A Grant from the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund!
At its heart, Write to Freedom is about storytelling. Stories of overcoming big challenges, learning new skills and ways to live and be in the world. We tell stories of returning to our villages or communities changed by what we’ve seen and experienced. About how we can each bring positive change to the wider world. Stories that emerge from hills, woods, rivers and firesides. Stories that help us connect and heal from addiction and trauma. Stories offer a mirror onto who we are and what we are capable of. How we can find ourselves by overcoming our fears. Adventure stories have a number of stages: the call to adventure; the refusal of the call; the road of trials and the return to the village.
Stories of calls to adventure, trials and return unfold on our programmes and also behind the scenes, in the day to day running of the work we do. Not least of all in how we find new ways to fund our delivery and development – particularly in these challenging times. W2F set out on a new storyline in 2016. After nearly fifteen years of working with young men, mainly in the prison system, I took the decision to change the focus of our delivery to working with addiction and trauma recovery with mixed gender groups. What has unfolded in the last 3.5 years has seen us navigating a seismic shift in the vision for the organisation.
In December 2018 we had a meeting with the BIG Lottery – Reaching Communities Fund. We were warned of flame throwing dragons protecting treasure! The journey would be full of trials. No guarantees of anyone returning to the village intact. We left the meeting downhearted and reflective. We chose to refuse the call. We entered the first stages of a financial crisis.
In the Spring of 2019, 11 years down the line of seeking and securing funding, of steering the organisation through rough and smooth waters I woke up feeling like I’d had enough. I was exhausted, had been for years. I chose to let go and chuck in the towel. Within half an hour of the decision, the phone rang. It was our funding officer from Reaching Communities, we were strongly encouraged to submit a full proposal. We decided to take up the call.
Nine months later the phone rang again. Write to Freedom had gone through the fabled dark night of the soul. Reflecting on survival. Our vision. Our contribution to the world and writing and submitting our Reaching Communities bid. We knew that our work would continue in some form but didn’t know if there would be the money we needed to grow to the next level in our story. Our funding officer paused on the other end of the line then told us we’d been awarded the full 196K we’d bid for to cover three years of delivery plus a further 15K for organisational development. As the tension of the previous year(s) begin to leave me, I felt my body start to tremble a little and a broad smile on my face.
The time we’d spent on our biggest funding bid so far, gave us space to think long and deep about who we are and where we want to go next. During this time, Exeter University came on board to partner with us to help us build our new evidence base.
It feels like the last 3.5 years has been a growing, testing ground. A time to find our feet with our new direction. The end of 2019 marked the end of this journey and the beginning of another. We’ve moved through a highly challenging process with our eyes open and a deep belief in what we do and who we are. Belief and trust are everything.
There is a magical element to many mythical stories. I’ve seen that magic unfold so many times on this road. Each time encouraging us to continue, to keep going. We are always changing, always connecting, telling the stories of the whole organisation. The stories and the journey will continue.
The sapling has finally taken root.
