Wednesday welcomed the official launch of our brand-new Confidence and Resilience Building Programme, set to support over 500 Liverpool women over the next three years.
Change It; Progress to Success will reach out to Liverpool’s communities to support women from all backgrounds, ages and stages of their lives in building a more positive future for themselves at home, at work or in relationships.
The 8-session programme was designed by The Women’s Organisation in collaboration with Liverpool City Council Children’s Services and the Children’s Centres.
To celebrate the launch of the programme, we were joined by an incredible group of speakers including; Councillor Nick Small, Assistant Mayor of Liverpool and the Cabinet member for Education, Employment & Skills at Liverpool City Council; Councillor Liz Parsons; Manager of Picton Children’s Centre and David Parkinson, Policy and Learning Manager of Big Lottery Fund.
After a welcome and introduction to the programme by CEO of The Women’s Organisation, our very own Maggie O’Carroll, we were joined by Councillor Liz Parsons, who gave an inspiring talk on the experience of women and the importance of Liverpool’s Children’s Centres.
Liz said: “I’m absolutely delighted that Liverpool’s Children’s Centres are supporting Change It, the aims of the programme address many of the problems we speak about, but they also mirror my hopes of families. Change It helps women develop the skills they need to know what they want to do, to believe they deserve the opportunity to do it and to be confident enough to go out and grab the dream with both hands”.
The programme is supported by the Big Lottery Fund through Reaching Communities, a fund that supports voluntary or community groups to use their local knowledge, strengths and resources to make a positive impact and help the communities and people who are most in need. David Parkinson joined us from Big Lottery Fund to speak on the partnership and the work of Reaching Communities. And to formally launch the programme, Councillor Nick Small spoke about how important support for women is for the development of the city.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the launch was the contribution of the women who completed the first Change It; Progress to Success in February. Sharing their experience of the programme, one course attendee said: “In June, I gave birth to my son. I used to be so business-minded but I just completely lost myself and my confidence. I was constantly cleaning and doing chores and I thought ‘this isn’t me’ .. When I found out about Change It; Progress to Success, it gave me that confidence boost and the excitement each week to go to the Children’s Centre. I met my tutor and all the other women, they were there to listen and that was one thing I needed someone to do for me – to listen.”
Thank you to all the guests who joined us to celebrate the launch of our new programme – your support is invaluable! And a big thanks to the speakers; Councillor Liz, Councillor Nick Small and David Parkinson, and of course the women who have completed the first programme.
Change It; Progress to Success will be back in May running at several Children’s Centres around the city and from 54 St James Street, home to The Women’s Organisation. We will be making announcements on venues in the coming weeks – keep posted via our Blog, Twitter or Facebook!
To find out more information or to speak to a member of the Change It team, please contact 0151 706 8111 or hello@thewo.org.uk.
