Zahra Foundation

Our funding is enabling Zahra Foundation to bring their Pathways to Empowerment Program from Adelaide, South Australia to Newcastle, New South Wales. The program will be offered free of charge to women across the Hunter Region, equipping them with the tools, knowledge and confidence to achieve financial independence, set and act towards life goals, find pathways to education, training and employment and to break the cycle of abuse.

The team will work with women and non-binary people who have left abusive relationships in order to rebuild their lives and create financial independence so that they and their children don’t need to choose between safety and poverty or homelessness. More than 9,000 women and children face homelessness each year after leaving a violent partner. The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research recorded an increase of 9.3% in the number of reported domestic violence-related assaults across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in 2021-2022, and Equity Economics and ACCOSS recently reported that only 40% of DFV incidents are currently being reported. Equity Economics has also reported that the lack of long- term social housing is leading to 7,690 Australian women a year returning to violent partners and 9,120 women a year becoming homeless.

Zahra Foundation will deliver the Pathways to Empowerment Program in Newcastle in partnership with long-standing women’s service “Jenny’s Place”. It is a nine-week program and will include skills-based training and support delivered by two qualified, specialist DFV trauma-informed group facilitators. The focus of the program is to assist women disconnected from the workforce or educational opportunities due to domestic violence to identify their skills, strengths, values, and interests and apply this learning to the development of a pathways/action plan to empower themselves and their family. Overall, the women will be empowered to improve their financial and psychological wellbeing.