We're living through rather strange times at the moment. The recent health crisis means we have to put our first small grants programme of 2020 on hold for the time being. But that doesn't mean we've stopped working!
Our main focus at the moment is staying connected. Terms like 'social distancing' and 'isolation' are being used so often it's easy to forget that most humans need social interaction and, up until now, we've been focussed on how to overcome social isolation - there's even a Scottish Government policy about it.
As a community-led initiative where funding decisions are passed to the whole community we've seen Gorbals people support a whole host of ideas designed to combat isolation and loneliness, and not just in older people. We've even built our model on the basis of connecting people. When we introduced digital voting last year it was on the understanding that this would never replace Community Voting Events, as these are such an important way of bringing people together. Our programme of Connect Sessions that bring together successful applicants to share experiences, challenges, and learning are all about building connections and relationships too. It’s with this in mind that we want to find new ways of connecting with each other, with grantees and with local people.
Social distancing doesn't mean we can't connect with one another, it just means we can't stand right next to each other when we are connecting. Now, more than any other time in history, we have a whole host of tools that can help us stay connected and engaged and here at the Gorbals Ideas Fund we'll be testing out quite a few of these over the coming weeks to make sure we can stay connected to you!
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