Hopscotch Womens Centre- Covid -19

Hopscotch are a BAME women’s charity with abuse and welfare support central to their work and they are focusing heavily on Domestic Abuse support at this time with the increase in disclosures and arrests. The focus however with this proposal is with welfare advocacy.Hopscotch are requesting £78000 as they are in urgent need of help with their core costs in this current climate. Managing this work will continue to need full time support by senior management to plan adapt and where necessary develop ways to meet the medium to long term welfare needs. The amount they're asking for will greatly ease the pressure they find themselves so that they can focus on the crisis work. They want to increase their Welfare Advocacy provision to meet the need they see coming their way. Looking at the medium and long term they feel they need to prepare for poverty amongst their service users due to the following they have identified• The ending of the government’s Job Retention Scheme• Sudden unemployment• The pressure on statutory bodies causing delayed applications and queries• Misinformation and misunderstanding around the rights of those who may have uncertainimmigration statusThey foresee an increase in associated mental health issues because of:-• Extreme stress associated with poverty• Fear around employment and housing insecurity• Cultural isolation – with limited access to statutory bodiesAll staff have been retrained in regards to welfare support and we’re reaching out to current and ex-service users to check on their mental emotional and financial wellbeing. They have continued to support the local community through their services by adapting delivery and offering online one-to-one and groups sessions and workshops.Hopscotch a BAME women’s charity will use the funding to offer increased support vulnerable women who are experiencing domestic abuse.