reh

Following Mayor Rotherham’s Declaration of Intent, the Race Equality Programme for the CA has invested £2.3m into the Race Equality Hub (REH) to challenge racism and discrimination across the Liverpool City Region. To support employers and support agencies to enable Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Businesses to thrive and for employment opportunities to be created and be sustainable. It will also encourage organisations to prioritise race equality with the ambition to address inequalities faced by the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities in the city region focusing on business, employment, and skills development across LCR. This investment represents the biggest commitment to address racial inequality in the city region to date. 

The Race Equality Hub will support Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities in a Racial Justice context, becoming a One Stop Shop for Business Support Services, Employability Programmes, Leadership Development, and associated opportunities across the city region.

Building upon the city region’s reputation for social justice and equality, the Hub’s primary purpose is to tackle systemic injustice and inequality and drive forward positive change for our Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic employees and residents and to work in partnership with public, private and 3rd sector employers, to encourage and support them to do the same.

Diversity and inclusion are a crucial element of any business or organisation. It ensures the services provided are fair and accessible to everyone. It’s about creating a work environment for individuals to achieve their full potential andvaluing, recognising, respecting, embracing, and including individual differences and believing that anyone can add value to the workplace.

At the Race Equality Hub our aim is to educate and support employers, partners, and stakeholders to become more inclusive. Our aim is to drive this change forward, create inclusive organisations with a commitment to treat all employees fairly and offer equal opportunities for growth, development, and advancement. Organisations taking positive actions are one of the ways this can be achieved. 

(Left To Right) 
Brodie Arthur​: Outreach & Engagement Officer

Alison Navarro: Programme Director 

Justine Jenkins: Positive Action Partnership Manager

Maleka Egeonu-Roby: Performance & Contracts Manager​

The Race Equality Hub team have been busy trying to bring to life the ideas and wants of the communities. They embarked on eight mini summits across the 6 LCR boroughs and engaged in some online market research to help develop the Business Support tender which has been delivered to Innervision Consultancy. The Leadership offer is now under development and will be going to tender soon…

The team have also been connecting with businesses, stakeholders, community leaders and residents in the city region to build relationships and create trust. This has built a rich tapestry of business, skills and leaders from which 15 residents have been appointed to the Race Equality Hub Advisory Board who will advise the REH team on key decisions and help to shape the outputs of the hub driven by the voices of those communities they represent. 

It is vitally important to the Liverpool City Region that everyone has an equal opportunity to obtain the skills they need to develop and find meaningful employment. The Race Equality Hub intends to tackle disparities in skills across the region by supporting an additional 5000 Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic residents through employment and skills programmes including work placements and apprenticeships. 

The REH will also aim to ensure that business owners who take part in the Business Support Account Manager Model will see an increase in their skills as a result of the support provided. This will allow businesses owned by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic residents to grow and develop, increase their networks, and increase trading which supports the overall goal of economic enhancement. 

At the Race Equality Hub, we are aware that there are many issues that may impact on an individual’s employability journey including health and wellbeing, housing, hate crimes or education, therefore racial justice within this context is essential to the overall vision of the hub. ‘Positive actions’ are simply a range of interventions that an organisation can implement to create an inclusive organisation. 

Positive Actions is about taking specific steps to improve equality within organisations, it’s an opportunity to increase diversity and encourage the recruitment and promotion of under-represented groups within the workplace. Therefore, it is an important tool to address disadvantage, tackle under-representation and deliver lasting change. 

The REH is commissioning business support for new start-ups and already established businesses. A key component of this work is the Account Manager Model, which will provide Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic businesses with a dedicated one-to-one personal business support service, enabling businesses to identify and set business goals and navigate a range of business support services available across the region and nationally.