Representation by Stepping Stones Luton (Stepping Stones Luton)
- Date submitted
- 6 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Non-statutory organisations
Luton Rising has been, and continues to be, an essential funder of our charity. Without this critical funding, Stepping Stones Luton would not be able to provide life changing support to hundreds of women and their children within the Luton borough. Stepping Stones Luton is a vital Luton based charity that provides intensive therapeutic, practical and advocacy support to women experiencing domestic abuse, substance misuse and criminality. With funding from Luton Rising, we are able to provide one to one and group support to women who are often frightened, broken and lost. We can advocate on behalf of the voiceless and provide intervention at crisis point when a woman is fleeing a life-threatening violent situation. Like Luton Rising, we too are committed to the development and support of our shared residents, by empowering women into higher education and employment, and endeavouring to support behavioural changes so that our community can lead more fulfilling and prosocial lives. Stepping Stones Luton works to change the lives of women and families within the Luton area by equipping them with the tools and education to make healthy, positive choices and to engage effectively and altruistically with the wider Luton community through volunteering, providing peer support and speaking about the lived experience of violence, poverty, and mental health. The Luton Rising funding that we receive ensures that we are able to respond to increasingly diverse and complex needs by the deployment of highly trained and skilled practitioners. That we are the only women’s services provider in Bedfordshire to offer free Ofsted recognised childcare makes us unique. It means that women can attend essential appointments with statutory agencies involved in their families care and work / participate in education without having to fret about their child / children. We know that London Luton Airport provides employment to the local community and investment in the local economy and this has a positive financial and psychosocial impact on Luton and the surrounds. For us this means that we are able to work in partnership with aforementioned airport to support appropriate recruitment of clients from our service beneficiary community and is beneficial when seeking project-based funding from other grant makers. The latter see the consistently high and credible outcomes we secure for our clients due to the funding support we receive from Luton Rising, and they are more likely to fund our work.