BLACK HISTORY MONTH Celebrating Black History Month At The Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough
by Uche Okoli
For the fact that we recognize and celebrate the history of the Black people, I would say that Black History Month is a great thing. It is also great and fitting that an organization such as the Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough has chosen to celebrate and recognize Black achievements and people from different ethnic backgrounds, people who have made positive contributions by virtue of their time and talent in the workplace.
The 2020/2021 Black History Month celebration will, in fact, be far reaching and it will stretch out to also recognize the many achievements and daily contributions of Black people, both the small and mighty, all over the United Kingdom — from Black people working on the Covid-19 frontlines in the hospitals, care homes, Schools, supermarkets and warehouse to the children and young people leading the fight for equality, using different platforms to push for change.
While there being an undeniably meritorious case for change, I am of the firm view that the diversity of ideas, perspective and ways of working afforded by people of different backgrounds and identities will benefit individuals, organizations, the society, and the economy. Already, across the spheres in the United Kingdom, the organization is witnessing changing population demographics in the areas of ethnicity, age and other personal characteristics, which means that the organization will be able to attract and harness great talent from a wider talent pool.
Statistics show that about fourteen percent (14%) of the working age population of the United Kingdom come from black communities, and this is expected to rise significantly in the coming years. With the action of Organizations like Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough in developing inclusive workplace culture where people with a diverse range of identities and backgrounds feel free to perform at their best and actively make progress is quite commendable. Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough, for all intents and purposes, has via research and campaign work set the stimulus for action on racial diversity, and I am of the firm belief that Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough will play a very important role in influencing policies, attitude change and supporting employers of labor to drive sustainable change in their various workplaces. Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough, as an independent and impartial grass root organization of proven track record, can recommend practical workable policy interventions which will afford people in the United Kingdom who are experiencing the worst of multiple disadvantages and injustice every possible opportunity to break free, reinvent themselves and reach their full potential. Approach to race and ethnicity around the globe is changing. Different groups and movements have been a catalyst for re-examining how ethnicity affects life chances or opportunities. Britain, to an extent, is the most successful multi-ethnic democracy in the world and there are many things to celebrate about the progress Britain has made in the area of ethnic minority groups.
It is expected, or in fact, projected that organizations such as Citizens Advice Doncaster Borough will, through its campaigns and advice provision, increase public awareness and the concerns and issues of racial equity in the workplace, having in mind that the workplace, very often, requires contact and thrives when there is familiarity and cooperation among people from different racial, ethnic, lingual, and cultural background.
This increase in awareness, hopefully, will result in greater action and ultimately, in a better society.
