NCT Granted Funding to run Volunteer Support Services in Disadvantaged Communities

A new scheme to help support hundreds of mothers in disadvantaged communities has just been given funding and will run through the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

The charity has been awarded funding from the Early Years Social Action Fund, money which aims to help young children reach developmental milestones.

The funds will be used to recruit and train 200 volunteers – Birth and Beyond Community Supporters – who will support potentially isolated mothers struggling to access essential services during the first 1000 days of parenthood.

New mums living in disadvantaged communities often need empathy and signposting to relevant services which can help them. The volunteers will work on a befriending basis, helping people such as young parents and recent migrants with little English who may feel alienated.

The NCT worked with parents from the North West London Mozart Estate, which found that 85 per cent of those taking part felt more positive about things after the volunteers had supported them. Now the charity is forging links to bring the support to other areas.

Chief Executive, NCT Nick Wilkiesaid: “We’re deeply committed to increasing the reach and diversity of our services for parents so are very much looking forward to scaling up our work in less affluent communities.

“We’ve already run successful3 programmes, in places like Bankside in Leeds and the Mozart Estate in London, and it’s clear they have the potential to make a significant impact on a much wider scale.

“Being chosen by Nesta to help improve children’s development is no small matter for us. It’s a ringing endorsement of the work we’ve done to build effective peer support programmes over the last few years.”