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A project aiming to help women leave prostitution and transform their lives is awarded £491,825 of National Lottery funding today. The project is one of 12 across London sharing in grants totalling almost £4.2m through the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme.
 
Eaves Housing for Women (Eaves) aims to expose and address violence against women and girls in the UK. The project, which will cover all of London, has expertise in supporting women who want to leave prostitution to start new, independent lives.
 
The initiative, which has been running since 2009, helps women who want to leave prostitution by providing support to tackle immediate issues such as their housing situation, or mental and physical health problems. In the long-term, the project aims to help service users gain training and education opportunities to empower them to gain independence. Project workers will help individuals to create a tailored support plan, drop-in sessions will be offered and outreach work will deliver practical and emotional support in areas where women are working. 
 
In addition, training will be developed and delivered through eight workshops across England, with the aim of helping professionals to support women to leave prostitution in other areas of the country.
 
It is estimated that tens of thousands of women in the UK are involved in prostitution but there are currently no accurate statistics available. 

Heather Harvey, Research and Development Manager at Eaves said: “Eaves is delighted to be able to develop our work in support of those women who wish to exit prostitution. Women in prostitution may reach a point where they don’t want to do it anymore, for various reasons. This project is for women who have decided they wish to leave but need some support in doing so. For those women who need it we can help them deal with practical issues like housing, independent finances, the impact of criminal records, and rebuilding contact and relationships. 

Heather added: “Where appropriate we can support and/or refer women for help around issues such as addiction, emotional well being, self-care and self-esteem. This funding will help us to be able to support women making an important change in their lives and often the lives of their children.”

Attend is awarded £359,435 to continue and expand its project to support stroke survivors. Previously just delivered in Enfield, the project will use its funding to expand into three new additional areas – Barnet, Bromley and Tower Hamlets. Once discharged from the NHS and community stroke team, stroke survivors are at home without support and often feel isolated, with low self-esteem and feelings of anxiety. The project will work with stroke survivors to help them develop their own progression plan. Skills training will be offered and people will be matched with buddies who will provide individual tailored support and provide help accessing volunteering, employment and social activities. 

Bench Outreach in Lewisham receives a grant of £342,780 to continue its existing project which takes a new approach to tackling homelessness and aims to support homeless people who traditional methods haven’t worked for. It will provide people, who have been homeless multiple times and are unable to live in supported accommodation because of complex needs, with long-term independent housing. Intensive peer support will be on hand for service users and individual tailored support plans created to help them engage with treatment and improve their prospects.

The Shadwell Community Project in Tower Hamlets will use its award of £300,000 to set up a community run kitchen and cafe that will give children and teenagers a leading role in running it. The cafe will be open six days a week providing healthy meals. Activities will include food growing in the project’s allotments, creating healthy menus, cooking and a range of community events. A multicultural cook book will also be developed and made available online, in the cafe and in local schools. Overall, the project aims to encourage families to make healthier dietary choices.  

Barnet Community Projects is awarded £289,684 for its project which will amalgamate existing services which aim to address hunger arising from poverty in deprived local areas. The project includes a weekly community kitchen where local residents cook healthy cheap food together, provision of healthy meals during the holidays for primary school children who receive free school meals, and a community cafe where residents can eat healthy food together and socialise. 

Lyn Cole, Big Lottery Fund Deputy Director England, said: “It’s fantastic to see such a wide range of projects receiving National Lottery funding today across London. Each of these projects is helping communities and people most in need in their own unique way. Eaves Housing for Women is doing important work to help some of the most vulnerable people in our society through their project which supports women who want to leave prostitution to transform their lives.”

For a full list of the 12 projects funded in London today through the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme, please see table below.

Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @biglotteryfund #BigLottery
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

For funding and general enquiries call:
BIG Advice Line: 0345 4 10 20 30

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Out of hours media contact: 07867 500572

Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes. 
• Since June 2004 we have awarded over £6.5billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £32 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.