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The Wallsend Family Matters Community Hub has received a huge funding boost for its projects
A North East hub is breaking down barriers and empowering women back into work. Family Gateway Community Hub has received two and much needed funding to support their local community in Howdon, North Tyneside and across the North East.
The first funding came from the North East Combined Authority through the Government’s Economic Inactivity Trailblazer programme, which was in total £145,000. This is one of the largest investments in Howdon in recent years which is a major boost for local people and a step towards creating better opportunities for those in the local area. The project is part of the recently launched ‘Get Britain Working’ White paper and is funded by the Department of Work and Pensions.
It aims to help 2,000 people in the North East who are out of work and reduce barriers that make finding and maintaining work harder and making better use of existing services. The programme centres around three main priorities; better pathways into employment, new ways of working and reforming systems so there is an integrated approach to health and employment.
Family Gateway aims to reduce reliance on benefits and improve family stability by focusing on areas most affected by poverty and unemployment. The funding from the Government’s Economic Inactivity Trailblazer programme will support the Hub’s Herizon programme which is designed to help women in disadvantaged communities across North Tyneside and the wider North East get back into work.
Herizon gives practical, personalised support to women who are currently out of work and face barriers such as caring responsibilities, health issues, or lack of access to training and jobs. Cllr Tracey Dixon, North East CA Cabinet Member of Home of Real Opportunity and Leader of South Tyneside Council, said: “Economic inactivity isn’t about lack of ambition- it’s about barriers. Horizon will break those barriers by providing the right support, at the right time, in the heart of the community.”
A key part of the programme is the Barefoot Professional Training, which uses lived experience to empower women and help them overcome challenges. This has now expanded to Barefoot Beginner and Barefoot Training to reach as many women as possible at whichever level they are at.
Angela Donaghy, Training Development Co-ordinator for Family Gateway, is responsible for overseeing the Barefoot model in terms of training. She said: “So we have some ladies who are quite happy and quite comfortable to come and sit in the centre and do group work programmes. Some aren’t ready for that.”
Horizon not only includes training but also other support that they may not usually have access to such as cognitive behavioural therapy that is built in executive coaching counselling as well as wellbeing options such as use of the gym facilities. Angela said: “If we feel that there is something that they would benefit from, we can refer them to that.”
The Hub acknowledges that the two biggest barriers for women are childcare responsibilities and travel costs, so the programme has addressed those areas when developing the programme. Laura Mosavi, a mother of four, is a graduate of the programme starting from a participant, to a volunteer and is now a member of staff.
Having seen a few of her friends go through the Barefoot Programme, she wanted to do it and signed up for the most recent programme. She said: “I found it really helpful. Coming to the training made me realise what my lived experience is. It helped me realise how much I can do.”
Laura has taken part in projects such as the Howdon Community Tree and a pop up shop for her art in the hub while also volunteering on Tuesday mornings to help include arts and crafts. She said: “That brought out my art because I’m an artist, so I’ve trained myself back towards my art. So it’s been a really good experience.”
It’s this type of experience that is encouraged by the project with some graduates of the programme having used their experience to design the hub to accommodate to the needs of the community. For instance, updating a garden shed into a zen space and potential sensory room or adding a café, Howdelicious, for the community in the reception area which has helped some graduates flourish in their loving of baking.
Angela said the aim of the Hub and Herizon is to help as many people as we can. She added: “We want to empower people to get back into employment , if that’s what they want.
“It could be volunteering, it could be training courses, it could just be finding what it is that they enjoy doing, what their purpose is, what they feel they’ve got to give to the community and doing all that using their own lived experience.”
The main thing that Herizon focuses on is the community and making sure all members have the support they need. Laura said: “There’s loads of support. There’s so many people to get advice from and everyone’s friendly.”
With flexible timings, during the school hours or enabling children to come to classes, the project makes sure to deliver its promise to ensure that barriers that women would usually face are no longer a problem, this includes for some funding travel costs as well. Angela said: “We’re very flexible in how we do it because it has to be to make it accessible to everybody because not everybody’s life works 9 to 5.”
In the future, plans include creating an information board to make sure that everyone who comes to hub can recognise staff, their rules and what they deliver, as well as making a portable sensory space for children with additional needs as well as making more of their rooms multifunctional so they can reach more members in the community.
Family Gateway also received a personal donation from Natalia, Duchess of Westminster, administered by the Westminster Foundation after meeting senior staff at an event in London. The contribution of £10,000 is to be spent directly on funding front line work including Youth Clubs and Family Support Work.
The Duchess met Family Gateway at an awards ceremony hosted by the Centre for Social Justice, who shortlisted Family Gateway as one of their 12 finalists in the 2025 awards. These funds will bolster Howdon Youth Zone, an open doors youth club which hosts between 60 and 100 young people a week in the centre of Howdon.
The impact of the club is noted by local police who, since the start of the club, have reported a 18% drop in anti-social behaviour in the area. Part of the funding will also be put towards Family Gateway’s long running family support work, where they have over 15 years experience helping families overcome barriers to success and improving their ability to grab opportunities for their children.
A member of staff at Family Gateways, who work in delivering Howdon Youth Zone, said: “Donations like this allow us to focus on why we’re here; doing our best by the kids and their families.
“As funding becomes harder for charities to find, donations from individuals play an even bigger part in allowing us to stay open and providing vital services for people of all ages.”
Cllr Tracey Dixon echoed this sentiment and said: “The Combined Authority is committed to giving everyone in the region the chance to thrive. Our Economic Inactivity Trailblazer is part of a wider plan to create a New Deal for North East Workers.”
The next course with Barefoot will start on February 23 and the team hope to reach out and encourage more women to come and join the community.
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