For today’s community story we are in South Wales where Luke Upton caught up with Menaka Kodur, Interim CEO of Women Connect First. We learn about the tireless work they do for their community and how their recent grant from National Grid’s Community Matters Fund (Fuel Poverty) will enable them to widen their impact this Winter.
Luke Upton (LU): Great to connect Menaka, to get us started, could you tell us some more about the community you serve in Cardiff and South East Wales? And why your support is needed.
Menaka Kodur (MK): Thanks for speaking to me today. Women Connect First is a charity led by Black, Asian and other ethnic minority women. We have been working for over 20 years from our centre in Riverside, Cardiff to improve lives in Wales, especially for women, young girls and children from disadvantaged ethnic minority communities. We provide a range of services, including advice & advocacy, counselling and other mental health support, physical health and wellbeing activities, ESOL and ICT classes, a café, a free creche and after school clubs. Women Connect First, or WCF, was established in March 2001 to support Black, Asian and other minority ethnic women in Cardiff and surrounding areas. WCF provides a safe space and culturally appropriate services for women, girls and their families from a highly diverse range of ethnic backgrounds. Staffed and led by and for Black, Asian and other minority ethnic women, the main need our organisation addresses is for accessible, trusted, culturally suitable support for ethnic minority women and girls to overcome the barriers they face in their daily lives, and within Welsh society more widely. The marginalisation and inequality our communities suffer manifests itself in the women and girls who come to us every day faced with all types of problems, from physical or emotional crises, the cost of living, lack of childcare or educational or work opportunities, to poor health, cultural isolation and loneliness, lack of social support, or lack of skills or confidence.
LU: Thanks, so what’s been your particular focus in recent years?
MK: Alongside emergency ‘cost of living’ provision such as warm banks, free meals or help with energy costs, we provide a ‘cradle to grave’ menu of crucial services for our beneficiaries, including afterschool clubs, a community cafe, a creche, one-to-one advice and advocacy casework, counselling and other mental health support, physical health and mental well-being activities, English and computer courses, skills and confidence building sessions and volunteering opportunities. From our centre in Riverside in Cardiff and other partner organisations and venues within our communities, we have supported many thousands of women with a wide variety of different ethnic backgrounds living in some of the poorest places in Wales.
LU: You’ve just received funding from the Community Matters Fund from National Grid and Localgiving. Can you tell us some more about the project it will help fund and what it aims to deliver?
MK: It funds our Winter of Wellbeing (WOW) Hubs project will provide a Warm Bank for Black, Asian and other ethnic minority women and families at our centre in Cardiff. This funding from the Community Matters Fund provides a weekly place for women and their families to be warm and access our specialist fuel poverty advisor during each three- hour session, particularly in relation to support with fuel payments and energy tariffs. The Warm Hubs and seminars provide practical steps in providing inclusive and supportive sessions that will help the women manage their energy consumption effectively. The warm hub provides a warm and safe space with a healthy meal, bringing people together and combats loneliness and isolation, so it’s a really important part of community during the Winter months.
LU: Thanks, so what’s been your particular focus in recent years?
MK: Alongside emergency ‘cost of living’ provision such as warm banks, free meals or help with energy costs, we provide a ‘cradle to grave’ menu of crucial services for our beneficiaries, including afterschool clubs, a community cafe, a creche, one-to-one advice and advocacy casework, counselling and other mental health support, physical health and mental well-being activities, English and computer courses, skills and confidence building sessions and volunteering opportunities. From our centre in Riverside in Cardiff and other partner organisations and venues within our communities, we have supported many thousands of women with a wide variety of different ethnic backgrounds living in some of the poorest places in Wales.
LU: You’ve just received funding from the Community Matters Fund from National Grid and Localgiving. Can you tell us some more about the project it will help fund and what it aims to deliver?
MK: It funds our Winter of Wellbeing (WOW) Hubs project will provide a Warm Bank for Black, Asian and other ethnic minority women and families at our centre in Cardiff. This funding from the Community Matters Fund provides a weekly place for women and their families to be warm and access our specialist fuel poverty advisor during each three- hour session, particularly in relation to support with fuel payments and energy tariffs. The Warm Hubs and seminars provide practical steps in providing inclusive and supportive sessions that will help the women manage their energy consumption effectively. The warm hub provides a warm and safe space with a healthy meal, bringing people together and combats loneliness and isolation, so it’s a really important part of community during the Winter months.
LU: How important is this kind of funding to your organisation?
MK: The funding from the Community Matters fund is incredibly important, it will enable us to provide the essential ‘cost of living’ support via warm hubs, free meals and help with energy costs to diverse communities living in Cardiff and surrounding areas between December 2024 and March 2025. So, a huge thank you to National Grid and Localgiving for the help they have given us and support this enables us to deliver to our community. The advice sessions will be provided for women, older women from diverse communities. Most women we support struggle with English, isolated, living in poverty and come to us as we speak their language, and they know the centre already as a safe woman only space and because they trust us. Thank you again!
LU: As I always like to ask, more money aside, what would help you most?
MK: As part of the Winter of Wellbeing – Warm Hubs project awareness seminars will also be provided to check on the welfare of the women and their families in relation to fuel poverty and signpost them to other services as required. These seminars will be provided in partnership with other key local external stakeholders where required such as NEA and other energy providers. Fuel poverty, energy bills, tariff issues, arrears and cost of living crisis are ongoing issues facing minority ethnic communities all through the year and not just during winter months. Continuity of services to support the communities are essential.
LU: Thanks for a great interview, is there anything else you'd like to tell the Localgiving community about?
MK: We are a long-established service provider for ethnic minority women, and have already successfully delivered a similar service for the National Grid Community Matters fund during the last two years for winter months and successfully supported approximately 240 women with our Warm hubs and fuel poverty advice. Our team has extensive experience in providing Advice & Advocacy service and we have a well-established service provision catering to the needs of women & families who access our services from diverse backgrounds and areas of Cardiff and surrounding areas.
LU: Brilliant, thank you for the time today and we look forward to tracking the great support you give your community.
---> Learn more about Women Connect First.