Three Oldham community projects awarded £435,000 to help improve local wellbeing
Three Oldham community projects have received £435,000 from The Ideas Fund to improve local mental wellbeing through collaborations with researchers. The projects focus on supporting women with mental health challenges, domestic violence survivors, and Black and refugee women. The funding will help these initiatives expand their impact over the next three years.
Oldham Groups Receive £435,000 to Advance Mental Health Research Led by Marginalized Women
Three Oldham-based organizations supporting women facing mental health challenges, domestic violence, and systemic oppression have secured £435,000 in new funding from the British Science Association’s The Ideas Fund to expand their community-led research over the next three years.
SAWN (Support and Action for Womens Network), which works primarily with Black African migrant women, will use its grant to develop an intersectionality-focused approach to research that challenges what members describe as “extractive, colonial and problematic” systems. The group’s ‘Sisters of the YAM Choir’ has already performed at community events including the NHS Social Care Futures Event, while two members now contribute to Greater Manchester’s gender-based violence panel.
Inspiring Futures Partnership CIC, the foundation behind Inspire Women Oldham and StrongHer Together, will expand its work empowering women with mental health challenges to co-create and lead research through creative methodologies developed with the Universities of Manchester and Huddersfield.
Made by Mortals, a participatory arts organization, will build on its previous work with Asian women experiencing domestic abuse. Their widely-watched film on coercive control and professional training materials will now reach wider audiences through interactive workshops and strengthened local partnerships.
“This funding allows these women-led groups to fundamentally reshape how research happens,” said Chris Manion, Head of Grants at the British Science Association. “When communities take the lead in partnering with researchers, we see real improvements to people’s wellbeing.”
The grants represent part of £7 million distributed across more than 70 projects since The Ideas Fund launched in January 2021. The program specifically supports community-researcher collaborations in Oldham, North West Northern Ireland, Hull, and the Scottish Highlands and Islands.
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