Throughout Autumn, we worked with young people to discuss discrimination and how they could combat inequality in our schools, workplaces and communities. On Thursday 27th October, these young people brought their knowledge and perspectives to businesses.
We held the ‘Keep It Real!’ Focus on Business networking event at the stylish Leicester branch of Metro Bank. Businesses were invited to network and hear the voices of our young people.
Confronting Discrimination
The young people’s presentation involved countering harmful social rhetorics presented by ‘society’ – played by project manager, Luke – with facts and strong arguments they had researched and prepared themselves. They held banners displaying different types of discrimination, including Islamophobia, bullying, ableism, and judgmentalism. For many of these young people, these were issues that they had personally been affected by.
Guest-speaker, Sandra Pollock OBE
‘Keep It Real!’ also featured our inspirational guest-speaker, Sandra Pollock OBE – CEO of Open Mind Coaching and Founder of the Women’s Awards. Fighting against race and gender inequality is Sandra’s life’s work, so it was only fitting that we invited her. Sandra spoke of the importance of not only addressing discrimination, but also bridging the age-gap and listening to the perspectives of our younger generation.
The ‘Keep It Real’ group will now be helping the other young people we support to understand and combat discrimination. Thank you to everyone, including our Focus on Business members, who came to our latest event.
We hope you will stay tuned for our business events in the new year, including our involvement with the Leicester Comedy Festival!