Our Commitment to Anti-Racism
Background
Notts SVSS is committed to promoting an equitable, diverse, supportive and inclusive culture for all our employees, volunteers, trustees and clients. We recognise and celebrate diversity in and connected to our organisation as well as the wider public. We work to ensure that anybody in contact with our service is able to do so in a way that is inclusive, ensures equity and upholds their diversity.
Why Anti-Racism Matters
We know, in listening to the experiences of staff, clients, stakeholders and the wider public, that racism and the effects of it are all around us. It is experienced at all levels of life, from the very beginning of life in education, through to the systems that we navigate on a daily basis, including healthcare and the justice systems.
The fact that racism is so embedded within society means that it is not enough to say ‘I am not racist.’ This statement is a way of saying ‘that’s not my problem’ as it fails to acknowledge that even people who are not racist still benefit from a system that it biased against other people.
Anti-Racism is the commitment to the active practice of identifying and opposing racism, while promoting racial equality. It focuses on transforming the unequal social and workplace relations that shape the interactions between black, Asian and other minoritised ethnic groups and white people. By working together, from a foundation of anti-racism we can build new systems that are egalitarian and truly inclusive.
How Notts SVSS Promotes Anti-Racism
There are many ways that we are already working to promote anti-racism, from looking at our employment processes, encouraging all staff to feedback on policies relating to the organisation and actively encouraging staff to join solidarity spaces set up within the Rape Crisis England and Wales network. Our promotional material is deliberately inclusive and we actively monitor take up of service by people from black, Asian and minoritised ethnic groups. Our website also has inbuilt accessibility and translation tools and we have access to interpreters. Our staff are trained on the experiences and needs of people from black, Asian and minoritised ethnic groups including asylum seekers and refugees.
However, we are aware that there is more that needs to be done and are currently working towards the following commitments:
- To have a full Anti-Racism Policy agreed by staff and trustees in place by July 2024
- To make available to all staff a focussed set of anti-racism, anti-bias and intersectionality resources and training, in addition to that covered in the EDI training and resources already available June 2024
- To have an externally deliverable training package available to professionals and other stakeholders which covers intersectionality and sexual violence by September 2024
- To set up an Anti-Racism Group within our organisation who can look at policies and procedures, and organisational ways of working, to ensure that an anti-racist lens is applied consistently throughout by September 2024
- To continue working with groups who are under-represented in our organisation both as clients and staff, to ensure that barriers are removed wherever possible
- To review targets set here and in the Anti-Racism Policy on a half-yearly basis via the Equality and Diversity Sub Group
