Reflecting on our anti-racism journey

In 2022, we made positive steps towards becoming an anti-racist organisation. In this blog post, we're sharing some of the ways we have done this, and where we want to go in 2023.

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We have been developing our approach to being an anti-racist organisation through 2022, and invite you to reflect with us further on what we need to do in 2023 to strengthen our network and collective approach.

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The NAVCA Anti-Racist Group, made up of NAVCA members, has met regularly throughout the year, providing a safe space to bring issues and have discussions about work we are doing in our own organisations. It has acted as a catalyst for further action, a support network, and helped developed thinking. We meet every six weeks and welcome staff, trustees and volunteers from the NAVCA membership to join us. We also look to the group to hold NAVCA and the wider movement to account, so we're confident that our actions and operations are demonstrably anti-racist, and we work closely with our members to encourage them to be actively anti-racist.

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Later in the year, the Anti-Racist Group identified topics for a more in depth and reflective discussion – language, allyship and constructive challenge, remuneration for people with lived experiences, and recognising progress. We will run four workshops on these topics for the wider NAVCA network, broadening our reach and impact. The space to explore these issues openly and honestly has been so beneficial to NAVCA as an organisation and our own work, as well as the group more widely. The conversations haven’t always been easy, but they are respectful and considered, making it a safe space to be challenged.

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In 2022, we also heard back from NAVCA-funded projects taking anti-racist action in Slough and Wolverhampton – supporting work to launch an anti racist manifesto and to share stories of lived experience to raise the profile and understanding of work in this space. In March 2022, we published our Anti-Racism Statement and Call to Action, which we encourage all our members to commit to. If you're a NAVCA member and would like to sign up, please email comms@navca.org.uk to add your organisation's name to the statement. This has been taken forward by individual members of the group, and informed their own work.

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At our conference, themed around tackling poverty locally, we made sure that there were workshops on cultural awareness and anti-racism, as well as a keynote speaker who explored how local infrastructure organisations can address racism within their organisations  and their communities. We hope to host more of these workshops at our 2023 conference.

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In 2023, there is still much work to be done. We will take a forward look for the group and its focus, and continue to meet to create the space to discuss our actions and approaches, and to be a catalyst for change. We’ll identify topics and actions we want to take, including, for example, reviewing and further work on the statement and call to action. At NAVCA, we will develop our work further to make sure we engage widely with communities and elevate a wider set of voices, to use our power well, to develop our internal approaches including diversity of our Board. We look forward to continuing to work with members to tackle racism.