Islington Council and Latin American Women’s Aid secure £100k for unique women’s refuge

Islington Council and Latin American Women’s Aid (LAWA) have secured £100,000 of central government funds to support LAWA’s specialist national refuge and services for Latin American women.

 

It is estimated some 300 victims of domestic violence and their families will receive vital assistance through this 2016-18 funding for LAWA’s services – which also include a peer-to-peer support scheme, rights and social security advice, and counselling, among others.  

 

LAWA’s refuge provides emergency accommodation to around 30 survivors of domestic violence and their children – who stay for an average of three to ten months. The need for LAWA’s refuge support continues to exceed capacity as the charity receives an average of 150 referrals per year.

 

The funding will maintain and develop its refuge service as well as improve access to early intervention support for Latin American women and children – as well as those from Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries such as Angola and Mozambique – who are at risk of or experiencing domestic violence.

 

LAWA’s services are based in Islington and run together with four other London boroughs which supported LAWA’s funding application to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) ‘2016/18 Fund for refuges, specialist accommodation based support and service reform’.

 

Islington Council’s executive member for community safety, finance, and performance, Cllr Andy Hull, said: “This is great news for this important national service and a good example of how we can work together, as a community, to support survivors of violence against women and girls to rebuild their lives and stay safe.”

 

Yenny, LAWA General Manager, said: “We are delighted to have secured with Islington Council £100k of funding from DCLG to support our refuge and BME communities. Big thanks to our partners Hackney, Lambeth, Southwark, and Hammersmith and Fulham Councils. Challenges remain... but we are on the right path!"

 

The news follows the recent launch of Islington’s new strategy to combat violence against women and girls, which can be found here: http://bit.ly/2k1XNqQ. 

 

In addition to the funding for LAWA, Islington is also set to benefit from a successful cross-borough bid for nearly £400,000 from the DCLG as part of a programme to develop and train around 200 professionals working with women experiencing domestic violence. 

 

Other partners in this second bid included Camden, Haringey and Enfield, as well as a number of organisations from the Voluntary and Community Sector.