In 2022 Smallwood Trust, alongside Buttle UK and Turn2us, set up a new local programme in Middlesbrough, working in a highly collaborative way with local mothers to provide money and support aimed at transforming their lives and the lives of their children.
We know women and children are more likely to live in poverty, and women from racially-minoritised groups, Disabled women, women with caring responsibilities and trans and non-binary people are more likely to face financial insecurity. We also know caring for children can leave women at greater risk of poverty.
Middlesbrough was chosen because of the unique combination of challenges women and children face, including the highest proportion of children in poverty in England and high levels of domestic violence.
The aim of our programme is to test whether a collaborative approach (working together with other grant makers and community organisations) can transform the lives of women and their children and to look at grant-making in a different way, shifting power to people in local communities so they can decide who it helps and how it works.
Programme duration: January 2022 – December 2026
Funded by: Smallwood Trust, Turn2Us and Buttle UK