Northern Rock Foundation

Eva Women’s Aid in Redcar has received a major boost with a £100,000 grant from the Northern Rock Foundation in their latest grants round.
The award will go towards Eva Women’s Aid’s sexual violence counselling and support service that supports women survivors of sexual violence in Redcar and Cleveland.
CEO, Ingrid Salomonsen said “Sexual violence can have a devastating impact on victims and their families. Services like those provided at Eva help victims recover and support them if they choose to report the crime to the police. Victims of abuse live in many families and communities. Sadly, domestic and sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girls is a widespread but often hidden problem and victims can feel isolated and helpless.”

“The Foundation has made a series of grants to Eva and similar organisations to enable them to build responsive, specialist services to meet the ever-increasing demand for support and we are tremendously grateful.”

Northern Rock Foundation has awarded almost £2 million to projects across the North East and Cumbria in the latest grants round which take place every 3 months.

Commenting on the awards, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Penny Wilkinson said “I am delighted to announce our latest round of grants. We have always supported those organisations in the North East and Cumbria who work with the most disadvantaged, whether they are the victims of sexual violence, young homeless people struggling to find somewhere safe to live or older people who are finding it difficult to make ends meet.”

“In our support of organisations such as Eva Women’s Aid we recognise the huge value of the work they do in communities.”

“As an organisation we believe we are unique in the way we both understand and work with organisations in the charity and voluntary sector”.

Other grants made in the recent round include £174,000 to Hartlepool Citizens Advice to provide help and advice for homeless people to find and maintain a home and £93,000 to Hartlepool MIND to help with core costs for a project which supports people with mental health issues – a problem which can affect as many as 1 in 4 adults at any one time.

In Sunderland over £50,000 has gone to help Southwick Neighbourhood Youth Project and in Durham , Centrepoint, a project for homeless people has received almost £100,000 to set up Lifewise, a series of life skills courses to help 16-25 year olds handle issues such managing debt, sexual health and cooking and nutrition.

Ends

Northern Rock Foundation is a charity and company limited by guarantee with an independent Board of Trustees that makes all decisions on governance, finance and policy. The Foundation aims to tackle disadvantage and improve quality of life in North East England and Cumbria. The Foundation’s work is delivered by a professional staff team of 14 based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Foundation was established when Northern Rock demutualised in 1997. Up to December 2007, the bank gave, by covenant, 5% of its annual pre-tax profits to the Foundation, totalling more than £190 million. The Foundation will receive £15 m in 2010 from Northern Rock, as part of the arrangement under which the bank was taken into temporary public ownership. Maintaining this arrangement is a condition of any sale of the bank in that period. The Government has asked the bank’s board to identify a viable long-term future for the Foundation.

Full list of funding approved in March 2010 (contact details for funded organisations are available from the Foundation on request).