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Kairos Women+ started life in 2017 as a project within a larger charity. The Robertson Trust approached Active Communities with the idea of developing a gender-specific and community-led Women’s Space in Johnstone to achieve positive outcomes for women. Strathclyde University conducted research on the project in the initial stages, which you can read here.
Kairos Women+ has blossomed since then, developing new projects and reaching more and more new women and non-binary people. We pride ourselves on our community-led approach and are continuously searching for new ways to hand the power over to our communities to make change, learn and become active and engaged citizens.
In April 2021, Kairos Women+ became a registered Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO).
The Robertson Trust fund Active Communities to develop a community-led women's space in Johnstone and consultation with the local community begins.
Beautiful Women, our personal development programme, launches. This is the first time this course has been delivered in Scotland, having been created at Women's Community Matters, Barrow-in-Furness, England.
The Kairos Development Team form and meet for the first time. For more about the Community-Led Approach, please click here. The team are made up of local women from across Renfrewshire and work together to develop Kairos.
The Development Team starts visiting other women-led organisations to learn about their approach, including Women's Community Matters in England and Belfast Women's Centres.
Our partnership with Paisley Museum Reimagined begins. We learn all about co-production, museum objects and women's history. Find out more about Kairos Museum here.
After a few months working with Pachedu's Women's Group, Kairos hosts a joint winter celebration in Paisley, sharing food from across the world.
Our campaigning group The Equalities Collective forms. They work together to decide on their first campaign - Women's Invisible Work. To find out more about our Equalities Collective, please click here.
The Development Team host an International Women's Day celebration at St Margaret's church hall, Johnstone. 140 people from the local community join us for food, talks and performances.
We launch our Creative Cafe project at WEvolution, Paisley. Women share skills and ideas over a cuppa. Find out more here.
Our community get together to make our new space a second home for women in Renfrewshire: painting, putting up shelves and enjoying a chippy together afterwards!
We move in! The hard work pays off and we start lots of new groups from our first home at 8 Quarry Street, Johnstone.
Our community donates £1005 so that we can buy furniture to make our space a home - thank you!
We welcome two new staff and our first student to the team. Pictured from left to right: Donna, Katy, Annie, Adeola, Liz. Find out more about our staff team here.
Our Equalities Collective host an event at Johnstone Town Hall to launch their Women's Invisible Work report which you can find here. 160 people join us for talks, performances and a celebration of women's contribution to society.
Kairos and Paisley Museum Reimagined speak at the British Museum's Annual Conference. They share their co-produced comic book which tells the story of Kairos Woman Kelly who reimagines Paisley Museum. Find the comic and audiobook here.
Kairos volunteers plan and host a Christmas fayre to raise funds for Kairos. 50 people attend throughout the day, raising over £500 for Kairos. To learn more about volunteering, please click here.
Our joint arts and heritage project with Glasgow Women's Library and RAMH launches, funded by the Culture, Heritage and Events Fund, Renfrewshire Council. 60 women join us to start making their mark in Renfrewshire!
Our volunteer Arti Gosai plans and hosts our Kairos Asian Experience, celebrating the lives of women in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 40 women and non-binary people join us for Indian food, performances and talks.
In late March, as the world locks down, Kairos moves online. We host weekly cookery and craft video classes as well as live zoom sessions. To find out about our Covid-19 response, please click here.
Our World Foods project, Kairos Kitchen, launches online. Staff, volunteers and women in the community film video classes to share their favourite recipes. Watch the full series here.
Our community zine, Kairos Chronicle, launches. A lockdown-inspired project that showcases the creative work of women and non-binary people in Renfrewshire and beyond. To find out more or submit to the Chronicle, please click here.
In response to Covid-19, we launch our food packs project, with our volunteer drivers delivering food to families across Renfrewshire. We join the Renfrewshire Food Provision Network and receive weekly deliveries from Fareshare.
Our online Recovery Space launches with an online event for women to share their experiences of addiction. We launch a WhatsApp group for women in recovery. Find out more here.
Our first LGBTQ+ focussed event exploring the changing landscape in Scotland. We're joined by a panel of LGBTQ+ speakers to share their experiences.
In celebration of Black History Month, we partner with Pachedu to showcase a selection of incredible black talent from across Scotland in our virtual celebration.
We send out 65 festive packs to go alongside our virtual advent calendar. We create 43 Christmas Hampers and 31 gifts for our food packs families thanks to donations from all of you!
Our Development Team, made up of local women and non-binary people, collectively decide to take steps towards Kairos becoming an independent charity. Our Trustee Board is set up and two members of the Development Team become founding members.
Our monthly peer support group for women+ with experiences of poor mental health and mental illness launches. It's developed by a group of volunteers, many with lived experience.
Our Equalities Collective host a 2-day virtual festival exploring gender inequality for International Women's Day. There's a total of 92 attendances over the 2 days with workshops delivered by 16 different women and non-binary people. Watch here.
Our community-produced podcast (in collaboration with Erskine Media) launches. The first two episodes explore women's experiences of lockdown. Listen now!
On April 22nd 2021 Kairos Women+ officially became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) registered with OSCR. Hurray!
In July, we start to meet in-person for outdoor groups, slowly followed by indoor groups in Johnstone and Paisley - Mental Wellness Group, Wellbeing Creative Cafe, Beautiful Women & the Recovery Space all return.
On 1st August 2021 Kairos Women+ officially becomes an independent organisation following the transition from a project within Active Communities.
For Challenge Poverty Week we hosted a panel discussion bringing together #ChangeMakers with lived experience of poverty to talk about what needs to change and how to do it! We were joined by Mhairi Black MP for a keynote speech.
For International Women's Day 2022 we hosted a joint film festival for families with the Renfrewshire Screen Development Network thanks to funding from Regional Screen Scotland.
On 4th April 2022 we moved into our new space at the Embroidery Mill in Paisley. We have even more space to run groups and meet even more women+ in Renfrewshire!
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Kairos Women+ is a community-led, women’s space based in Paisley, Renfrewshire. A second home for women and non-binary people, we inspire transformational change in the lives of the women+ we work with by collaboratively creating opportunities through workshops, events, training and courses.
