Hello to all our members and mail list subscribers.

At Represent Women we've been gearing up, with full calendars of meetings, events, consultations and networks. Doing as much as we can to advocate for and represent the women and girls sector. Read more about our updates further down in the newsletter and, as always, please reach out to us if you would like to discuss anything. 

This bulletin will also include updates from the North East Women and girls sector, broader VCSE sector updates, funding opportunities, events and more. 

We hope you find it useful. we welcome feedback and suggestions for future editions. 

• WEWG Library women-only library Sessions are every Monday 12.4.30 and Wednesday 9.30-11.30. Find out more here

• The Angelou Centre and Project Resist has launched a report ‘Why Do I Have to Hide Away?’ providing a platform for art, stories, experiences of black and racially minoritied women during and after the 2024 race riots. The report can be found here Full report and executive summary here

• Own My Life: attended the European Conference on Domestic Violence in Barcelona. Their CEO, Natalie Collins, has written these reflections on the event "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at ECDV" (Blog HERE).

• Dottir Wellbeing Centre is a women led project in Hebburn that runs funded programs for women and girls in South Tyneside who have experienced, are at risk of or have witnessed sexual violence and/ or domestic abuse. Contact Dottir to make a referral or find out more here

• Culture Care North CIC is a female-led, BAME social care organisation founded in December 2022 to support Sunderland’s Global Majority communities. Built on lived experience, it offers culturally sensitive, bilingual, person-centred care that respects individual, cultural, and religious needs. Find out more

• My Sisters Place: Fundraising event - An evening of entertainment, food and community spirit where the ‘Seasonal Singers’ will perform a wide variety of songs, from dazzling musical favourites, the rock ’n’ roll hits of the 50s and 60s plus up to date pop anthems. Wainstones Hotel, Great Broughton on Sat 22^nd November at 7pm. Book here

• The Big Give: My Sisters Place and WHIST are taking part in this years The Big Give Women and Girls Campaign. Between 12 noon on 8^th October and closes 12 noon on 15^th October, they need to raise as many donations as possible to draw down match donations. Your support is invaluable. Donate if you can, follow on social media and get your workplace involved with fundraising. Every pound you give during this one week to support women and girls will be doubled! Find out more here 

   

   

• Open Clasp: Rupture Film Screening, a Spark for Social Change.

  This October, Rupture returns for a screening circuit, sharing a powerful one-woman show co-created with women from HMP Low Newton. Drawing on their lived experiences of motherhood in prison, the film shares their voices which are too often left unheard. Around 60% of women in prison are mothers (PRiP 2023), Rupture shines a vital light on the challenges they face and the urgent need to protect and uphold their rights. Find out more here

   

• Smart Works Newcastle: Northumbria University Autumn Fashion Sale. Head along to pick up some fashion for a £5 and support a wonderful local charity. New with tags and preloved items. Everything £5 or less and all proceeds go back into running the Smart Works Newcastle ServiceThe sale is at The Great Hall Sutherland Building, Northumbria University 

  Thursday 2^nd 10am – 6pm

  Friday 3^rd October 10am – 1pm

   

• Organisations join forces to amplify listening plea from the region’s mums: The transformational power of listening has been highlighted in a new animation that captures the voices and mental health experiences of a group of mums and mums-to-be.

  Drawing from the award-winning Ways to Wellness Maternal Mental Health Services prototype, the film, which has been co-created by Open Lab at Newcastle University, and VCSE organisations alongside non-profit design agency Roots and Wings, aims to normalise poor maternal mental health, and overcome stigma, following national research findings that 70% of mums downplay their mental health needs.

  The three-and-a-half minute film captures the words of, and insights from, mums from seldom heard communities often excluded from the healthcare system, who took part in a series of storytelling workshops in which they shared their perinatal experiences.

   

• North East Anti Racism Coalition: Join the North East Anti-Racism Coalition—a growing movement of people and organisations working to build a fairer region. Since the 2024 riots, we’ve united hundreds of voices and launched real action across five key areas, from neighbourhood support to shifting public attitudes. Be part of the change: come to our next event, Working Towards an Anti-Racist Region, on 15 October 2025, 10:00–13:00 in Wallsend, featuring Lucy Winskell, Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, and research insights from Newcastle University. 🎟️ Register now on Eventbrite.

• Women's Rough Sleeping Census is underway: Shelter have led the way in Newcastle and supported with the delivery of training for those organisations and individuals taking part. The census is also being completed by Oasis Community Housing in Gateshead and South Tyneside. The census uses a gendered lens to gather more accurate rough sleeping figures for women in our region. Represent women have drafted a motion that can be taken to local authorities to encourage involvement and debate on this important topic. We hope that with the existence of the recently formed Women's Homelessness Alliance, we will be able to get the census in place, region-wide in 2027.

