ARE is pleased to be working with London Community Foundation with support from JPMorgan Chase to help address structural barriers and racial inequalities impacting Black Asian and minoritised communities in London. These disparities and inequalities have been exacerbated by the pandemic and resulted in further disproportionate challenges and barriers to economic mobility.
The Pathways to Economic Opportunities (P2E) programme aims to help address the racial inequalities facing families and communities from Black Asian and minoritised communities* in London .
As the Pathways Programme Partner, ARE will help strategically design, deliver and manage the programme, which includes leading on the co-design of the prospectus, capacity building support, and supporting the monitoring, learning and evaluation.
“As a partner organisation working with JP Morgan Chase and London Community Foundation, we’re pleased to have the opportunity to use our specialist knowledge and expertise to facilitate, co-design and develop a funding programme aimed to develop and sustain BAME organisations. We hope many other funders including the government will now think about this model, and start to work directly with the BAME civil society sector and their infrastructure bodies to guarantee fair funding for the sector.”
Tebussum Rashid, deputy chief executive, ARE
JPMorgan Chase, supported by the London Community Foundation (LCF), is committing £2 million over three years to invest in organisations providing Employment, Enterprise and Financial Health (EEFH) support with leaders from Black and Minority backgrounds, serving these communities in London. As part of this initiative, Action for Race Equality is a delivery partner providing specialist insight and context to co-design the inclusive and sector specific funding programme.
Through phase 1 of the programme, six organisations were awarded stabilisation and engagement grant funding to support the delivery of employment, enterprise and financial health services and projects.
As part of this award, each organisation committed to working with ARE on phase 2 – the co-design of future longer-term funding and capacity building support programme, which will be launched in early 2022.
Structural barriers in the UK have created large racial inequalities that have been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. They have placed a big strain on people and families’ economic mobility.
The co-design process is giving a valuable insight into achieving positive outcomes in funding criteria, application processes, eligibility, scoring, language, and communication as well as highlighting the necessity to have culturally aware, culturally competent and nuanced funding panels.
Phase 3, in collaboration with LCF and JP Morgan Chase and support from the Ubele Initiative, will focus on disseminating funding and capacity building support to a portfolio of BAME led community led organisations working to improve the EEFH in London. Details about this programme will be announced in early 2022
“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on our country and especially in BAME communities. The BAME sector is a vital part of the fabric of our local communities and do tremendous work often with minimal resources. During lockdown BAME community groups have done their best to support women, children, young people and their families.”
Tebussum Rashid, deputy chief executive, ARE
*Black Asian and minoritised communities is the term used by JP Morgan