Umay Prevention CIC is a community-led organisation working across South West London to help prevent violence against women and girls. They aim to do this through early intervention, education, wellbeing programmes and culturally responsive support.

They support migrant and racially minoritised women, including Turkish-speaking and Middle Eastern women, who can face extra barriers to getting help because of language, isolation and cultural differences. Alongside the community workshops and wellbeing programmes, they provide trauma-informed training for organisations to help build safer, more inclusive communities and improve responses to domestic abuse and harmful practices.

We worked with this organisation to help them build connections locally and supported them to apply for funding. We are pleased to share that earlier this year they were successful in receiving funding from the National Lottery Awards for All funding.

Read what Sinem Aksay, Lead Directors had to say about the support they received.

The support has been transformational!

As a newly established CIC, one of our biggest challenges was understanding how to navigate the local voluntary sector and build meaningful relationships. Community Action Sutton helped us move from being a new organisation with an idea to becoming an active member of Sutton's community network.

Their introductions opened doors that would have taken much longer to access independently. We have already developed collaborative relationships with several organisations and will begin delivering workshops in Sutton later this year.

The funding advice and strategic guidance also helped us strengthen our funding applications, contributing to our successful National Lottery Awards for All grant.

Perhaps most importantly, Community Action Sutton gave us confidence that we were building something that responded to genuine local need.

Learn more about this vital charity through their website