Creative Change Collective

Creative Change Collective is based in Glasgow and works across Scotland, mainly in justice and recovery settings. Their Hot Seats programme uses group role play and interview techniques in a uniquely anonymized and safeguarded space. Participants explore behaviour, relationships, recovery, responsibility and hope without self-exposure.

Allen Lane funded CCC’s women-focused work in October 2025 with a grant of £7,800. The project is intended to benefit 100 women through groups across female prisons and community-sentence settings. Anticipated outcomes include reduced offending and reoffending, stronger recovery-supporting behaviour, improved emotional wellbeing and healthier self-esteem.

Website: www.ccc.scot  Socials: @cccscot

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Release Mates

This organisation was established to address the lack of immediate post-release support for people leaving prison across the North West of England.  The first day of release in particular can determine which path an ex-offender might go down: with the right support they can go onto to a positive future; without support they can feel let down, and it is all too easy to fall into old habits and go back to a life of crime.  Since it was set up in 2022, Release Mates has been working in various prisons, and with offenders released back to areas across the North West.  Staff and a team of volunteers become the individuals’ first point of contact, working directly with people as they walk through the prison gate, to help them access the services and support they need.  They provide basic necessities, accompany them to various appointments and help get them settled into accommodation, and can work with them for around three months.

At the June 2025 meeting of Trustees, the Foundation agreed a grant of £7,500 that is contributing to the launch and delivery the scheme with female ex-offenders. Release Mates Women will specifically support women ex-offenders resettling in the North West, from prisons including HMP Foston Hall and HMP Eastwood Park.  The scheme will take referrals from probation services, prisons, police and other agencies.  The scheme will provide guidance and one-to-one support through an ongoing mentoring service that will last for between 6 and 12 months, depending on needs and circumstances.  The intention is that the women will be provided with the best possible chance of positive change and be supported to resettle back into the community.

www.releasemates.org

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Blown Fuse

Blown Fuse works across Essex as a creative arts organisation, using storytelling, theatre and technology to explore new performance possibilities. It aims to make the arts accessible to all, and uses it as a platform for sharing underrepresented stories, fostering empathy for marginalised communities, and building connections across communities.

The organisation received funding from the Allen Lane Foundation in February 2025. A grant of £4,886 has been awarded to contribute towards the delivery costs of creative arts workshops with women through two schemes: with women in prison at HMP East Sutton near Maidstone; and with women on probation working with the Advance Charity’s new Women’s Centre in Chelmsford. Blown Fuse will deliver a series of writing and poetry workshops with the women, aiming to give the participants a voice and provide a sense of community. Intended outcomes are that the project will improve women’s mental health; lower offending rates; and increase employability skills.

www.blownfusetheatre.co.uk

 

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Inside Justice

Inside Justice is an award-winning charity that conducts casework investigations on behalf of people who present a strong case that they have been wrongly convicted. It provides free access to pro bono experts and lawyers, and it identifies and challenges systemic failings within the criminal justice system. It covers all types of criminal cases, but has a particular interest in cases that involve coercive control.

In October 2024, a grant was awarded specifically towards the charity’s work supporting women across the UK. The funding is £5,000 per annum for two years.  Inside Justice aims to reach out to more women prisoners, with increased staff time to raise awareness of the charity’s support services in women’s prisons, and with women support organisations.  Outcomes of the work are that more vulnerable and disenfranchised women in the Criminal Justice System will be supported, and that increased signposting advice and guidance will be provided to female prisoners’ families.

www.insidejustice.co.uk

 

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Prisoner Support Services

Prisoner Support Services works across South Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Bedford, aiming to fill gaps in the support of women leaving prison.  It sees several hundred women each year, helping them to support the cope whilst in prison, and also preparing for life in the community once released.

The Allen Lane Foundation has awarded a grant in October 2024 of £4,355. This is towards a mix of salaries, workshops and travel costs.  The organisation will to continue to run personal and social development workshops for women in HMP Peterborough Prison and resettlement work at Approved Premises in Bedford. Prison workshops are weekly, benefitting around 300 women a year, promoting wellbeing, exploring positive relationships, goal setting and independent living.  The work in Approved Premises will also help with building confidence, assisting with access to services and GPs for example, and help with debt, benefits and budgeting.  Intended outcomes of the work are that women leaving prison or Approved Premises will be able to recognises and apply self-help tools for better personal and social development; and that women will be supported to better independent living, and have improved confidence and a more positive future.

www.prisonersupportservices.co.uk

 

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SLEEC

Survivors Leading Essential Education & Change – known as SLEEC – was set up by survivors of rape, sexual violence and domestic violence to support survivors and those with lived experience of harm and trauma, but also to tackle the root causes of male violence and rape culture.  It is based in Bristol but works on a national basis. Its work with survivors includes aiming to challenge the narrative around sexual violence and domestic abuse and how survivors are seen and treated.  It provides a space for survivors to meet and talk, running a twice-monthly survivor group.

In June 2024, SLEEC was offered funding of £6,020 from the Allen Lane Foundation.  The grant is towards work with men, working to end male violence and misogyny.  It offers courses for men, aimed at creating a ‘deeper understanding of the impact of their behaviour, where that harm comes from and exploring ways in which true accountability can be practised and sustained’.  The grant will create a series of training resources to be used to train and support staff and volunteering working in prisons and with ex-offenders.  A pilot project will involve 15 men, focussing on behaviour, attitudes and experiences that impact their actions and choices.  SLEEC then aims to reach eleven prisons in the South West with this resource over the coming year.  Intended outcomes are reduced harm and violence in communities; for those incarcerated that they will feel less isolation, stigmatised and more integrated into their communities; and to change the culture around prevention and harm reduction work.

www.sleec.net

 

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Coaching Inside and Out (CIAO)

Coaching Inside and Out (CIAO) provides coaching support to improve the lives of people convicted of offences, or at risk of that, so that they can help themselves and others.  Originally established in HMP Styal, the organisation has worked in numerous prisons and in the community.  The work is delivered through a mixture of one-to-one and group sessions, tailored and structured by the needs of the individuals. So far CIAO has assisted over 1,800 children and adults with very positive feedback from prison and probation staff as well as the individuals concerned.

At the February 2024 meeting, Trustees agreed a grant of £10,000 split over a two-year period. This is contributing to the costs of introducing a new Coaching Circles model at HMP Styal that will build on individual coaching. This will include the provision of training and support for women at the prison to become coaching facilitators themselves, so that they can provide peer support and directly help to empower other women.  It is anticipated that 18 women will become coaching facilitators and up to 300 women in prison will be supported.  Outcomes are that women will come up with their own solutions to better understand, restore and strengthen relationships; improve their health; engage with education and work; and become assets to their communities.

www.coachinginsideandout.org.uk

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Runforever

Runforever is a non-profit community organisation, set up in Aberdeenshire in March 2023. It seeks to address issues of re-offending and stigma in prison environments and aims to reorientate mainstream goal-oriented rehabilitation programmes towards a practice of freedom and equality. The group promotes a running club as a bridge between the prison and the community that follows pilot schemes overseas and in HMP Grampian at Peterhead in Scotland.  The running club welcomes runners from inside and outside prison, enabling the formation of a community of support and breaking down walls between offenders and the local community.

The project also works with the Media Unit in the prison, and runs a radio show – Runningstories – that gives voice to the stories of the prisoners and non-prisoners that take part, showcasing the positive impact on their health and wellbeing that the project is having. With the same aim of co-creating new forms of value from the inside, it uses the photovoice method in collaboration with RGU University, for capturing runners’ experience of the running club through photos and words.

Runforever applied for funding from Allen Lane at the October 2023 meeting, and received a grant of £3,000.  The funding is towards developing the project and its ongoing costs. Outcomes from the work include improving trust and collaboration between the prison and community, and improving health and wellbeing of prisoners including the quality of their social relationships.
https://runforever.org.uk/

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Community Chaplaincy Norfolk

Community Chaplaincy Norfolk was set up to support the needs of people leaving prison and resettling in Norfolk.  It works with people of all or no faith, and aims to reduce re-offending, complimenting the overstretched statutory services that help people.  The Chaplaincy works from St Stephen’s Church in Norwich and runs drop-in support as well as one-to-one all-round assistance.  This can be with issues such as help accessing accommodation, benefits, work, or drugs support, and advice, advocacy and emotional support.  At any one time around 35 prison-leavers are receiving mentoring and support from CCN staff and trained volunteers.

In October 2023, the Foundation awarded funding to the Chaplaincy towards its core running costs.  The grant covers a two-year period, totalling £8,000.  Intended outcomes from the period include that around 60 people per annum will receive support and the likelihood of their re-offending will be reduced; that eight to ten new volunteers will be recruited; and that prison leavers will be supported to successfully reintegrate into the community.

www.norfolkchaplaincy.org.uk

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Foundations 2 Change

Foundations 2 Change has the overall aim ‘to show men that a successful life outside of prison is possible’. It was founded by people who had been through the criminal justice themselves, and recognised that there were different ways to help people reintegrate back into society after being imprisoned. Much of its work is with repeat offenders, tackling the underlying issues that are the root cause of their offending behaviour. Foundations 2 Change works within the prison, delivering courses and rehabilitation workshops, and then helps the men as they come out of prison, meeting them at the gate, helping with accommodation, finding support and helping them make a new start.

Allen Lane has made a grant totalling £6,000 split equally over two years. The funding will help Foundations 2 Change to support men as they move back in the community. The organisation will help with setting up welfare benefits, bank accounts and other appointments, and introduce them to positive support networks that will aid their successful journey to recovery. Outcomes from the work are that on release the men will be supported into stable accommodation or rehabilitation; they will leave prison with the tools and confidence to live successfully; and that at least ten men will remain free of reoffending for at least 12 months after their release.

www.foundations2change.com

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