Our base is at the heart of the community and we want fairness and social justice for local people affected by health inequalities. We are Scotland’s oldest heath project, and have served the people of North Edinburgh since 1984. Health inequalities are the unfair differences in health between different social groups. There is overwhelming evidence that social factors, including education, employment status, income, gender and ethnicity have a marked influence on how healthy we are. In every country in the world there are wide disparities in the health status of different social groups. The lower a person’s socio-economic position, the higher their risk of poor health. Our vision is Equality, Wellbeing and Belonging for all in our communities. We work with a strengths based approach, supporting and developing the strengths inside someone - like knowledge and experience. This way of working can empower people to take control of their own health and avoids doing things to people, not with them. The global pandemic has exacerbated health inequalities, and those most affected are the people that were already most disadvantaged in our city. Loneliness and isolation, loss of independence, impact of furlough, reduced hours and unemployment, the stigma of claiming benefits and using foodbanks and managing conflict in relationships all contribute to the significant distress witnessed by organisations providing support in our communities. The measures put in place to mitigate the worst effects of economic hardship. Poverty and Coronavirus in Edinburgh Interim Report – Summary https://edinburghpovertycommission.org.uk/2020/05/19/poverty-and-coronavirus-in-edinburgh-interim-report/ The pandemic has meant many local people and families needed crisis support in the last year. Moving quickly in March 2020, our small team quickly refocussed our resources to meet local needs alongside our third sector and statutory partners in North Edinburgh and our wider locality.