The Scottish Community Foundation will distribute £315,150 of the Big Lottery Fund Dynamic, Inclusive Communities programme (DInC) pot of £1,123,467. The aim of DInC is to strengthen communities so that they can play a bigger and more effective role in planning their own futures.

The Foundation will establish capacity building programmes in eight Scottish communities. Through Our Community Our Future, we will help groups living in these communities to canvas the opinions of their community to find out what the issues are, for example, poor local transport links, or closure of a vital local service. We hope communities will be empowered to approach decision makers with greater confidence, armed with findings to support their cause.

Nick Addington, Scottish Community Foundation grants director, said: ‘We are delighted to be delivering Our Community Our Future in Scotland. Over the next four years, we will work closely with eight diverse groups to support them as they make positive changes tackling the issues that affect them.

‘The Foundation believes the best way to make positive and lasting change in a community is for the people who live there to become more empowered to influence their own future. Our role will be to provide advice and support, but the drive and direction will come from the groups. To support their efforts, we will provide a resource bank of £20,000 per group to enable them to commission additional support, or activities.’

An announcement of the selected eight communities is to follow.