Leeds Jewish Housing Association (LJHA) have been successful in obtaining funding for a project to develop creative and empowering solutions to make women and girls feel confident in dealing domestic abuse and harassment.
The ‘Be Well and Be Strong’ Project has received funding from both the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s Safer Communities Fund and Leeds City Council’s Inner North East Community Committee to work with other organisations on a combination of security, support and education-related initiatives.
LJHA will be working with Blossom Training to run a series of half-day self-defence and self-empowerment days for women and girls across the resident community. Through an existing ‘Time Out’ women’s group, run by Jewish Women’s Aid in conjunction with West Yorkshire Police, arts and crafts-based activities will allow women to creatively channel emotions, fears and hopes surrounding violence against women and girls. In addition, an LJHA resident will run spoken word/singing sessions themed around safety and well-being. The project will be open to women of all ages due to the mixture of discussion/drama-based work, creative arts and crafts and physical exercises.
Simon Phillips, Community Engagement Officer at Leeds Jewish Housing Association, said: “We know that some of our residents have taken tenancies after leaving a domestic abuse situation, and whilst in some cases their ex-partner is unaware of their current location, some have told us about male intruders near to their homes at anti-social hours. Residents have also been wanting a safe space to meet with female peers, something that our existing ‘Time Out’ group is able to provide. Evidence also suggests that faith and gender can often intersect to make women vulnerable from two perspectives”.
Maddie France, founder and managing director of Blossom, said:
“I’m so pleased that Blossom has been trusted to play a role in this vital project. For too many women and girls, fear and silence become default responses. Through this funding, we will bring practical self-defence skills, resilience training, and safe creative spaces into the heart of the community. My hope is that every participant leaves not just feeling stronger physically, but empowered ,believing more powerfully in their worth, their voice, and their capacity to face whatever comes next.
Sara Saunders from Jewish Women’s Aid, who co-ordinates the ‘Time Out’ group, said “Time Out has become a popular and well-attended event with a varied range of topics and activities. It’s a place where women can come together in a warm safe environment and be themselves. The money will help with refreshments, craft activities and maybe even take us on some trips. The group has bonded and friendships grown. It’s more than I could ever imagined”.
