SLS Support MAEDT

Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust (MAEDT) are a charitable community organisation formed in 2007 in Midlothian, dedicated to regenerating the local area and reducing poverty.

Background

The communities of Mayfield and Easthouses are among the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland, as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), which assesses income, employment, health, education, crime, housing, and access to services.

Historically, both areas were coal mining communities built to house workers. When the pits closed in the mid-20th century, they lost their main source of stable employment. This pattern, seen across many parts of the UK, led to long-term unemployment, low-paid work, and a lasting decline in local economic opportunities.

Today, deprivation is reflected in lower household incomes, insecure or limited employment, lower educational attainment, reduced access to opportunities, and significant health inequalities compared to more affluent areas.

These issues are interconnected, creating a self-reinforcing cycle:

• Job loss - poverty
• Poverty - health and education challenges
• Health and education challenges - fewer opportunities
• Fewer opportunities - continued deprivation

Without intervention, this cycle can persist for generations.

This is where MAEDT comes in; they have worked tirelessly to become the local hub, often going above and beyond with their delivery, and what they have created is something very special.

MAEDT supports residents through a variety of essential services such as their community pantry, garden, cafe, and various support services designed to address social, economic, and environmental needs.

 

At their Bogwood Court address, they operate a food pantry that provides residents with a dignified and empowering service, offering affordable food, free sanitary products, and fruit and vegetables on a membership basis. They support 200 households every week.

They also offer support through a school uniform bank, debt and energy clinics, employability support, and a men's mental health group. 

Across the road is their community cafe and garden, which offers the local area a fantastic destination to reduce social isolation and a great opportunity to get involved in the community. 

Like many charities, the ever growing running costs and reduced funding mean that they need to look for support elsewhere.

MAEDT added a request to the portal seeking professional IT support to review their systems and identify areas for improvement or streamlining. 

 

Scientific Laboratory Supplies (SLS) saw the request and were keen to see how they could support by sharing their skills and time. SLS are the UK's largest independent supplier of laboratory equipment, chemicals, and consumables, has partnered with the University of Edinburgh to support local community initiatives. As a key stakeholder in the ESES City Region Deal, the University is committed to ensuring its contracts create maximum positive community impact and encourage their supply chain to follow suit.

Initial meetings were held to determine the best way to support MAEDT in streamlining its processes. Then, a member of the SLS IT Team had follow-up calls to dig a little deeper before travelling up from England to spend a day with the team, which really helped them understand the scale of the work. 

Amy Stewart, who looks after the finance and administration from MAEDT shared, "SLS shared their expertise and gave us hints and tips, and did a lot of work in the background, as well as giving their personal time. 
This helped us look at our processes, cloud storage, CRM's and email systems, as well as flagging any areas of concern. It has given us solutions to know how we can improve things, which will save us valuable time and allow us to look at tracking data for funding bids, etc. Their time and expertise have been incredibly worthwhile."

Additionally, following the visit, SLS offered to source 3 laptops for MAEDT to update their systems and has also agreed to ensure they are set up and ready to go. All of this care and attention will make a huge difference to the team, who are such a stretched resource.