The Scottish Government are running a series of workshops to consult with the local residents on the Islands Bond fund aimed at retention of residents and promotion of Scottish islands as a great place to live.

Visit Scotland are opening a new fund to support businesses which were impacted by the Omicron variant but not eligible for previous funding rounds in 2021. 

This year 

The popular Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund has received additional funding to support organisations and groups working with communities. You can still apply on Museums Gelleries Scotland website before the deadline on 18th March.

Scotland's Census is now live and you should complete it by 20th March - you can easily do it online on the Scotland's Census website.

It is important that you contribute to the Census as the information you provide will be vital to help the Scottish Government make important decisions that affect people’s lives and their communities. 

A new National Strategy for Economic Transformation, underpinned by detailed analysis of Scotland’s economic strengths and weaknesses, has been published.

The strategy contains over 70 actions across five key priority programmes that have been identified as having the greatest potential to deliver economic growth that significantly outperforms the last decade within the current constitutional arrangements.

The North Highland Initiative’s Community Infrastructure Support Programme has been set up to provide grants of up to £1,000 for small initiatives in the community, tourism  and support sectors in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross & Cromarty.

The consultation on the draft second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) Summary Report is now open.

Projects delivering strong community climate themes across some of Scotland’s islands will receive a share of almost £600,000 to support sustainability and provide more green travel options.

The projects are delivered through the Scottish Government’s Island Communities Fund, which provides investment for community-led projects that support employment, community resilience and contribute to Scotland’s just transition to net zero and climate resilient living on islands.

Details of a financial package worth up to £9 million for Scotland’s vital tourism sector have been confirmed by Tourism Minister Ivan McKee. 

The funding package is to be administered by VisitScotland and will be split between affected businesses in the following areas: