Following the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities Report, The Blagrave Trust has joined other Foundations in calling for the government to affirm its commitment to actively tackling racism in all its forms wherever it is found – ACF letter to PM
Whilst we appreciate progress has been made in this country, there is also more work to be done. Many of the young people that we serve, rightly demand an end to discrimination and inequality and will not stop campaigning for change until all forms of racism have been stamped out, and those in power are held to account for their role in taking action.
In this moment we wanted to simply affirm and celebrate the work of our partners challenging injustice and stand in solidarity with them. They are:
- Challenge and Changers – a fund set up in 2020 to fund young people activating their lived experience to create structural change. Of the 30 young people, movements and collectives we are funding, nearly all are focused on the intersect of race and other issues.
- JUSTICE: an all-party law reform and human rights organisation working to strengthen the justice system, which recently published a report in February 2021, titled ‘Tackling Racial Injustice: Children and the Youth Justice System’
- Young Trustees Movement: promoting greater diversity in charity governance including age
- ClearView Research and YE2030: research and a campaign by young people on employment and the pandemic which has amongst other issues surfaced the disparities between numbers of young people from ethnic minorities that have been furloughed
- Aik Saath in Slough, promoting conflict resolution and community cohesion through training, campaigns and projects
- Black and Minority Ethnic Young People’s Project in Sussex, working to connect and support young people in Brighton, Hove and surrounding rural areas
- Enthum House – working to provide a welcoming home for to unaccompanied young migrants and asylum seekers
- Babbasa – helping young people in Bristol’s ethnically diverse inner city communities to pursue their ambitions through employment
- Just for Kids Law – supporting young people to overcome difficulties they face including within the criminal justice and immigration systems, and the school exclusions process, and advocating for racial disproportionality in school exclusions and the youth justice systems to be urgently addressed.
We understand that every person and organisation has a role to play in creating a healthy society for all, however small their role. Accordingly, in Blagrave we will continue to:
- Evolve and scrutinize our own ways of working, governance and staff team to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of both internal decision making and funding processes.
- Support young people from ethnic minority backgrounds and other young people experiencing exclusion to thrive in their transition to adulthood – whether through funding organisations that provide services for them; funding them directly as changemakers; funding organisations that are pushing for policy change or specific initiatives that drive greater DEI within the Foundation Sector.
- Listening and learning from all our partners working on the intersect of race and other areas, acknowledging their lived experience, and promoting open conversations that move us all forwards