Maggie Walsh MBE
I set up A Fairer Chance 13 years ago, on the principles of an employment led business whose beneficiaries happen to have had contact with the Criminal Justice System.
Our quality, work led approach means AFC is disproportionally successful with women.
They may make up less that 5% of the prison population but 35% of our successful candidates have been women. This is in part due to the amazing relationship we have with our retail partner, Sainsburys, who offer work on ROTL that women can keep on release if they want to or even move to a branch near their home. They give all employees who want it the opportunity to progress with the company.
We didn’t set out to be a “Women’s Organisation” but we have now separated our women’s work in order to be easily recognised by the various women’s forums and other organisations and to be able to access what funding is available. Our practice has always been trauma informed and clearly based on Feminist principles but our end goal, set by the women we support, is Financial Freedom.
Roxanne our fantastic Senior Case Manager devised a programme “Working Black Women “ that AFC secured Grant Funding for from HMPPS Ethnic Minority Funds. This is the first employment led grant for women they had made. She is going strong, placing women into good work, encouraging self employment and helping women access training funds, but also still helping them to deal with immigration, ID and other hurdles that women leaving prison face and should really have been addressed before the women were referred to our employment initiative.
We really appreciate this HMPPS funding. Disappointed that there is no access to an extension and nor is there any other funding out there, at the moment, that we can access to grow this fantastic start. There are no current opportunities through DPS system whilst the new administration settles in and decides priorities and many funders have currently “closed the books” to new applicants.
We absolutely understand that black women face additional challenges and we want to help all women. All black women, including those no longer under supervision, and Brown and White women too. We are very grateful for small grants from National Lottery and in Kent, The Allen Lane Foundation that have helped us support women on release and under probation supervision. We are also able to offer some support through No Going Back.
There is room for many models in this world, We appreciate the extra support some employers and organisations are able to offer some women who are furthest away from the labour market or may have never worked. but we are able to support women as they strive to fulfil their potential, no matter which sector, role or employer that involves We have a fantastic group of women, former beneficiaries, who inform our work and we regularly consult with them.
Roxanne has successfully completed her Level 4 Employability Practitioner Apprenticeship. This is no mean feat. This qualification is absolutely right for people working in this world. I would recommend all organisations in this space consider this qualification for their staff. Thank you to #Tideway Tunnel for the Levy Transfer and to #Forward Trust who delivered the apprenticeship.
This month we have achieved our 18th success with Civil Service recruitment. This time another fantastic woman is starting a career with DWP . The only downside is her current employer doesn't want her to go!
I will be spending the next few weeks writing to all and every funding body , government department and employer I can to try and ensure we can continue to help women take control, by securing good work and achieving Financial Freedom.
As it stands we may have to pause this work at the end of the month.
Any employers, funders, businesses who would like to find out more do please contact me and lets hope we can continue placing programme managers, linguists, vocational trainers, civil servants, florists, bus drivers, and lorry drivers, advice workers and retail staff as we head towards 2025.