Emmaus Hertfordshire is pleased to announce its participation in UK’s first ever Race Equality Week, as it unites in activity with hundreds of other organisations between the 1st and 7th of February to seriously address race diversity throughout all parts of the charity.
A UK-wide initiative, Race Equality Week was launched by community interest company Race Equality Matters to turn words into action; a movement spurred on by the events of 2020 which have heightened the country collective consciousness of the racism, inequality and injustice experienced by ethnic minority people.
As the pandemic continues to disrupt ‘business as usual,’ and many people enter the new year longing for things to go back to normal, the message of Race Equality Week is simple: normal is not good enough. Let’s not go back to normal.
• Normal is 75% of ethnic minorities experiencing racism in the workplace.
• Normal is a third of FTSE 100 companies having no ethnic minority board members.
• Normal is graduates from minority backgrounds being twice as likely to be unemployed.
It is time for a change. Now is the time to act!
John Chesters, CEO of Emmaus Hertfordshire, says:
“Like all Emmaus communities around the UK and globally, our support is available to everyone, regardless of ethnicity, gender or religion. This ethos is embedded throughout all that we do.
“However we are aware that we still have work to do. We have a responsibility to not only stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have experienced racism and racial inequality, but also do all that’s within our power to ensure that the diversity of those we support is reflected in our staff team and Board of Trustees.
“We are actively recruiting new Trustees to our board and would be delighted to hear in particular from people from a BAME background who can share their experiences with us and help ensure that we are not just talking the talk when it comes to race equality, but walking the walk too.”
Race Equality Matters was Co-Founded by Green Park and The Collaboratory, and supported by other diversity championing organisations: BT, Data & Marketing Association, AggioSergeant, Flair, Edelman, Diversity UK, the governance forum, Mental Health First Aid England, #Talkaboutblack, & The Diversity Digest.
For more information and to sign up to participate, visit raceequalitymatters.com.