Azalea: A Grant Impact Story
We provide more than £1m in grant funding to local organisations every year, helping to make a wide range of community projects possible. One of the organisations we’ve recently supported is Azalea, a Luton-based charity whose work supports survivors of sex trafficking. Using £20,000 of Harpur Trust funding, Azalea have set up a mobile outreach project – centred around a van named Liberty – to allow them to provide support to women in Bedford. With the funding period now completed, we’re looking back at Azalea’s work and the impact it’s had.
The term ‘sex trafficking’ refers to the act of controlling or coercing someone – often through violence or by exploiting their vulnerability – into engaging in paid sex acts. It is a difficult problem to tackle because survivors face so many challenges, including mental health issues, past experiences of sexual or domestic violence, and drug or alcohol dependences. Many also rely on their exploiters for housing. These issues are made worse by some unhelpful legislation and prejudice which limits women’s access to services like healthcare and policing.
Two nights a week, Azalea’s Liberty van parks in areas of Bedford where women sell sex. Its staff – one permanent Azalea outreach officer and two volunteers – offer hot drinks, snacks, care products, and a safe, warm space to rest and chat. They seek to slowly establish trusting relationships with women, eventually leading to 1-1 chats in which Azalea staff help women to access services like housing, healthcare, and drug and alcohol support.
At the heart of this approach is a belief that in the importance of “building rapport and trust with women through consistency, kindness, and care” and “never expecting anything of the women in return, not even change”. This patient, caring approach is shared by another local charity, Kate’s Place, who run a drop-in centre for vulnerable women in Bedford, and whose parent organisation SMART CJS we have also funded. They describe their philosophy as an “at-your-own-pace, whole-person centred, welcoming approach, which works for people and accelerates recovery”.
Azalea’s project has begun to bear fruit. In the twelve months the Liberty van has been coming to Bedford, it has supported 68 women – a far higher number than anticipated. Two women have been helped into safe accommodation, while 15 have begun to regularly engage with healthcare services and 10 now attend regular 1-1 sessions with Azalea. More importantly, a rapport has been established with all women that Azalea have encountered, paving the way for future impacts.
Azalea’s work has also helped the Harpur Trust to build our understanding of an issue that we previously knew little about. The scope of the sex trafficking issue in Bedford is larger than we were aware, and the issues faced by survivors very substantial. Many challenges lie ahead – structural ones like the need for greater collaboration between charities and statutory bodies, and practical ones such as the need for increased availability of safe housing for vulnerable women. But with organisations like Azalea and Kate’s Place offering compassionate and practical ways forward, we are optimistic that the lives of these most marginalised members of our community can be improved.