Meeting with different constituency groups – the Laurels, Scottish Edge Winner, Living Rent
It’s the end of another busy week in Edinburgh Southern and I’ve spent the last few days meeting with various groups and constituents.
The Laurels is a service for more younger adults who we are supporting to live a more independent life. A life which embellishes their community and helps to increase their independence.
On Tuesday, I attended the their Garden party, which was in celebration of the young people they support in our community. It was fantastic to be a small part of their celebrations, commend their work and the network they have created.
Congratulations to everyone who won an award. To be recognised at national level is very impressive and I look forward to continuing to support the work that you do.
I was put in contact with Joe Pacitti at the Scottish Edge Awards, which is an organisation that awards grants to start-up businesses in Scotland.
It turned out that Joe was actually one of my constituents, hailing from Edinburgh Southern and on Friday, we met to discuss the work that CeeD, Joe’s business is carrying out.
CeeD is a growing community of businesses and academics, who are joined together to pool talents, expertise, experience and resources in the pursuit of operational excellence within organisations. In doing so, their aim is to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness – improvements that will impact the bottom line. It was fantastic to learn more about CeeD’s innovation events – particularly TradingZone, which looks at integrating all economic actors with both start-ups and established businesses to help with the flow of ideas.
I’ll keep engaging with CeeD and the work they do. If you’re a constituent or run a constituency business, please do get in touch. I’m always keen to engage and support local run businesses that help in our local community. Send me an email: daniel.johnson.msp@parliament.scot
Visit to Alzheimer Scotland
On Thursday, I visited Alzheimer Scotland to learn more about their Schools Programme.
‘My Amazing Brain’ is an evidence based primary school programme that empowers children to understand the actions they can take to keep their brain healthy and help to set up good habits early in life.
Research shows that up to 40 per cent of dementia cases could be prevented by protecting the health of the brain throughout life. My Amazing Brain brings this research to life by teaching kids that there are as many connections between our brain cells as there are stars in the galaxy, to think of their brain as being full of stars, and to reflect on how to keep their stars shining brightly.
Research by Alzheimer Scotland suggests that the number of adults living with dementia worldwide is forecasted to treble, from 50 million today, to over 150 million by 2050. ‘My Amazing Brain’ is a huge step in raising awareness of this horrible disease and looks to future generations to take preventative steps in the fight against dementia and similarly horrendous illnesses.
