Targeted Response: Smallwood Awards £850k to 12 New Community Grant Partnerships

We are pleased to announce that over £850,000 of grants have been awarded to 12 new Community Grant Partnerships as a continuation of our response to the Covid-19 crisis.

This funding will enable organisations to provide individual grants to over 1,500 women and is targeted at three geographic locations identified as containing some of the most deprived Local Authorities in the UK under the latest Index of Multiple Deprivation:

Liverpool/Merseyside
Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley
Stoke-on-Trent/Staffordshire

Five grants were made in Merseyside, four in Teesside and three in Staffordshire. Through the grants we are reaching some of the most vulnerable groups of women including women living in rural communities, women surviving honour based violence and women involved in survival sex work. Three organisations funded are BAME led and provide specialist service for BAME women. They are; 4Wings Northwest CIC, Savera UK and the Halo Project.

The full list of 12 Community Grant Partners that will receive funding over three years are:

Liverpool/Merseyside: Total £360k awarded, targeting 660 beneficiaries

Women’s Technology Training Ltd (WTECH) provides education and training for women – a high percentage of which are BAME women – from acutely vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds, in inner city Liverpool to enhance economic independence and life chances. The grant will support women aged 18+ with debt, hardship, housing issues, trying to leave abusive relationships, having been trafficked or those with no recourse to public funds to overcome hardship.

The Women’s Organisation (TWO) are women only and led. They work directly with women in communities locally, nationally, and internationally to tackle the specific issues they face e.g. unemployment, poor skills, confidence and aspirations, mental ill health, lack of digital and financial literacy. The grant will be integrated into programmes that support women to improve their financial resilience and increase their training and employability potential.

4Wings Northwest CIC are BAME led, women only and works alongside women – 94% of which are BAME – who have suffered trauma and abuse and are on their recovery journey. Their service supports these women on the ‘next steps’ to improved overall wellbeing as well as regaining self-esteem, empowerment and self-reliance.

Venus Centre offers women and their families in Sefton a number of services including: Money Management, Family Support, Housing Support, Peer Support and Support for Mental Health and Wellbeing. More than 90% of their beneficiaries are women and the grant would sit alongside their Money Management project.

Savera UK is a specialist BAME led women only support organisation based in Merseyside. Grants would sit alongside their services to women at risk of honour-based abuse and other harmful practices including female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley: Total £299,931 awarded, targeting 600 beneficiaries

Halo Project (Tees Valley Inclusion Project) is a BAME women led and women only refuge in Middlesbrough. The grants will support Halo’s work with BAME women across Tees Valley, Durham and Darlington who are at risk of or facing domestic or sexual Violence, specifically Traditional Cultural Harms which include Honour Based Violence, Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. 

A Way Out supports women who have complex needs and who are drug and alcohol dependent, socially isolated and involved in survival sex work. Grants held within A Way Out would enable the organisation to support women to have more control over their personal economic resources in conjunction with support services.

My Sister’s Place is a women only specialist domestic abuse service supporting over 1,000 women a year. The grants would sit within the charity’s range of different pathways to ensure safety, social justice and health and well-being.

ARCH North East provides care, support, help and guidance for all those affected by rape and sexual violence in Teesside. Grants would sit within practical and emotional support through their LESA (Life Enhancement Skills Advisor) Project.

Stoke-on-Trent/Staffordshire: Total £191,400 awarded, targeting 285 beneficiaries

Staffordshire Women’s Aid provides specialist services for women and their dependent children, fleeing or recovering from the impact of domestic and sexual violence. Grants will help housing costs and rents once women move on from refuge – and to help women pay off council tax arrears.

Alice Charity which last year supported over 1,300 families, in the Newcastle under Lyme and Stoke area. 85% of people supported by Alice Charity are women and the grant will enable women to overcome financial barriers.

Burntwood Pathway Project provides support to victims and survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, including running a refuge. The grant will help the project to continue empowering women from the point of crisis, rebuilding their lives for a brighter future.

Emma Crump, Head of Evaluation at the Smallwood Trust said, “Having identified gaps in our current portfolio for Community Grant Partners in these locations, we are pleased to be supporting these new projects that will reach so many financially vulnerable women during such a critical time.”