I thought January was supposed to be slow

It’s a bit difficult to be cheery in January, when days are short and nights are long, so here’s some blue sky from London this week.

Luckily/unluckily, January 2020 seems to be zipping by all too quickly.

I’m working across many different areas at the moment (local and national politics, charity sector, policy development) and also trying to have some fun occasionally. I’m keen to share what I’m doing and learning. I think the newsletter format might be good for this. People I chat to seem interested in my adventures but let me know what you’d like more or less of.

Work work

Last year I worked alongside Comic Relief’s staff on their Inclusivity strategy which went to their board for approval in November. And…was approved! One of their first actions is a staff survey on Diversity and Inclusion to define and prioritise next steps. I’m now supporting the team as an independent eye to help interpret the results.

Council work

This week was Full Council in Lambeth. The highlight for me was hearing from ICFree, a project from a group of Advocacy Academy youth campaigners calling for an end to racism within the criminal justice and education systems. They shared powerful testimony of their experiences at school and at the hands of the police.

Last night, I chaired Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee where we reviewed the Lambeth Made Safer strategy which is Lambeth’s response to the tragic increase in youth violence. There is an important acknowledgment in this work of the impact of racism and a commitment to an anti-racist approach throughout the activities of the council and our partners in tackling these issues. We heard moving and powerful testimony from local parents and project workers. Check out Dwaynamics and Leap Confronting Conflict. I’m planning a visit to both these projects in the next few weeks.

On Monday night, a delegation of councillors visited Brixton Police Station to meet with the Borough Commander. It was good to hear about the positive efforts the police are making on community relations - which was backed up by the witness statements we heard at the Scrutiny meeting, but there’s clearly more to do in a country where black people are nearly ten times as likely as white people to be stopped and searched.

Equality Book Club

The third meeting of Equality Book Club took place in this week too. We discussed Akala’s: Natives - Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire. Verdict: Excellent. Info about the next book and the next meeting is here. I’m going to be doing more with the book club and the people who are engaging with the ideas and themes later in the year. More soon.

Politics

I went to the Fabian Society Conference. The less said about politics at the moment, the better, quite frankly.

Personal learning points

I was in a conversation with a group of women where the white women dominated and derailed an Asian woman when she was sharing a story of a painful experience she’d had. This happens often. See another example here. I often find myself retreating when this happens. White women need to learn when to take a step back and I need to learn to tell them.

What am I reading?

Around the world in 80 trains - Monisha Rajesh (I’ve booked a train adventure to Ukraine and Moldova for the spring. I love trains.)

Articles I’ve written

I wrote up some of my thoughts about running as Dudley South’s candidate in the 2019 General Election. You can have a read here. It was somewhat of an adventure!

Joy-giving things

I went to see the William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain. I wish some of our elected representatives would read this poem: On Another’s Sorrow.

I’m also very happy to see my snowdrops flowering merrily from the bulbs I bought at the Chelsea Physic Garden last year.

And I’ve just bought some tickets for Ballet Black at the Barbican. Get some too!

Have a great weekend,

Lucy

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

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ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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