A successful bid was made to the Home Office's Violence against Women and Girls Transformation Fund, which was launched last year to aid, promote and embed good practice around domestic abuse and to ensure early intervention and prevention becomes business as usual.
The money will support 4 bespoke programmes over a 3 year period, and will help local organisations tackling various aspects of violence against women and girls, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and so called 'honour based violence'.
Linda Sanders, Chair of the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership, said: "Organisations in Wolverhampton are making good progress in tackling violence against women and girls but, like any major City, we still face a number of key challenges.
"This funding will play an important role in helping us address some of these issues and not only support victims of violence, but also give perpetrators the help they need to break the cycle of harm."
Councillor Paul Sweet, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, added: "Hundreds of applications were made to this fund by organisations from across the country, and it is testament to the strength of the programmes that the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership is developing that it was one of only 40 successful bids nationwide."
The programmes include one which will give perpetrators the tools they need to break the cycle of harm while also providing support and counselling for their families, and one to provide training and support for GPs and clinical staff in order to strengthen reporting of incidents and care for those suffering from domestic violence.
The existing Safer Homes Scheme, which supports victims of abuse to remain in their own homes safely, will be extended, while the fourth programme will work with partners to fully embed preventative and early intervention work into their services.
The new programmes will be launched later this year and will support the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership's Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-19, available Type=links;Linkid=8752;Title=here;Target=_blank;.
The Safer Wolverhampton Partnership comprises a range of partners committed to working together to tackle issues of crime and community safety in a co-ordinated way to deliver a collective response.
Partners include West Midlands Police, the City of Wolverhampton Council, West Midlands Fire Service, Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group, National Probation Service, Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum, Prison Services, Wolverhampton Homes and the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.
For more information about the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership, please visit Type=links;Linkid=3380;Title=Safer Wolverhampton;Target=_blank;.
- released: Friday 11 August, 2017