• The North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC) has co-ordinated a regional letter calling on the Chancellor to scrap the ‘two-child limit’ in Universal Credit at the upcoming Autumn Budget / as part of the new national child poverty strategy. NECPC analysis shows that 70,000 children across our region are now impacted by this policy – with 59% of affected North East households being single parent families, the overwhelming majority of which are headed by women. So far, around 90 cross-sector organisations have added their support to this letter, which has also been shared with all North East MPs, but it remains open for any North East-based organisation to add their support in the run up to the Autumn Budget on 26^th November. You can view the letter and current list of signatories here, and please contact NECPC via amanda.bailey@ncl.ac.uk if your organisation would like to add its support to this letter.

• ICB Work Well Service Survey: Views on WorkWell – a service to help you stay well and stay in work. WorkWell is a new service. It will help people with health problems to:
  • stay in work, or
  • get back to work.

  Your views can help shape the developing service. Please fill in our WorkWell survey and share it with others. The survey is open until 3^rd November. If you need any help filling in the survey, please contact nencicb.involve@nhs.net

  Fnd out more about WorkWell WorkWell Programme | North East and North Cumbria NHS

• South Tyneside and Sunderland Represent Women Network: Represent Women hosted their first women and girls sector network on the 24th of September at WHIST in South Shields. There are plans in place to develop similar networks across the region and collaborate with existing networks to add capacity and amplify their work.

• VAWG advisory panel: Erin attended the quarterly panel at the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner. 

• Women's Rough Sleeping Census: Erin volunteered on some outreach shifts in Newcastle led by Shelter. Watch out for the blog post detailing the experience and why this census is so important to designing better services for women experiencing homelessness. We will continue to highlight how integral the women and girls sector is in providing holistic and person-centred support to women.

• TVCA: Erin met with Tom Bryant, CEO of Tees Valley Combined Authority, to introduce Represent Women and to explore opportunities to work together in the future. 

• Empowering Women In Crisis and Beyond Workshop: Represent Women attended a Northumberland workshop to connect with members, explore gaps in services and discuss the barriers rural women face when accessing services in Northumberland. 

• Northumberland Women's Network: Represent Women met with the Northumberland Women's Network to discuss their work, explore barriers facing rural women and the ways Represent Women can support the network. 

• Economic Inactivity Workshop with NECA: Represent Women were invited to this session to consider how we might tackle Economic Inactivity by taking a regional, system-wide, collaborative approach, working with key partners and stakeholders. Erin brought up many points, including how the women and girls sector is vital in supporting those women who are economically inactive.

• VAWG strategy letter: Represent Women consulted with our Steering Group to produce a letter for MPs to influence the Government's upcoming VAWG strategy due in Autumn. Our letter states that Women and girls sector organisations in the North East must be heard. Read the letter on the Represent Women website

• Transforming Together Network event: A celebration of all the network has achieved, as well as looking forward to what’s next for this vitally important work. How public service reform and the devolution ambition can best meet the needs of the most disadvantaged women and girls in the North East. Erin joined a panel discussion alongside other policy professionals, frontline organisations, and women with lived experience to discuss our involvement and why the network has been so important. Read the Transforming Together Network: Final report: ‘Meeting The Unmet Need For Women: A networked model for shifting power and changing systems in the North East’ and Safe Refuge Accommodation in the North East – A Learning Circles event on the Represent Women website

• Rosa: Rosa has published a new strategy, Creating Lasting Change for Women and Girls read more here 

• Does the government's VAWG strategy pass the test? 
  More than 60 organisations and the End Violence Against Women Coalition have joined forces in the report Does it Pass the Test? to set out five key tests for the government's VAWG strategy, which aims to halve VAWG within 10 years. These include focusing on primary prevention, such as investment in education, and including all women and girls without discrimination.

• The UK Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee is open to evidence to help assess progress in diagnoses, treatments and pain management of conditions including endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding in girls and young women.  The Committee would particularly welcome written submissions from individuals and organisations advocating for girls and young women’s health and wellbeing, and education and healthcare professionals, including those involved in the planning, administration and delivery of frontline services, no later than the 30th of September 2025.  

• Transforming Together: Have produced a final report which is available to view on both the Agenda Alliance and Represent Women website Transforming Together Network: Final report: ‘Meeting The Unmet Need For Women: A networked model for shifting power and changing systems in the North East’ . The Safe Refuge Accommodation in the North East – A Learning Circles event is also available.