Efficiency North were delighted that Leeds City Council chose Leeds’ Lord Mayor’s chosen charity, Support After Rape and Sexual Violence, as the beneficiary of £4,000, accrued for the benefit of local communities through their work with the social housing consortium.
The Lord Mayor was delighted to present the cheque on Leeds Civic Hall steps to a senior lead officer at the charity, Sonia Kumari, on Thursday 8 April, alongside Efficiency North’s Chief of Corporate Services, Jonathan Shaw, and EN:Able Communities Head of Operations, Simeon Perry.
Efficiency North introduced a new Social Value policy in 2019, which aims to empower social housing landlord members to have closer involvement in channelling the consortium’s surplus into their own local communities, to align with their own local strategies for social mobility.
All member social housing landlords can select from 3 options to gift their share of Efficiency North’s surplus through their engagement in the consortium’s procurement frameworks for repairs, maintenance and new build housing: employment opportunities in their own organisation; employment opportunities through EN’s frameworks for housing repairs, maintenance and new build; and investment in dedicated local community projects.
Leeds City Council chose Support After Rape and Sexual Violence as it wished to support the current Lord Mayor’s chosen Charity. Each Lord Mayor chooses a Leeds based charity, close to their heart, to champion during their year of office. The Lord Mayor has chosen Support After Rape and Sexual Violence, Leeds (SARSVL) as her charity for this year.
SARSVL is the local Rape Crisis Centre, and a proud member of Rape Crisis England & Wales. They provide specialist support to women and girls in Leeds who have been affected by sexual violence and abuse of any kind, at any time in their lives. SARSVL's specialist services are confidential, independent, and free to access. In 2018/19, just under 1,200 women and girls were supported by their frontline services.
SARSVL campaigns locally and nationally to raise awareness and understanding of, and ultimately to eliminate, sexual violence and abuse in all its forms.
More information can be found on the SARSVL website
The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Eileen Taylor, said: “I would like to offer my deepest thanks to Efficiency North for their extremely generous donation to my chosen charity, SARSVL. Every penny will be used to support the tremendous and wide-ranging work that SARSVL are undertaking in our city on a daily basis to support women and girls affected by rape and sexual violence.”
Lee Parkinson, Chief Executive of Efficiency North said: “Efficiency North is proud to support voluntary sector organisations such as Support after Rape and Sexual Violence who are providing an essential service to support the most vulnerable people in society. The exemplary work they do to support Leeds’ communities is even more vital to alleviate the negative impact of social isolation, and being trapped at home with their abusers, which has been exacerbated by lockdown for those they support.”