Black History Month- ‘Time for Change: Action not Words’

It’s Black History Month and this year’s theme is ‘Time for Change: Action not Words’.  Throughout the month we will celebrating and showcasing the ways in which we have been taking real action to support our ethnically diverse communities, customers and colleagues. 

At One Manchester, we know that to get to a better tomorrow, we can’t just focus on the past. We can acknowledge and learn from it, but to improve the future, we need action, not words. Black History Month is more than just a month, which is why we work to ensure we are taking real action to promote equality and support our ethnically diverse colleagues, customers and communities all year round.  

Over the past year, we have funded a number of local organisations to support their work helping ethically diverse communities, these have included;

• The Caribbean and African Health Network Global Majority Fund  

One Manchester invested £20,000 in The Caribbean and African Health Network Global Majority Fund, which was set up to provide funding to local community organisations to enable them to support the wellbeing of African and Caribbean people living in Greater Manchester. 

• Ethnic Health Forum at Trinity House 

This year, our Community Team also awarded £19,700 to the Ethnic Health Forum which aims to improve the quality of life of minority ethnic communities by providing culturally sensitive support services in health and social care. The funding we provided was used to increase capacity within the Ethnic Health Forum, enabling them to provide additional support to local residents in areas such as accessing benefits, completing forms and improving English and IT skills. 

• The Blair Project- The Manchester Innovation Activities Hub (MIAH)

At One Manchester, we have also supported The Blair Project, with the feasibility work that was key to establishing the new MIAH Centre. The Blair Project is a Greater Manchester based social enterprise that exists to inspire young people into engineering through electric karting and digital manufacturing,

The MIAH Centre, which is due to open in January 2023, will be ran by The Blair Project, it will provided a dedicated technical and vocational training space within a multi-ethnic residential community, to support innovative growing companies and local residents in search of sustainable jobs.

We are allies of Black History Month and proud to be a diverse and inclusive employer. This month we’re delivering a range of events and activities to give our colleagues the opportunity to reflect on what Black History Month means to them and what we’re doing to promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion all-year round. 

We will be sharing updates from our Black History Month activities throughout the month so keep a look out on our social media channels for updates.