The Anawim Project

Anawim is a project operated in collaboration with the English Province of Our Lady of Charity and Father Hudson’s Society .The work has grown from the initiative of two sisters of Our Lady of Charity who came to Balsall Heath in Birmingham in 1986. With the support of Father Hudson’s Society they began outreach on the streets –befriending and offering support to women involved in prostitution. Initially they also offered welcome and support in their own home, but as the work grew and the needs of the women became clearer, use of a nearby Centre was necessary .This was refurbished in 2002 and is now a very busy Centre.

The team has also grown .In 2009 there were eight full time staff –seven paid and one unpaid, seven part time staff and eighteen committed volunteers.

The project sees its role as being able to provide long term relationships with the women as they seek to change their lives. It seeks to respond to, and work with, the many Government initiatives connected with reducing women’s offending and re-offending. Anawim aims to be a real Alternative to Custody for the women, for whom custody only compounds the problems.

The Management Committee with senior representatives of the Founding Partners and other interested parties meets four times a year. The Sisters of OLC remain committed to involvement in the governance, in the financial accountability and also have one Sister working full time in the Project as well as other Sisters as volunteers.  Father Hudson’s Society provides line management, general management services and financial support.

Mission

Anawim exists to support women and their children, especially those vulnerable to exploitation, including prostitution; to provide wider positive choices to help them achieve their dreams and reach their full potential as part of the wider community. To this end Anawim treats everyone with dignity and respect, recognising that every child and woman matters as an individual.  Anawim is committed to working in partnership with all others to challenge that which degrades and diminishes the women.

Services

Outreach
Anawim staff go to where the women are: on the streets of Birmingham, in Eastwood Park, Drake Hall and other women’s prisons, in court and in Bail hostels.

A second base was established in 2007 in Handsworth for women who have more chaotic lifestyles .The house does not offer accommodation but is a place where the women can use the phone and access support from the Outreach Worker and trained volunteers, have a hot meal, a bath, food and toiletries parcels, the use of a washing machine, a change of clothes.  They also receive support from other Agencies at the house.

The Centre
The Centre is very busy and offers:

• A range of accredited courses and activities run by Anawim’s own staff and other agency staff ,including Probation , local Colleges and LearnDirect
• Therapeutic and Relaxation services: Body Balance, Meditation, Indian Head Massage, Acupuncture ,Counselling
• Advice and Information Services provided by: Job Centre Plus, EESpro, Birmingham Settlement, Childcare Information Bureau, DIP ,Housing
• A Methadone Clinic run by SAFE – an NHS project ,exclusively for female sex workers.
• A fully resourced crèche
• Parenting support
• Unpaid work package ,offering provision for Community Payback ,on and off site , and Specified Activity orders to be undertaken on site

The Centre is open Monday to Friday and is a place to come and talk to staff about personal issues and to meet other women. 

New Training room and Counselling rooms
In 2007 Anawim and the local Catholic Parish of St John and Martin’s agreed to work together to establish a new building to replace an old prefabricated building near the main Centre that was no longer used, except for storage .

Having received a large grant from a local Charity, the Mary Kinross Trust, and Capital funding from OLC and the Parish, demolition took place in November 2007 and the new building opened in April 2008. The new Annexe has a large Training room and two small Counselling rooms. By the Autumn of 2009 a new Portacabin to house the busy creche should be in place. 

Funding

In addition to ongoing funding provided by the English Province of Our Lady of Charity Anawim relies on large funders such as Comic Relief, who have funded the Link Support worker for 3 years, the Henry Smith Charity who have funded the Manager’s salary for 3 years, the J. Paul Getty Foundation who have funded part of the Centre Co-ordinator salary for 3 years, the Lankelly Chase Foundation who have funded the Children & Family worker salary for 3 years and NOMS ( National Offender Management Services) who have funded the Outreach worker post for 3 years, and the Tudor Trust who funded the Women’s Development Programme for two years .Without this longer term funding Anawim would not be able to carry out its work .Between 2008-9 all of these grants will end and new funding will be required for Anawim to continue its services . In June 2009 the Ministry of Justice awarded a large grant to capacitybuild the Centre into a full ,women’s services’ “one stop shop”.

These grant makers have made possible the growth of Anawim. There is no guarantee that any of them will continue indefinitely.

Donated Goods

Donated goods are always most welcome; the women especially value donations of clothes ,underwear , and shampoos ,cosmetics etc. for themselves and baby/children’s equipment and clothes for their children If you can arrange transport ,donations of furniture are very helpful, since the women often try to set up home as they work to stabilise their and their families’ lives.

Click here to open the Anawim Annual Report 2009

Click here for the Report commissioned by the MOJ 2008 - Rolling out Women’s Centres Based on Anawim

Click here to download the Anawim Brochure

Contact Project Manager on: 0796 8986587 Centre Manager: 0121 440 5296