Cambridge Centre leads the way with new national women’s project
Scarborough is to get a ground-breaking new service aimed at helping improve the lives of vulnerable women and their families.
The town’s successful Cambridge Centre has secured funding to launch the area’s first Government-backed Women’s Community Project to cover Scarborough.
The £200,000 project will work with women who face any of numerous issues that can lead to crime and prison.
This can include crime itself, drug or alcohol misuse, involvement in abusive relationships, unsuitable accommodation, poor education, financial troubles and many others.
The scheme, backed by the Ministry of Justice, aims to keep women out of prison and help them overcome those issues.
The women will be offered help ranging from tackling drug or alcohol misuse to finding better accommodation, education and training to dealing with relationships.
The project will cover Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale and will initially run until 2011, though the hope is it will continue after that if successful.
Cambridge Centre chief executive Nikki Orrell said: “This is a tremendous achievement for the Cambridge Centre and for Scarborough, as only a handful of these projects are being set up across the country.
“It offers a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference to vulnerable women’s lives.”
The Cambridge Centre went through a rigorous application process to win the project, arguing that Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale had areas with high levels of poverty and deprivation, low income and problems of domestic violence and teenage pregnancy.
To run the Women’s Community Project a full-time co-ordinator will be appointed alongside other part-time posts. The service will also draw in support from bodies including probation, police, housing, health, criminal justice, drug and alcohol, crime and disorder partnership, benefits, youth support, domestic abuse and social services.
The Women’s Community Project is designed specifically to keep women out of prison, help them stay with their children and to tackle the issues that have either got them involved in crime or put them at risk of doing so.
The project will also help women to improve their lives by offering training and volunteer work opportunities, health care, maternity services, parenting skills and help with claiming benefits. A crèche will be provided along with laundry facilities.
Nikki added: “The project will be a true, multi-agency effort to help women in Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale who are at risk.
“If we can work with vulnerable women to reduce the risk of them offending and break the cycle of re-offending, then it benefits them, their children and future generations.”
For more media information contact Rich Luck, Strategic Manager