Tag: community

Introducing our new project: The Circle Superstars

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We are excited to be introducing a new project to benefit children and young people during the lockdown. Set to launch in June, The Circle Superstars is a new initiative to provide activity packs to children and young people living in Dundee whose families currently access provisions from local food projects. The packs will include activities that will stimulate creativity while encouraging a focus on mindset, community and environment. This is a pilot project and will initially be delivered in the areas within Strathmartine Ward. This project has been funded by the Wellbeing Fund; a fund administered by the Scottish Government for organisations providing important services for people as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Come volunteer at our Community Café – 3 roles available

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The Circle Café provides Living Wage employment and training for one year to looked-after young people and care leavers. We run this in partnership with Barnardo’s Works, Leisure and Culture Dundee and Dundee City Council. It has been funded by the Community Lottery Fund.

Based at Staffa Place, in the Strathmartine Ward, The Circle is a community hub and offers affordable space to charities, social enterprises and small businesses. We support organisations with a More Than Profit approach to become sustainable and make a social impact. Our other services are offices, room bookings, consultancy and The Circle Academy.

The Circle Café currently employs a Café Manager, Café Supervisor and one Young Start Trainee.

Since opening, The Circle Café has had steady attendance over lunchtime and has a growing list of corporate clients who order buffets. In order to continue their growth and support the trainees appropriately, we are looking for volunteers to help us.

Volunteer posts

  • Cooking in the café and serving to our tenants and visitors during our opening times.  Experience is preferred and help is needed from 9am to 2pm, Monday to Friday.
  • Administration – diary and bookings, orders and email communications. Volunteers are welcome from 9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.
  • Promotion – delivering menus and flyers to businesses in Dundee. Can do this at any time but direction and materials provided from 9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday. Mileage paid, if applicable.

If you are interested in volunteering please call 01382 699990 or email reception@thecircledundee.org.uk

The Circle is running its first Open Day!

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The Circle will be running a free Open Day on Friday 5th April from 9.30am to 8pm. We are inviting the public to meet its staff, volunteers and the different organisations that are based here. People will get the chance to find out about the variety of services that The Circle and our tenants offer and how they can get involved themselves.

The Circle houses a wide range of organisations from sole traders to national charities. Our tenants include Better:Gen, Dundee Independent Advocacy Support, Uppertunity CIC, Cornerstone and Togs SCIO. Attendees of the Open Day will get to learn about what these tenant organisations do and hear about how The Circle came to be. The public will also get to learn about the variety of regular activities available at The Circle which cater to a number of people. This includes mother and baby fitness classes, art, cooking and gardening classes for people with additional needs and an intergenerational choir.

Founder and CEO of The Circle, Kirsty Thomson, is excited for more of the local community to find out about The Circle.

“The open day will really be a chance for people to get a behind the scenes look at what’s going on at The Circle. We want to show the public not only what we and our tenants can do for them, but how they can get involved and become part of this community.

This event will also give the public the chance to tell us what they would like to get from The Circle and our tenants.”

More information about the Open Day can be found on Eventbrite: https://thecircledundee-openday.eventbrite.co.uk
Dundee Soup - Funded by BEMIS Scotland via Scotland’s Winter Festivals, and part of the St Andrew’s Fair Saturday Festival.

Dundee Soup joins St Andrew’s Fair Saturday

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Dundee Soup will be back at The Circle again for this year’s festive edition and this time it will particularly special because it will be part of St Andrews Fair Saturday. Fair Saturday is a Scottish Government pilot initiative for 2018 which is being delivered by the Fair Saturday Foundation. After Black Friday, thousands of artists and cultural organisations around the world get together in a unique festival and support social causes through their show and events.

This edition of Soup has been funded by BEMIS Scotland via Scotland’s Winter Festivals, and part of the St Andrew’s Fair Saturday Festival. This is a partnership between BEMIS Scotland and the Scottish Government to facilitate diverse, multicultural celebrations.

Dundee Soup #5 will take place on Saturday 1st December 2018, from 11am – 1pm at The Circle.

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The Circle team at the Courier Business Awards

Celebrating our social impact at the Courier Business Awards

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The Circle has won ‘The Courier Social Impact Business of the Year 2018 Award’ less than two years after it was launched by Kirsty Thomson, Founder & CEO.

The Awards Ceremony & Dinner at the Apex City Quay Dundee was a great opportunity for The Circle team to celebrate the judging panel’s recognition and reflect on their achievements. The evening was a wonderful occasion and The Circle were delighted to bring a trophy back to Staffa Place, however, it is the impact we have demonstrated that we are most proud of.

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Social Entrepreneurs pitch for a share of £20k

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Four social entrepreneurs will be pitching for their share of a £20k grant through the Resilient Communities Awards programme. As well as the pitching event, there will be a range of free events open to the prospective grant recipients and the general public.

