Over 40 organisations across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been awarded grants totalling £300,000 to help their life-saving work.

The Solace Empowering Women Fund grantees are all responding to a significant increase in need within their community.

Mental health and wellbeing are a particular concern, making up over half of all projects, followed by employment and programmes preventing violence against women and girls or supporting victims.

The fund is set to reach a diverse collection of women – 53% of projects are run by and for marginalised communities and funding is spread across small and medium organisations in the three nations involved.

Helen Carlin, CEO of funded organisation Rowan Alba, welcomed the news of more funding:

This will make such a huge difference to the homeless women we support, giving them a real boost as we help them try to engage with community activities again after many anxious months in lockdown.

Fiona Dwyer, Solace CEO, added:

We are incredibly grateful for the funding from DCMS, which has enabled us to support this vital work through the Labyrinth Project. The enormous gap between what has been requested and what we are able to fund lays bare the need for more support for women’s services across the three nations. Women-specific funding must be ring-fenced in mental health, employment and violence against women and girls to ensure that the women’s sector can continue to deliver these life-saving services.  

Image: Solace