'Our outreach workers change lives' - help us build our team to carry out this vital work

'These are some of the most abused and vulnerable women we know of in our community.'

Not for the first time, we are looking for some special women to take on challenging but extremely rewarding roles with the project.

We aim to build a team of 10 to 12 volunteers to run our night-time outreach service for women engaged in street-based sex work.

After training, the team will go to the areas of the city centre where the women work, offering them something as simple as a kind word along with a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

However, any relationship we can form with the women engaged in this violent and exploitative work could be the beginning of something more positive for them.

These are some of the most abused and vulnerable women we know of in our community.

So, it is essential we do all we can win their trust and make sure we are there for them when they need us.

This form of outreach - which typically runs between 5pm or 6pm until 10.30pm - was central to our purpose when we created the New Futures Project 25 years ago.

This film, created for us by  staff and students at Leicester's De Montfort University a few years ago, illustrates perfectly how our outreach service works.

They told us they wanted to amplify the voices of our clients who were involved in street-based sex work.

They did those women proud in this film, which also featured an interview with a member of our outreach team at that time.

The interviews - in which the women spoke candidly about the harsh realities of their day to day lives - were played over images of the streets where they were working.

Our director Della Kagure Brown said: "Our volunteers are often the first contact some of the women will have with the project and link women in to all the support services provided from the building.

"This is such an important role. Our outreach workers change lives."

We were able to fund the film thanks to DMU, Women In Philanthropy and the Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation. We would like to thank them again for their support.

If you are interested in volunteering with us, call us and we will answer your questions.

Volunteers will be asked to commit at least one evening per month for outreach. We intend to draw up a rota to we are out there at least once, possibly twice a week.

We hope some of our volunteers will use their own cars to travel to the relevant areas. Expenses, including fuel, will be paid.

The New Futures Project offers a comprehensive welfare and counselling service for women and young people dealing with sexual abuse or exploitation, domestic violence, trafficking, poverty and debt, substance use or mental ill-health.

Call us on 0116 251 0803 or send us a message at: info@new-futures.org.uk

You can find us at 71 London Road, Leicester, LE2 0PE.