Racial Equality Working Group: Update

We set up the Racial Equality Working Group in Autumn of 2020. We are made up of staff, volunteers and trustees and we meet every other month.

The aims of the group are to hold the organisation to account on our journey towards anti-racist practice, to identify training needs for the organisation, to explore best practice around recruitment, support staff and volunteers of colour, increase the accessibility of the service, and to have oversight of our internal action plan.

We have had three meetings so far and these have been really fruitful and energising. Some of the things we’ve looked at are:

• undertaking a review of equalities data collection
• anti-racism training
• developing the role of our new ISVA supporting People Who Experience Racism
• sharing papers and articles and learning
• developing a library of reading and resources
• We have also discussed possibilities around taking an audit of the organisation in relation to diversity of staff and to identify key objectives for improvement.

We are all learning and we know we have work to do to get to the place we want to be, but we recognise that anti-racist practice is a journey not a destination. We are really committed to this area of work and are so proud to work for an organisation that is so supportive of these efforts.

If you would like to suggest any resources for the library, or any practical steps you feel would improve access for people who experience racism, you can contact Julia.