Scousers expanded a charity from a five month IT project to an organisation fighting systematic injustice across the world.
Moving On With Life & Learning (MOWLL) began in 1998 under the leadership of Heidi Kenworthy as the Day Centre IT Network, operating out of the Victoria Building at the University of Liverpool. Heidi was invited by a group called Widening Participation to help deliver a 20 week programme for adults with learning disabilities to teach them how to use computers.
Since then, it has grown to support adults of all ages with acquired brain injuries and dementia, helping over 70 people in the city who face exclusion in areas of society. It runs a range of projects, from fitness groups and drama classes to educational campaigns and volunteering opportunities. MOWLL has also taken its messages to international social work conferences in New York.
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Heidi, 57 from the Sefton Park area, has worked in social care for many years and took the initiative to act herself due to those who had been let down by the system. Speaking to the ECHO from the charity’s current base School of Law and Social Justice at UOL, Heidi said: “Social care, unfortunately, has been on its knees for many, many years.
“In the early days, 1998 to say 2003, people that came to the project, their educational background was just so far removed from me and from other facilitators on the project. People didn't know how to spell their name, they didn't understand money, they couldn't use public transport on their own.
"It was very much getting those very basic educational needs up to a standard where they could tell somebody in an emergency their name and address - it's as basic as that. To now, because we're working with such a wide range of people, with a wide range of abilities it's a challenge for us but it's, it's helped us be more inclusive.”
The charity was renamed as MOWLL in 2003. Since its remit has grown, its work has become more collaborative, with its benefactors teaching them about the problems they face. Heidi said: “We were teaching people the basics, but now, the beneficiaries, through their life experience, they're teaching us how to access their community.”
Heidi gives an example of how its benefactors, after working with the charity, have gone on to educate nursing students about their experiences and what they need from health and social care. She said: “Our beneficiaries offer the university students a real eye opener.
“If you can imagine individuals who've never been taught to read or write, don't know how to tell the time, been through SEN schools, and then they're then standing in front of a hundred nursing students telling them how it is, and how they need to change.”
Loretta Essery, 61, from Toxteth, is the Managing Director of MOWLL. Supporting those with disabilities is a cause close to her heart.
Loretta said: “I've got to say it's quite personal and it's family and I know through people within my family who were denied access to mainstream education and also denied access to work opportunities as well.”
She added: “It's a trickle down policy rather than consulting with the people who actually are equipped and tooled and have the knowledge and the experience to inform those changes.”
Loretta argues ill treatment towards disabled people can be seen in everyday life, such as the uneven pavements which make it difficult for those in wheelchairs to move around the city. She references one project with the Civic Design Students.
She said: “We did an amazing project with Civic Design a few years ago, and the fourth years had to do a consultation project, where they go out and consult certain groups in the public to understand, ‘what is it that we need to change?’
“I mean, it was a little project and I don't think that's ever happened again. But that's systemic injustice, isn't it? Where you you miss those opportunities to consult with people who who know the answer, or might be able to help you come to the answer.”
Sky Glover, 44, from the city centre, is the charity’s Community Links Coordinator, organising safe spaces and social events. She believes it is important that MOWLL is based in the university, which has supported the charity’s work since the beginning.
Referencing a person the charity has recently worked with, Sky said: “She's never set foot near a university, and she came in the other week and she was like, I want to speak to people. She's really outgoing and she went and spoke to all the students saying, what are you doing here?
“Just watching that person grow in front of you, it's really exciting, especially when we've got people that came to sessions eight years ago who are now running clubs around, across the city, like, doing reading clubs and stuff like that.”
Kai Jolley, 32 from Toxteth, is a relatively new addition to MOWLL’s staff, but believes the charity is the perfect place to work. He said: “I came here and I just felt like everyone was on the same page as me.
“What they believed in and morale and just like being good people and I was just like I want some of this. I've learned how important it is to make things more accessible, more inclusive. Because we go out through our everyday lives and you don't necessarily stop to think of in this situation, how would that work if you had a learning disability of some kind or a physical disability or just required an extra hand in general.”
From October 30 to November 3, MOWLL is running a 20 year exhibition from its office, showcasing its achievements as well as collaborative artwork from Liverpool artist Tom Murphy and its benefactors. Reflecting on this milestone, Heidi remains more committed than ever before to the charity.
She said: “Certainly for me, it's been the best, best job in the world. It doesn't feel like a job.
“I think we all work together like a family, and that's really very precious and very treasured. And we are singing from the same sheet - that people have a right to be in their community and be supported at the best level.”
MOWLL is located at the School of Law and Social Justice building on Chatham Street in the city centre.
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