New Community Learning and Development Plan approved

Elected members heard about some of the Community Learning and Development highlights and key achievements that occurred between 2021 and 2024 including:

• Community Action Plans and Local Place Plans continuing to be facilitated across East Ayrshire, with a total of 32 Community Action Plans and 7 Local Place Plans now produced
• a continued focus on employability in East Ayrshire, further enhanced through the Local Employability Partnership and the two Skills and Learning Centres (SL33 and SL66) as well as the work of the EAC Employability Service
• multi-agency work helping to improve support for tenancies; community resilience; place-based multi-disciplinary teams; employability; tackling anti-social behaviour and poverty
• East Ayrshire Leisure Trust working in partnership with the Council and local community organisations in response to the Cost of Living Crisis, to create warm and welcoming spaces across community facilities over the winter months
• wellbeing supports being key to supporting our communities, especially in the areas of suicide awareness; community health and activity; and social isolation and loneliness
• Youth Work continuing to flourish in East Ayrshire with the delivery of community youth work provision delivered by East Ayrshire Council and its strategic partnership with yipworld, The Zone, Barnardos and wider third sector organisations.

Positive feedback on all of this work was also given by HMIe Inspection Teams during two visits over the course of the Community Learning and Development Framework 2021-2024.

Partners have now identified a number of improvement priorities for the next three years which feature in the new Community Learning and Development Plan, including improving outcomes for:

• young people through youth work, sport and diversionary activities
• adult learners through community-based adult learning, employability and English speaking for other languages activities
• our local communities through community capacity building, supporting local initiatives and the implementation of the Community Empowerment Act
• children and families through family learning, early intervention and prevention, and focused activities
• older adults through community health, activities and signposting

Encouraging volunteering across East Ayrshire with local community groups, charitable projects and through employee supported volunteering is also a priority, as is improving the social outcomes for residents by promoting social inclusion for residents and disabled people.

Councillor Jim McMahon, Cabinet Spokesperson for Housing, Transport and Communities, said: “Community Learning and Development has such an extensive reach in East Ayrshire and makes a real difference to people’s lives in a whole range of ways. Vibrant Communities and its partners work seamlessly through the Communities Partnership to share practice and resources, and to work out what’s needed most in our communities.

“Although we now have a number of priorities to focus on through the new plan, we also recognise that we need to remain flexible so that we can respond to the changing needs and opportunities of both our communities and our workforce over the coming years.”

The Community Learning and Development Plan for 2024-2027 will now be published and submitted to the Scottish Government. Review and monitoring arrangements will continue through the Communities Partnership and will be presented to Cabinet annually.

ends