Fighting inequality, inside and out
Witnessing the heart-breaking brutality that’s growing across the Atlantic has drawn NCB’s attention to the systemic racism that persists in our own nation, our own communities, and indeed our own organisation.
We’re here to bring about a world where children are safe, secure and supported. In order to achieve that vision we must tackle inequality and oppression in all its forms.
We’re leading the way in tackling inequality among children and recognise the barriers Black and Minority Ethnic children in particular face. We do this especially through the lenses of income, education and disability. Fighting inequality and injustice on issues like poverty and school exclusions is delivering a better childhood for many children from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
However, the stench of systemic racism we’re witnessing and the strength of the Black Lives Matter protest has made it clear that we must be more direct in our approach to tackling this issue ourselves.
Leading from the top
We understand that one of the best ways we can underline that Black Lives Matter at NCB is to bring more black people onto our Board of Trustees and leadership teams
We’re already doing this well when it comes to engaging directly with young people. We’re laser focused on ensuring our Young NCB group is inclusive and diverse. This investment has brought two young, black, female trustees onto our Board.
This is a good foundation, but not enough. Earlier this year we commissioned a specialist agency to help us recruit more Black and Minority Ethnic people to our Board. We have a recruitment round in process, and we are determined and will hold to account getting the diversity we need on our board. This sets the cultural and strategic tone for the whole organisation.
We recognise that our strategic leadership team is all white and there are too few black people on our senior management team. We have a People Plan and it includes a strand of work to gather data and set targets so that we can change our culture and practice and make sure black people are employed at every level in the organisation.
Still, it isn’t enough. The conversation about our response to Black Lives Matter, led by the Chief Executive, will help us become a fully inclusive organisation where systemic racism has absolutely nowhere to hide.
A renewed focus
As well as getting our Governance right, we must respond to this challenge by focusing on racial inequality recognising that as an issue it was missing in its own right. As in all of NCB’s work, this will involve following our process of gathering research evidence and listening carefully to the voices of black children and young people and partner organisations who can share insight to shape our direction.
Anna Feuchtwang
Chief Executive