Those of you who have been following Represent Women for a while will know that each month we share what we’ve been up to, usually at the start of our Newsletter. However, we’ve found ourselves so busy, and with so many updates to share, that we’ve turned them into a blog instead.
We have a lot to fill you in on so, without further ado, let us share with you everything Represent Women have been up to throughout the month of June.
To kick start the month Erin attended the North East Civil Society Leads meeting, which this month focused on the local elections and how the change in political landscape may affect the policy space. These meetings were set up after a conversation with Siobahn from VONNE and Hannah from Newcastle Citizens’ Advice about the lack of joined up policy. We are grateful to them both for creating such an important space and starting this conversation.
On the 11 June, Erin also attended three exciting meetings. The purpose of these meetings? Looking at possibilities and opportunities that would directly benefit women’s organisations. Watch this space, we can’t wait to share more with over the coming months!
Erin also had a conversation with officers from Tees Valley Combined Authority about how we can create opportunities for voices of the women’s sector to be heard, which we will be following up very soon.
However, possibly our biggest update for this month is the role we were asked to play in the Mayor’s Meet and the positive partnership we have created with the Mayor’s Office.
Erin with Mayor Kim McGuinness and Chompa from Al- Falaq Counselling
Hosting and compering this event was a perfect opportunity to listen to women and girls concerns, suggestions and questions around the North East transport system. The ideas people brought forward on the night were brilliant and at the heart of it all were women’s voices and real‑life experiences. It was clear to see the Mayor was taking a lot of these on board.
Events such as these, in which there are opportunities for the community to engage directly with the Mayor, are what shift policy. That is why it’s imperative women and girls are involved from the start, not added at the end.
In line with this, Erin has also continued to attend weekly meetings to ensure we are on track with the expert panel of women’s organisations we convened to help guide the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority’s transport safety study and ensure the right interventions are in place. This is work we are really proud to be involved in. It has been great working with the transport team at NEMSA and the study team at WSP. We look forward to continuing our work on this project next month.
Livv has also worked closely with the Mayor’s Office this month and in line with Refugee Week, met with Giselle Cufte, Refuge and Immigration Policy Advisor to the Mayor. They spent time discussing the upcoming ‘Meet the Mayor’ session which Livv was attending with Women’s Wellbeing Cafe, one of our member organisations. We always enjoy getting to connect with our members and being there to support you and ensure you are involved in solution-based conversations to strengthen and support your work.
Livv with Kim McGuinness and Giselle Cufte
Livv was also able to spend a lot of time connecting with some of our other member organisations through numerous events such as Open Clasps AGM, which this year was combined with a living archive showing the journey of Open Clasp and the impact their shows have on women in the North East. The AGM/ Living Archive also reminded visitors of the amazing work their champions do every step of the way when it comes to creating their theater productions.
Livv at the Open Clasp AGM with Catrina Director of Open Clasp, one of Open Clasps Champions and Huffty from West End Women and Girls
Livv also paid a visit to Women’s Wellbeing Cafe who invited us to a Kimchi making class with some of their members, after which Livv also facilitated a community conversation. We are always thankful when we get to spend time with our members, see first-hand how special your services are and hear directly from the people who use them – this is who and what we are advocating for.
Livv at Women’s Well Being Cafe
Some other notable events we have attended this month and would like to share with you include the Northeast Anti-Racism Coalition meeting in Ashington, where we heard from multiple speakers, were informed about a new language guide that was co-produced within the community and will be launched soon, as well as engaging in an interactive activity exploring how we imagine an anti-racist North-East looking. We found it particularly heart warming to see everyone drawing images of love, happiness and belonging (see Livv’s interpretation below).
Livv at the NEARC meeting with Giselle ,Ngozi,and Nafhesa
Lastly, Livv also attended the Connected Voice Funders Fair where we heard about some great new funding opportunities that we have shared in our Newsletter and will continue to share with you all where relevant.
We have also attended multiple conferences throughout the month. Firstly, Erin attended the Insights North East 2026 Conference and Grace and Livv attended the Rosa Summer Conference. Both were great opportunities to hear from inspirational leaders across numerous sectors and gain useful insights and knowledge that we will take forward with us.
Since attending the Rosa conference, we haven’t been able to forget the powerful words of Zabaida Bai in the ‘Why Invest in Women’ workshop when she said “when women come together, they build what is needed.” This has really stuck with us as Zabaida highlighted perfectly the values Represent Women believe so strongly in; consideration, collaboration, courage and commitment to working together to make the women and girls sector as strong as it can be and to work together to make life better for women and girls.
We ended the month (quite literally as we went on the 30th) by hosting a stall at the Anything is Possible: Tackling Child Poverty Together Across Tees Valley event. We used this opportunity to showcase some of our amazing member organisations based in Tees Valley who support women and girls.
Taking a cross sector approach is so important as a unified Tees Valley is key to tackling child poverty, especially as research (conducted by Gingerbread) shows that 89% of single parent families are single mother families. Without supporting women and addressing the root cause of their problems nothing will change for their families, and this is why the work of the women’s sector is so vital.
We would like to give a special shout out to Locardia and Agatha from Women Today and thank them both for stepping in and expertly looking after our stall during Erin’s lunch break. This is a great example of the women’s sector coming together, supporting each other and jumping in to help each other out!
Erin at the Tees Valley Child Poverty Event
Not only have we spent time out and about connecting with people and advocating on behalf of the sector, but we have also spent time learning. This month the Women’s Budget Group held a series of online workshops titled ‘Feminist Initiatives Need Data’ and Livv attended on behalf of Represent Women. This was an insightful session that lay the foundation for understanding data and why research is an important resource for the women’s sector and emphasised how data collected within women’s organisations can feed into and strengthen policy work which is information we know at Represent Women we will be coming back to as collecting voices from the sector is how we will ensure lasting, meaningful change.
Erin also spoke at a meeting with the Women’s Budget Group this month about her previous experience and engagement with the Feminist Initiatives Data Group, amongst other projects. She also spoke about the Women sector and Represent Women’s approach, touching upon some of our achievements and successes to date. We are looking forward to working more closely with and value the relationships we have built with the team at the Women’s Budget Group.
As you can see we have had a very busy and productive June filled with great networking opportunities not just with our members but with the wider sector, great advocacy opportunities with the Mayor’s Office and great learning opportunities that we are always eager to grab with both hands. We look forward to next month being equally as busy and can’t wait to continue sharing our work with you. Thank you to all our members for your continued support.