Today I went to the The London Community Foundation Violence Against Women and Girls Fund Showcase and received a certificate of recognition for our work with young mothers affected by violence and exploitation through our EmpowerHer programme.

But when this fund started in 2023, I was in and out of hospital with Hyperemesis Gravidarum; a serious pregnancy-related sickness.

IVs.

Multiple medications.

Hospital stays.

Constant sickness.

At the same time, trying to run a growing grassroots organisation where I carry a lot of responsibility. And for those who know what it’s like starting a brand new funded service – if you know, you know!

Over the past two years, we’ve built something for teenage and young mothers at risk of violence and exploitation. Not just therapeutic support, which is where we started, but a full safe space built with them, a space they now call their own. Not somewhere they’ve been sent. Somewhere they choose to come back to.

It was good to be in a room with organisations doing incredible work for women and girls, and to hear from Jain Lemom, Head of Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls at MOPAC, who has pushed for a fund like this to exist in the first place. And honestly, Nimat Jaffer at The London Community Foundation, thank you. When this fund started, I was very unwell during pregnancy, and running the organisation alongside that was a lot. The flexibility, the trust, the genuine check-ins, that made a real difference. Because of this funding, we’ve been able to build the foundations of what is now the EmpowerHer Young Mums Safe Space Hub. Young mothers now have a space they trust. Somewhere they go when things don’t feel right. Somewhere consistent.

Grateful to have been part of the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) VAWG Fund (2023–2025) — and focused on building what comes next.