St Basils recognise that racism goes beyond conscious or open hostility towards individuals or communities because of their culture, colour, nationality, race, or ethnic background. Racism can be covert, subtle, and unconscious. It can also be institutional and embedded within systems which affect us all.
At St Basils, we strive towards a more equal, fair and inclusive environment; an important part of this is recognising and tackling racism wherever we encounter it. We understand that to serve our community as best as possible, we must actively challenge all forms of hate and discrimination. This includes holding ourselves accountable by implementing policies and strategies that will help to close gaps and decrease any inequalities experienced by our colleagues, and also the young people we work with in the West Midlands.
Youth homelessness in the UK continues to increase. Centrepoint Databank figures in 2022-23 identified almost 136,000 young people approaching their Local Authority for assistance, representing a 5% increase compared to the previous year. The young people who approach St Basils for assistance are disproportionately from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities. We are working vigilantly as an organisation to eradicate all forms of racism so that we can ensure our young people receive the support they need when facing the ultimate exclusion of homelessness.
Whilst we strive for excellence in this area, we recognise we have much more to do. Although our colleagues are diverse in a multitude of ways, we understand that this is not reflected throughout all levels of the organisation. By embracing and adopting an anti-racist approach, we are consciously structuring our activities to reflect our values and actions to address any systemic barriers to race equality. This requires solidarity, bravery, and honesty in recognising that there remains much to do, and we must work collectively to listen to experiences and to tackle these inequalities at personal and systemic levels.
We know that we need to do more to tackle racism in society – wherever and whenever it occurs. We are determined to ensure that our colleagues and young people find a safe space within St Basils that does not perpetuate the racism that exists within society, institutionally or culturally through our policies, procedures and delivery of services. We can no longer simply be not racist; at St Basils we will endeavour to be an actively and visibly anti-racist organisation that is also an ally to all GEM groups (Global Ethnic Majority).
We are currently developing our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion framework which will extend to specific Anti-Racism training, policies, and commitments. We also understand that to get it right, it will take time, investment and dedication to ensure that conversations around awareness are had continually and that both our colleagues and our young people have a safe space to discuss their experiences and concerns.
The Equality Act 2010 defines a person as having a disability if he/she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his/her ability to carry out normal day to day activities.