At The Wallich, we understand that ethnically diverse people are more likely to be affected by homelessness than other groups.
In fact, black people are more than three times as likely to experience homelessness.
We recognise that racism affects many people we support, our team, our organisational culture and the way we work with the community around us.
We have not done enough to eradicate racism in our community. This is an uncomfortable truth but a truth all the same.
As The Wallich is fully committed to trauma-informed working, we acknowledge that racism is a form of trauma. Our position on racism is very clear:
- Any member of our community experiencing racism is unacceptable.
- Any person expressing racist language, behaviour or microaggression is unacceptable.
- Any witness who fails to challenge or report racism, is colluding in it. It may not be appropriate to challenge in that precise moment, but doing nothing is not an option.
Less talk more action
We accept that a general approach to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion just isn’t enough to tackle systemic racism in the charity and homelessness sector. We need to put our passion and willingness for change behind it.
In the way that we work, we recognise that anti-racism shouldn’t be seen as a one-off project, but something that is embedded into every conversation, every piece of work and our day to day lives.
Proactive anti-racist practice is integral to our values
- We are courageous in admitting that we can do things better. We will not shy away from the challenge ahead of us.
- We are determined to drive racism from our organisational culture and the sector around us.
- We are authentic in taking action where we say we will.
- We are compassionate to the trauma and hurt caused by racism.
- We are community and that includes everyone.
The Wallich will:
- Ensure that ethnically diverse people are heard and are involved in anti-racist decision making and service development.
- Centre anti-racism in everyone’s work.
- Create a culture of empowerment where;
- Ethnically diverse people are able to thrive at The Wallich.
- Everyone in our community won’t be afraid to ask questions about preferred language and behaviour
- The Wallich performs a duty to increase the skills and confidence of all community members to challenge and drive change.
- Facilitate training which creates truly safe spaces and an empowered community.
- To achieve our aim to be an anti-racist organisation, we are working through The four levels of the Racial Equity Maturity Model by Shereen Daniels (2022).
We challenge our community our partners, our service users and colleagues to centre anti-racism with us, as we know we can’t achieve this in isolation.
