Through Moving on Up, our flagship employment programme aimed at improving employment outcomes for young Black men aged 16-24 in London, ARE has gained significant insights into what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to addressing youth employment disparities.
Since its launch ten years ago, we’ve collaborated with key stakeholders, including young Black male ambassadors, employers, and our collective impact partners, celebrating their commitment to helping more of the capital’s young Black men secure good and rewarding employment.
Now, as the country anticipates changes under a new government, we’re proud to present our latest publication, Ten Recommendations for Action: Tackling Ethnic Minority Youth Unemployment.
This publication outlines clear actions for national and regional leaders and agencies that we believe will help close the persistent employment gaps experienced by young Black men and other ethnic minority young people in the England and Wales.
Our goal is to ensure that a decade of interventions, employer engagement, campaigning, and research into equity, diversity, and inclusion policies – including our testing of new approaches – translates into tangible lessons for policymakers, employers, and decision-makers at the national level.
ARE’s Renewed Approach to Addressing Race Disparities in Employment
In developing these key recommendations for action, ARE has simultaneously created a brand-new employment strategy aimed at tackling youth unemployment for Black, Asian, and Mixed heritage young people in England.
Part of this initiative includes the launch of our pilot Graduate Connector Programme for 200 ethnic minority graduates aged 21-30 in London.
The Graduate Connector Programme
Connecting talented graduates with the opportunities they deserve ARE’s one year-pilot programme for ethnic minority graduates in London, supported by the Columbia…
Additionally, we have revamped Moving on Up’s former Employer Champions Group into the Employer Positive Action Network, which is now open to Chief Executives, HR directors and Senior Leaders to join.
We have also been actively engaging with young people through our Youth Action Network, listening to their priorities for the future, and highlighting these in our policy work with the Department of Work and Pensions and our new ministers.
Meka Beresford, ARE’s Head of Policy said:
“Moving on Up has been a flagship programme for Action for Race Equality. Over the last 10 years, we have pioneered innovative solutions to end disparities in employment for young Black men, and championed the need for targeted programmes which bridge the employment gap.
As this programme comes to an end, Action for Race Equality is proud to embrace a new strategic direction which is firmly rooted in the learnings from MoU and provides a clear pathway for policymakers, employers, and other key partners to end racial disparities in employment for all Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage young people.
Our Graduate Connector programme, which aims to support 100 graduates into employment in the next year, as well as our Infrastructure Resilience programme, which strengthens employability services for young people, underpins our renewed strategic direction. We are excited to continue the important work of ending racial disparities in employment, and look forward to working with the new Government to achieve this goal.”
With these efforts, we aim to continue making strides in addressing employment disparities and ensuring a more equitable future for all young people in the UK.
Ten Recommendations for Action
Tackling ethnic minority youth unemployment
