Welcome to Your Moray

The Cairngorms National Park Authority is holding a series of information roadshows throughout the Park in July with the aim of demystifying the Scotland Rural Development Programme. Find out more here.

A new research project commissioned by the Scottish Government aims to develop a clear picture or map of Scotland's disability organisations and groups. You can provide information about your organisation by completing an online form here. More details

Details of the latest round up of awards from The Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland are available here.

The Scottish Government has launched a new service called Rural Direct to help rural communities to access funding from a range of sources, including the new Scotland Rural Development Programme. The service will be delivered locally through MVSO more..

Learning Connections have published a new brief guide to producing information in a format, which can be easily accessed and read. Also a brief reminder, if you know of anyone with reading, writing or numeracy problems ask them to contact Moira Strathdee, Adult Learning Coordinator on (01343) 562212.

This consultation seeks views on proposals to improve the way school closures are handled and ensure the decision to close a rural school is one of last resort. Consultation closes: 19th Sep 2008. More info

A discussion on how Scotland's economic growth can be harnessed to make Scotland wealthier and fairer for all has been extended until 30th June 2008. The Scottish Government is seeking your views on the discussion paper 'Tackling Poverty, Inequality and Deprivations'. There are 880,000 individuals in Scotland living in relative poverty. That's around 18 per cent of the population. Almost a quarter of households are fuel poor (24 per cent) and 8 per cent are extremely fuel poor.

The Scottish Government want your responses to questions such as: 'Where can the Scottish Government contribute most to tackling poverty? How should the Scottish Government best go about engaging the wider public in its efforts to tackle poverty in Scotland?

Please note that the deadline for applications to the Heritage Grants programme (grants over £50,000) under our previous Strategic Plan has now passed. The last deadline for small grants (Your Heritage and Young Roots) using the old forms is 30 June. Please let us know if you are intending to apply before this deadline.
All our current programmes remain under the new Strategic Plan but with new application materials and some changes (most significantly for Heritage Grants which introduces a two round process for all applications). The new application materials and a range of new guidance documents are now available on our website www.hlf.org.uk where you can apply online. We will start assessing applications on the new forms in September 2008. The Awards for All application pack remains unchanged. Grants Awarded April 2008

The Scottish Emigration Museum is an ambitious new museums, libraries and archives partnership project currently under development through Museums Galleries Scotland. More info ...

Buy into Highland Website
The recently launched Buy into Highland website allows you to search for social enterprises in the Highlands by location and by service. The site includes a number of social enterprises in Moray.

Crimestoppers
Crimestoppers are looking for nominations for their Young Citizen of the Year and Socially Responsible Business of the Year Awards from businesses and young people throughout Grampian. - nominations to michelle@crimestoppersscotland.com by 27 May.

Village Halls Summit
A report on the recent Village Halls Summit at Aviemore has been published.

Rural Priorities Information Leaflet
Rural Development Contracts: Rural Priorities is a new funding mechanism, and part of the new Scotland Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 (SRDP). Farmers, foresters, businesses and communities can now submit ideas to Rural Priorities, which is worth almost £800m. Rural Priorities aims to deliver economic, environmental and social benefits to rural Scotland. Find out more from this information leaflet.

Community Energy Projects
Ruralnet UK’s ‘Low Carbon Communities’ study looked at community energy projects in the UK to provide a better understanding of these projects in a rural setting. In the report you can find out how community energy projects are working, what funding is currently available and where the funding gaps are.

February Awards from the Heritage Lottery Fund
Details of grants awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund during February 2008 are available here. (PDF 94KB)

Plans for travel demo towns
Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson is making up to £15 million available over the next three years to help create a series of 'sustainable travel demonstration communities' across the country. More info

Equality Matters in Business
A new service aimed at exploring business development opportunities and assisting companies to become more profitable has just been launched by the Scottish Government through Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise. More Info

Nationwide Community and Heritage Awards 2008
Nationwide Building Society has teamed up with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to launch the Nationwide Community and Heritage Awards 2008, inviting the public to nominate people or groups who deserve recognition for community or voluntary work that has made a real difference to people’s lives. More...

Calor Gas Village of the Year Awards
The Scottish Calor Village of the Year awards were launched on 20th February 2008 at the Scottish Parliament. The awards give rural communities the chance to win up to £4000 for community development. See Rural Gateway website for further information.

National Food Discussion
The first steps towards a national policy for food have begun. The food policy aims to join up Government policy on every part of the food chain from farm gate to plate. Comments are invited by the closing date of 25 April 2008.

Young Scot Awards 2008
Nominations are invited for the Young Scot Awards 2008 by 8 February ... more

Champions for Sustainable Communities Awards 2008
Nominations are now open for Forward Scotland's inaugural Champions for Sustainable Communities awards. The awards are designed to give recognition to the highly motivated individuals who have worked to make communities more sustainable. Follow this link to make a nomination - deadline is 8 February 2008. More info

Children's Choice Awards
Deadline: Thursday 14 February 2008
The Children's Choice Awards are a chance for children to nominate an adult who makes a positive difference in their life. It could be a teacher or youth worker, family member or carer, someone you work with, or somebody in the community like a police officer or doctor.
The competition is open to anybody 18 or under who lives in Scotland. The top prize of a quality digital camera will go to the child or young person who nominates the winning adult. You are limited to nominating a maximum of 3 adults and you can nominate online at www.childrenschoiceaward.co.uk

National Planning Framework
Nine infrastructure projects have been identified as potential national developments in the second National Planning Framework, out for consultation today.

