Breaking Cycles, Building Futures: How Allen Lane Foundation – Helped Us Mentor Women at the Edge of the System

At Homeless House CIC, we work with young women who are either leaving prison or dangerously close to entering it. These are women navigating trauma, addiction, exploitation, and homelessness often with no safety net and no one left to call. Thanks to the support of The Allen Lane Foundation, we were able to offer mentoring that didn’t just interrupt cycles of custody, it helped rewrite futures.

What We Delivered

With Allen Lane’s funding, we supported over 50 women across Greater Manchester. Our mentors, all with lived experience, offered consistent, trauma-informed support from three months pre-release through six months post-release, and to those at risk of custody through outreach, safeguarding, and detox pathways.

We focused on:

• Pre-release mentoring: detox planning, housing navigation, and emotional preparation
• Post-release support: weekly mentoring, safeguarding referrals, and digital inclusion
• Custody prevention: working with women in hostels, probation, and outreach to divert from remand or recall
• Peer-led resilience building: group sessions focused on trust, boundaries, and self-worth

What Success Looked Like

• Zero returns to custody among our core cohort
• 85% engagement rate sustained over six months
• 12 women entered education, training, or employment
• 100% reported feeling safer, more confident, and more connected

One woman told us:

“I was on the edge. I’d been recalled before. This time, I had someone who didn’t judge me, just helped me hold it together.”

That’s what Allen Lane helped us do – show up, stay present, and hold space for transformation.

What’s Next

We are now building a platform to scale this mentoring model. The Allen Lane Foundation helped us prove the concept. Now we’re ready to take it further, with infrastructure, data, and lived experience at the core.

To Allen Lane: thank you for believing in us. Your funding didn’t just support a programme, it helped women reclaim their lives before the system could take them.