We know there are a lot of uncertainties at the moment, but one thing you can rely on is The Welcoming. Since March we have adapted our services and currently offer a range of online classes, activities and support for New Scots in Edinburgh.
Before lockdown
From April 2019 to March 2020 we supported 1500 service user from over 80 nationalities, and had around 125 new registrations every month.
We provided hundreds of New Scots with English language classes, women’s group meetings, community lunches, health and wellbeing sessions, employability and business guidance, home energy advice, home food growing support, outings, and the chance to make friends through our befriending programme.
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Since lockdown began
Since March, we have found new ways to maintain our impact and support the lives of New Scots in Edinburgh.
We have run over 75 online friendship groups to help New Scots build new friendships, develop a sense of community and combat loneliness. We have also delivered over 100 hours of Zoom / WhatsApp videocalls with befrienders and befriendees.
Our English classes have moved online and maintained momentum with four classes being taught every week.
We continue to provide one-to-one employability guidance for New Scots in Scotland, which has been particularly important during these difficult financial times.
Since April we have provided 25 New Scots families with one-to-one support to efficiently manage their heating systems, lighting and hot water usage. Our Home Food Growing programme has also proved to be very popular among the community with 23 families getting involved this year.
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Get involved
There are many ways you can get involved in The Welcoming from home. Our programme of activities currently includes:
- English language classes and courses
- Employment and business guidance
- One-to-one Befriending
- The Wee Blether
- Women’s Groups
- Living Well Lunch Club
- Home energy, recycling and food growing
- Digital skills in Arabic
- The Welcoming Choir
You can keep up to date about our current services by checking our Timetable, or by following us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Thank you
We are delighted to be able to continue supporting our community in Edinburgh, thanks to our funders, and we are thankful for the determination and creativity of our staff members, volunteers, and community members who have helped us create a Welcoming world online for our community during the pandemic.