Run in partnership with UnLtd Scotland, these events are taking place over Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th September at The Circle Dundee on Staffa Place. Attendees will hear from entrepreneurs about their journeys and watch the pitching event. There are also free spaces to learn how to improve pitching skills, find out about the benefits of adopting a growth mindset and hear from members of The Big Lottery Scotland team.

Kirsty Thomson, Founder & CEO of The Circle, said, “We are grateful to UnLtd for partnering with us to provide this opportunity to social entrepreneurs to gain access to a share of £20,000 to support their own development. It is clear to support social enterprise we have to invest in the entrepreneurs behind them. By working with experienced facilitators we will be making sure that the pitchers are well-prepared and are pleased that the public can also benefit from these sessions.”

More information about the Resilient Communities Dundee Awards programme of events can be found at: https://thecircledundee.org.uk/2018/08/24/resilient-communities-dundee-awards-events-2018-19/

Join our fundraising committee and have an impact on the local community

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Would you like to make a difference in the community, learn new skills and gain experience that you can add to your CV, all while meeting new people?

Then joining The Circle’s volunteer fundraising committee is perfect for you! This opportunity is open to everyone, we welcome volunteers with all kinds of skills and no specific qualifications are required. You will play a key role in helping improve The Circle for tenants and the local community.

The Circle is a hub for charities, social enterprises, community groups and socially aware businesses. We are looking forward to building a fundraising committee of passionate, imaginative and dedicated people to think up and plan interesting events and activities at The Circle.

As a member of our fundraising committee, you will make an important and crucial contribution to everything that The Circle stands for, as well as having the opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills, meet new people and making a huge difference in the local community. The committee will be meeting monthly to catch up and plan activities and events. We are only looking for you to commit around 6 hours of your time every month.

The fundraising committee will be responsible for organising, marketing and helping run fundraising events such as bake sales, quiz nights and craft fairs. No matter what areas you are skilled in you will have a positive impact on your local community while having some fun.

And don’t worry, you won’t be left to your own devices – Community Fundraiser, Alice, will be available to offer advice and support.

If you think this is for you then pop along to The Circle for a coffee and chat on Monday 9th July at 4:30pm.

Contact Alice on reception@thecircledundee.org.uk for more information.

Volunteer Week – Interview with our Volunteer Receptionist, Yulia

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During #volunteerweek we caught up with our newest volunteer, Yulia, who is in her second week of volunteering at The Circle as a Volunteer Receptionist.

How did you find out about The Circle?

Alison from Dundee International Women’s Centre helped me send a CV and covering letter to different organisations in Dundee.

Why do you want to volunteer?

First of all, I want to gain experience in an office environment and with accountancy in particular. I previously worked in the Payroll department of a bank in Russia. I want to learn new things and develop my skills.

I can practice speaking English at The Circle – it’s impossible at home because my husband and I speak Russian. It’s more natural to speak your mother language.

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Come and use our co-work space for free

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We are working on our plans for the co-work space at The Circle. We have completed a survey and we are going to be interviewing some of our regular visitors.

It’s very important to us (and you!) that we get this space just right. That’s why we’re not rushing into anything until we have a community of people regularly working in the space who can tell us how to get it right for them.

From now, until the end of June. we are inviting you to come in and use the space completely free. You will become beta testers of our prototype space. The prototype space will consist of furniture we already have with the added bonus of WiFi.

All you have to do to take advantage of this offer is email bookings@thecircledundee.org.uk and let us know when you are coming. Then, bring along your laptop, notebook, hand-knitting or whatever it is you do and spend the day with us and a growing community of co-workers, absolutely free.

What is a growth mindset? We hosted an event by Jamie McBrearty to find out

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Before meeting Jamie I had heard of ‘growth mindset’. I knew it was something they were doing at schools in Dundee and it involved using the word, ‘yet’. When Jamie came to visit The Circle at the end of 2016 our CEO, Kirsty, invited him to come and do a workshop for the community to find out more. We invited our tenants, email list, local businesses and city charities and social enterprises to come along. Around 30 of us gathered yesterday so Jamie could share what it was all about and what work is being done in Dundee to implement some of the useful ideas.

Jamie is a Growth Mindset Manger employed by Leisure and Culture Dundee, working primarily in the Strathmartine Ward of Dundee but with responsibility for engaging with city-wide community groups. The Growth Mindset project started in education but is now being applied in many fields across the local authority. The national lead for Growth Mindset is Winning Scotland Foundation.

Jamie gave us an overview of the research of Carol Dweck, an expert in the field. Our mindset is a set of beliefs we have affecting how we think, feel and behave. There are two types of mindset but most people show an element of both to some degree.

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