Julia Rausing Trust is delighted to announce a £5 million grant to One Small Thing to support operations of the organisation’s Hope Street project in Hampshire, a pilot residential alternative to custody for women and their children.
The £5 million funding is the single largest donation received to date and follows previous grants in 2019 and 2022. As well as the Hope Street project, the funding will also enable the charity to drive forward the scoping and modelling needed to share learning nationally and explore opportunities for replication of the model, or elements of the model, in other areas of England and Wales.
Hope Street was co-designed in consultation with partners from across the justice system, community partners and women with lived experience. The Hope Street pilot in Hampshire is the first purpose built, county-wide residential network specifically designed for women. It prevents women’s unnecessary imprisonment and maternal separation. Children can stay with their mothers in a safe environment with tailored and ongoing support. The project also benefits from a bespoke, user-led case management system to capture outcomes, alongside an independent longitudinal evaluation with the University of Southampton.
Claire Hubberstey, CEO, One Small Thing, commented “None of our achievements to date would have been possible without the invaluable support of Julia Rausing and her husband Hans. Her support has already delivered a huge impact in helping us to achieve our core aims of reducing women’s imprisonment and preventing maternal separation. We are now in a position to scale our work and deliver much needed change. We are delighted that the Julia Rausing Trust, set up in her name, continues to believe that our work can create transformational change for women in contact with the justice system. With a new government in power and a national action plan due on reducing women’s imprisonment, we have an important opportunity to use our learning to achieve real, lasting change.”
Simon Fourmy, Director of the Julia Rausing Trust, said “Julia Rausing understood that women caught up in the criminal justice system face specific challenges. She therefore saw the importance of One Small Thing’s aim of preventing the unnecessary imprisonment of women and resulting separation from their children. The Hope Street residential project shows that there is another way, providing a safe alternative to prison where women can recover from trauma and maintain familial relationships. Today’s grant builds on Julia’s previous support and will underpin Hope Street over the coming years as the charity seeks to scale their work and deliver change across the country.”