The Effective Women’s Centres Partnership meets with the Justice Minister to discuss the value of women’s centres

On November 20th, the Effective Women’s Centres Partnership that includes five NWJC partners – Anawim, Together Women project, Yorkshire and Humberside, Stockport Women’s Centre, The Nelson Trust and The Women’s Centre Cornwall – hosted a drop in event for MPs and members of the House of Lords at Portcullis House in London.

The event aimed to faciliate discussions centred around sensible routes to prevent crime and meet women’s needs. It was very well attended, and brought together key ministers including the Justice Minister Lord James Timpson, and representatives from multiple women’s organisations, the University of Birmingham and the JABBS Foundation.

A core message championed by the EWC Partnership centres on the value of women’s centres and how they make society safer, reduce the need for custodial sentences and generate significant savings in public spending.

Three years ago, a collective of some of the most experienced women’s centres in the country started utilising a new needs assessment instrument, the Women’s Risk Need Assessment (WRNA), forming the Effective Women’s Centres Partnership. Today, thanks to the WRNA, women’s centres have more robust and reliable evidence then ever before to demonstrate how and why community-based alternatives to prison are more effective at reducing reoffending and improving women’s lives.

Women centres work!