Middlesbrough Collaboration: A local lead for the next phase

The Middlesbrough Collaboration is entering a new phase. From 2026, the programme will be led by a local partnership of Nur Fitness CIC, Women Today North East and The Junction, working to improve financial security for women, children and young people across the wards of Gresham, Linthorpe and Newport.

What is the Middlesbrough Collaboration?

The Middlesbrough Collaboration is a local programme in Middlesbrough funded by Buttle, Turn2Us and The Smallwood Trust. We have been working in a highly collaborative way with local mothers to provide money, support and lay the foundations for sustained change in the area.

The new local phase

The programme recognises the link between gendered and child poverty. Women are more likely to face financial insecurity because of lower pay, unpaid care responsibilities and limited access to secure work. When women face financial hardship, children feel it too, through housing pressures, food insecurity and reduced access to education and opportunity. Local learning has reinforced this: in workshops with young people in Newport, financial security was linked not just to income, but to feeling safe, having decent housing and being able to take part in community life.

Backed by £450,000 over two years, the partnership will combine family support, youth development, onward grants and culturally responsive financial literacy. They will work to strengthen pathways from training into employment for women, create community-based provision connecting young people with opportunities, and improve coordination between local services so families can more easily access support. The aim is not just to deliver programmes, but to use what they learn from lived experience to influence how local systems respond to gendered and child poverty over time.

The Collaboration’s earlier stage

Earlier phases of the Collaboration’s work (2021–2024) involved direct engagement, workshops, grants and listening exercises. Read more about the first phase here.

This current phase builds on the learning from that work, shifting decision-making power to trusted local organisations with the knowledge and relationships to drive lasting change. This 2026–2027 phase is a developmental stage within a longer-term journey — not expected to resolve gendered and child poverty in two years, but to build the foundations for sustained change.

Find out more about the Middlesbrough Collaboration and the new local partnership