) to try and help secure their future in the short terms and create room to work towards establishing more sustainable funding models.’
