£2.9million funding for vulnerable North East women

Almost £3million investment has been announced to help vulnerable women and girls in the North East.

The investment, from The Big Lottery Fund, is focused on not only providing help for women of all ages faced with extremely difficult situations such as stalking, sexual exploitation, violence against them but also in mentoring and connecting young girls with role models.

The Young Women’s Outreach Project in Gateshead, who help teenage girls aged 11-19 in crisis, have been given £364,251. This will provide specialist help for young women experiencing domestic abuse and those in need of counselling support. As well as that it means they can offer outreach work to help young mothers.

Joanne Jopling, Chief Executive, said:

“Our project helps young women that have been exploited, who have been in violent relationships, who have severe mental health issues and problems and some that are just very isolated and have no support systems.

“This money is an absolute lifesaver for a project like this, to enhance and broaden what we do further in the North East. It’s absolutely magical.

“We were part of the local authority and part of the cuts a couple of years ago. It was a 100% cut on the table, so we had to start from scratch. Over the last two or three years it’s been nothing but money troubles.”

Geeta Gopalan, Big Lottery Fund England committee vice chair and chair of the funding panel for women and girls, said:

“Strong evidence from women and girls organisations told us of the increased demand for support, so we’ve been working closely with them over the past year to identify ways that women of all ages can get the right help, information and a listening ear to take control of their lives.

“We will be working closely with all the projects funded today to share the most successful aspects so that other women and girls can continue to benefit in the future.

You can see other charities benefitting in the North East here:

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