20.10.2021

The Race Equality Taskforce has revealed major new plans in their latest report to help address racial inequality in the city.

The latest report details the second round of proposals for Cardiff:

• Mount Stuart Primary School will become the first school in Cardiff to pilot Anti-Racism Trainingcreated by Rachel Clarke, Deputy Headteacher and granddaughter ofWales' first black headteacher and champion of equality and diversity,  Betty Campbell.

The toolkit aims to Educate, Empower and Enhance schools with the resources, support and skills to help make systematic change. The Taskforce is actively seeking to engage with more schools across the city.

• Introduce a 5-step programme to increase ethnic minority representation in schools by assessing the barriers and providing support to Teaching Assistants (TA's) who want to enter the teaching profession.

It is estimated around 1.5% of the teaching workforce in Cardiff are from an ethnic minority background, but approximately 8% of TA's are from an ethnic minority background.

• Join the  DWP Kickstart Scheme  to offer entry level employment opportunities to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic 16-24 year olds in Cardiff who may need a hand in gaining experience to start careers.
   
• Work in partnership with Monumental Welsh Women to establish an annual Betty Campbell Lecture in collaboration with Black History Month & Cardiff Book Festival and support Cardiff Stories to celebrate prominent Black Welsh individuals in Welsh and Cardiff history.

The Taskforce, which was proposed by Leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, in response to the tragic death of George Floyd in the USA and the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK, has been working on a series of proposals designed to help improve the lives and opportunities of Black and ethnic minority communities.

Cllr Huw Thomas, Leader of Cardiff Council said: "These proposals demonstrate the rapid progress made thanks to the hard work of the Taskforce, to establish what we can do to really help support our Black and ethnic minority residents in Cardiff.

"This isn't a talking shop where we are repeating the same old discussions, rather these proposals are responding to some of the real needs of our communities.

"We will seek to quickly take these proposals through the Cabinet approval process, so that, working with our partners, we can look to implement them at pace and continue drive positive change in the city."

Chair of the Race Equality Taskforce, Cllr Saeed Ebrahim, said: "We consulted with the Black and ethnic minority community back in August 2020 to gather views on what the Taskforce's priorities should be.

"There is still so much we have to do but these proposals are borne out of real needs and, on behalf of the Taskforce, I'm looking forward to taking meaningful action."

The proposals by the Race Equality Taskforce will be sent to Cabinet in an annual report in December.