The Framework outlines a vision for Scotland's development to 2030.

What Young People Think
A survey of the attitudes/concerns of over 3000 young people in Scotland has revealed some interesting findings. (17/12/07)

Strengthening Scotland's Communities
New training programme with events across Scotland over the next quarter to improve quality and impact of capacity building. (14/12/07)

School Leaver Destinations
The school leaver destination survey for 2006/07 leavers has just been published - lots more detail than previous surveys, including breakdowns by ethnicity, gender, support needs etc. (14/12/07)

Rural Advocacy in Scotland
Report by Scottish Consumer Council suggesting the 'rural voice' is not being sufficiently heard. (21/11/07)

Community Transport Funding
HITRANS, the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership, has announced that applications to the Enhanced Demand Responsive Transport Initiative should be made to them by 21st December 2007. You will find an application form on the HITRANS website.

This funding stream is the follow on from the Rural Community Transport Initiative. The new HITRANS initiative covers 3 years from 1st April 2008.

The aim of the Enhanced Demand Responsive Transport Initiative is to fund community transport measures that will be of particular help in the Highlands and Islands, particularly where there are no scheduled bus services or where services are very limited. (21/11/07)

Rural Scotland Key Facts (2007)

The latest statistical update has just been published

New Toolkit

The Development Trust Association Scotland have produced a toolkit to help communities set up and run their own development trust.

How to Market Local Food

A new Local Food Marketing Guide from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) has launched. The easy-to-read guide features a range of marketing advice, including ‘Ten keys to Successful Marketing’ and ‘Local Foods Success Factors’ (5/11/07)

Housing in Scotland
The Scottish Government's Discussion Paper on the future of housing in Scotland has just been launched. Your views on the paper are welcome - there is an online response form available - by 25 January 2008. (1/11/07)

Are You Wired Up for Success?
Two new books have recently been published by the Community Development Foundation to help community groups make the most of information technology. (23/10/07)

Climate change forecasting
A new online resource to help organisations think about the effects of Scotland's changing climate has gone live. The Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership (SCCIP) website - at http://www.sccip.org.uk/ - offers free access to the best quality data on climate trends and their impacts on Scotland.

Show Racism the Red Card Fortnight of Action - 16^th to 30^th October 2007
NHS Show Racism The Red Card (SRtRC) is an anti-racist campaigning and educational charity. The aim is to combat racism through enabling role models, who are predominantly but not exclusively footballers, to present an anti-racist message to young people and society. More info.

Active for Later Life
NHS Health Scotland has just published a new web-based resource promoting Active for Later Life.

Community Environmental Renewal Scheme
On 2nd August 2007 Environment Minister Michael Russell announced funding of £1.24 million from the first round of the Community Environmental Renewal Scheme. The fund, managed by Forward Scotland, has been awarded to 29 communities across Scotland. Results from the second round of the awards will be allocated later. More info

Can't Afford to leave . Can't Afford to stay
This is the title of a new report by the Scottish Council Foundation into Financial Inclusion and Capability in rural Scotland. A summary version is also available. (03/08/07)

The Trojan Project
The Scottish Executive recently commissioned a piece of work from the Trojan Project to ask young people, particularly more vulnerable young people (aged 12-16), their thoughts on their journeys through life - what their goals and ambitions were and what helped them and what hindered them in reaching those goals. The results of this piece of work are now available along with a description of the young people who took part and the methodology and tools used to produce it. The "life journey poster" gives a really good picture of what the young people questioned think about some of the real issues facing them. Copies of the poster are available from the Trojan team. If you wish to use only sections of the poster or examples from it (for example as illustrations in publications), Trojan has asked that you use their illustrator for this purpose - and that there might be a small charge for this.

Links to the Trojan Project are now available at: http://www.improvementservice.org.uk/community-planning/community-planning/news/the-trojan-project.html.

Scottish Mentoring Network
The Scottish Mentoring Network is inviting local areas to explore the possibility of forming a local mentoring network for practitioners, scheme coordinators and other interested parties. An initial meeting has been scheduled for 17th July at UHI Millennium Institute, Executive Offices, Ness Walk, Inverness. The day will include presentations from mentoring organisations operating in the area, small group discussions and plenty of opportunity for networking and will include lunch.

Whether you are actively involved in mentoring, or simply wish to find out more about it, you are invited to attend this free event. Please remember that places are limited, so be sure to reserve your place as soon as possible and no later than 12pm on the 13^th July 2007. You can do this by completing and returning the this form online or by emailing Debbie on info@scottishmentoringnetwork.co.uk

Setting Up for Success
A new practical handbook has just been produced through the Community Development Foundation, which will help community groups to develop and grow. It is designed to assist both newly formed and existing groups to take their work to the next level. It will show groups how to: