About Us
Women Today is a Black African women’s collective in Middlesbrough, Teesside. We provide shared spaces and empowering projects to build resilience, wellbeing, and positive futures for women and girls in our communities.
Herstory
Women Today was founded in 2013 by Locardia Chidanyika as a self-help group for Black African migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women. The group grew from experiences of overcoming abuse and the hardships of migration. Locardia was able to share the strengths she had gained arriving in the UK with no English and going on to gain a masters in public health. These principles of growth and resilience underpin Women Today’s approach.
Growing through word of mouth Women Today became a registered charity and in 2022 secured a three-year Reaching Communities grant from the National Lottery Community Fund enabling the organisation to employ its first staff member. It’s work cuts across themes of community-building, resilience against poverty, recovery from abuse, wellbeing, and safety.
Women Today now supports over 120 Black African women and girls in Middlesbrough each year through 1-1 support, group-work, and specialist projects and events. Women Today has a growing reputation in the area for quality, collaboration, and its deeply rooted work within Middlesbrough’s growing African diaspora.
Our approach
We exist to empower one another. Our aim is to build community and to support all Black African women and girls to achieve their full potential. We believe that together, we have unique contributions to make to the culture and communities of Middlesbrough.
Strategy
Our current focus is growing support for the girls’ in our community to build their confidence, safety and self-respect.
Accounts
All our accounts can be read on the Charity Commission website.