Helping to fight domestic abuse in Middlesbrough
A Middlesbrough charity, which provides support to victims of domestic violence, has received a grant of £90,000 from the Northern Rock Foundation.
My Sister’s Place (MSP), at Borough Road, is a specialist service set up to provide legal advice and support to women aged 16 and over who have experienced domestic abuse. As well as helping women deal with issues such as legal processes, personal safety, debt, housing problems, immigration difficulties and child contact issues, it is also committed to campaigning and raising the awareness of domestic violence, providing multi-agency training across the borough.
Middlesbrough has twice the national average level of domestic abuse per head of population and referrals to MSP are rising. The Foundation’s grant, which will be awarded over three years, will help to fund the costs of a service manager for the organisation.
Becky Rogerson, Director at My Sister’s Place, said: “We are about to celebrate our 10th anniversary and Northern Rock Foundation has been a huge support to us from the start.”
Northern Rock Foundation has been working in the area of violence against women since 2000 and recently commissioned national research to look at the funding of these services and on cuts to services. The report highlighted that, across the country, budget cuts are leading to cuts in services which support women facing domestic abuse violence at a time when demand for such services is increasing.
Penny Wilkinson, Chief Executive of the Foundation, said: “This is a valued service which has built up an excellent reputation and won national awards for its work. It provides an essential service for high risk victims of domestic abuse. The grant to My Sister’s Place was one of 15, totalling more than £1m, given by the Northern Rock Foundation to charitable organisations in its latest round of awards.”
To download the report on cuts to the violence against women and girls sector please click here.
For press information contact Hilary Florek 0191 285 7100 or 07831 552624 email hilary@hilaryflorekpr.co.uk