The Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice are delighted to announce the grant recipients of the third (and final) round of the Women’s Diversionary Fund.

In February 2010, the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition and the Ministry of Justice announced the creation of a joint £2m fund to divert women from custody.

The Women’s Diversionary Fund focuses on:
- Supporting organisations to develop new community diversionary services for women offenders and women at risk of offending
- Building the capacity of existing women’s community diversionary services further
- Building the capacity of the women’s community diversionary sector

Grants made in the first round of the Women’s Diversionary Fund, in April 2010, can be accessed here. Grants made in the second round, in August 2010, can be accessed here.

In the final round of awards, the projects supported, by theme, were:

Service development
Ormiston Children and Families Trust – to develop an early intervention service and one-stop-shop for women offenders and their children in Ipswich
Tees Valley Women’s Centre – a small grant to enable the centre to develop a proposal for a one-stop-shop service, Teeside
Female Prisoners’ Welfare Project (Hibiscus) – to develop a service for Roma women in London

Building the capacity of organisations delivering women’s community diversionary services
New Economics Foundation (NEF), Brighton Women’s Centre, Escape Family Support, Women@theWell, The Trust Women’s Project and Turning Point Women’s Centre – to enable five one-stop-shop centres to carry out a Social Return on Investment (SROI) study of their work, supported by NEF

Building the capacity of the women’s community diversionary sector
Women’s Centres Forum – two grants to enable the project to begin to realise its role at the centre of the agenda for women in the criminal justice system or at risk of offending, representing and supporting women-centred community-based provision

Please contact Antonia Bance at the Corston Independent Funders’ Coalition with any queries about the Women’s Diversionary Fund. Please note that the fund is not accepting applications, so please do not contact us seeking funding.