Platform 51

How your gift will help

Gifts from major donors and trusts make our life-changing work possible

Here are just a few examples of what your generosity could help us do:

Give a girl an education

It costs £125,000 to run one of our education programmes which generally run twice a week for 39 weeks. Our programmes are for about 350 girls who have no qualifications, or, for a variety of reasons, can't get mainstream education.

Our courses give girls the time to speak openly about their problems and to challenge stereotypes. They learn skills which help them to go onto further education, training and get a job. They come to us because they feel safe, don't get judged and can make friends with others in the same boat.

Our education programmes change lives. But don't take our word for it; read what Marie thinks.

Prevent crime

Our Platform 51 national programme, Prehabilitation, is for girls and women who are at serious risk of committing crimes. We teach them how to solve problems, how to be a good tenant, parenting and relationship skills, how to stay healthy and avoid risk. It cost £65,000 to run the Prehabilitation programme for eight weeks.

We have four intakes of up to 10 women each year. Prehabilitation keeps women out of prison and gives them the skills to build a brighter future.

Our crime prevention programmes change lives. But don't take our word for it; read what Natasha thinks.

Fund a crèche

We need £30,000 to fund a crèche at one of our centres for six months. Roughly 90 children and mothers use a crèche. Our crèche workers provide a safe and stimulating environment where children feel happy and secure, so their mums can use our full range of services such as accredited education courses.

Lucy (pictured) who goes to our centre in Warstones tell us why the crèche is so important:

"The crèche helps me when I am doing my courses.  My son loves going and he can meet new people and make new friends before he goes into school in September."

Counselling the most vulnerable

We need to raise £14,000 to run a six-week course of one-to-one counselling sessions for 50 women. The weekly sessions are for two hours. Counselling is for girls and women with mental health problems or low self-esteem. Often, these women have children who depend on them. Counselling is desperately oversubscribed at the centres where we currently provide it.

Mary was sexually abused. She says counselling: “helped me come to terms with what’s happened. It’s a part of me, I can’t just put it in a box and put it away and never think about it. It’s going to be with me. It’s part of who I am."

Teach women how to eat healthily

We need to raise £3,500 to run our Healthy eating on a budget course for about 50 women and 40 children. This course improves health awareness and offers practical skills for shopping and cooking nutritious food.

Nicola Gibbs benefitted so much from the healthy eating course she did that now she is studying for a qualification in hospitality and catering. She says:

"Before doing the course I wasn’t cooking healthily. I used a lot of tinned food and just making stuff that was quick and convenient. The course taught me how to cook with fresh vegetables, to use different spices and to make healthier food. My children used to be really hard to manage and behave really terribly; it’s surprising to see how their behaviour has changed because of eating healthily."

The gift of equality and confidence

Help women to speak for themselves

We campaign and conduct research into what matters to women and we lobby on their behalf. Better still, whenever we can, we help them have their say and encourage them to directly influence policy-makers, MPs and service providers.

We tackle difficult subjects that women feel strongly about: jobs, poverty, lack of influence and sexualisation. Our campaigns lead to positive changes that can affect every single women in England and Wales.

No wonder Kealy (pictured) is grinning. She was homeless, penniless, pregnant and with no confidence but: "from the moment I came to Platform 51 my life too a spectacular turn for the better. Now I've even had my opinons heard by the Prime Minister!"

Your donation could sponsor a campaign and help women speak out.

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Just imagine how much good
you could do...

Now please phone Ami Bloomer on 01865 304261 and together let's make it happen.