Inspiring Leith, a project within Bethany Christian Trust, was established in 2012 with a mission to partner with local people and support their ideas for their community.
Our Community Development Workers support people to create an ever-adapting range of groups and events. Through collaboration and facilitative support, groups become places for local people to share interests, build networks and drive change in their community.
One of these is the Cables Wynd Residents Group, established by residents of the housing block in Leith.
We chatted to two group members, Kirsty and Sheri, about improvements in community spirit at the building since Inspiring Leith began working with residents:
“It feels there’s a bigger community feeling now. It feels much more of a space.”
— Kirsty
“I moved two and a half years ago and I met a ton of people at these community things. You know, it’s kind of why I got involved. [My partner] has lived there since 1978 and he says I know, like, quadruple the amount of people he does [through my involvement in CWRG].”
— Sheri
As our project workers became more embedded in the Cables Wynd community they began to hear stories of the systemic injustice that residents face.
“Hannah motivates us to keep going instead of giving up and doing nothing. It’s having that positive vibe of someone trying to help us to improve where we live.”
— Sheri
The Cables Wynd Community Forum was started by residents in 2022. Since then, residents have carried out their own research and have learned how to link their housing issues to human rights. Published in January and put before the City of Edinburgh Council on 30th January, their report, entitled ‘Our Housing Rights Project’, was written in collaboration with Hannah, Making Rights Real and designed in-house at Bethany Christian Trust. Read more about it here.
Hannah Kitchen Kirby welcomes the Council’s response to the report so far: an acceptance of the findings and an apology. City of Edinburgh Council will respond fully to the report at City Chambers on 27th February at 6:30pm.
