Could you be a Champion for Racial Justice in Youth Work?

An exciting development opportunity has come up for youth workers to join a network of Champions on Racial Justice and Diversity in youth work. We, in the Equality and Intercultural team in NYCI, are launching a new initiative to invest in youth workers like you. You don’t need to be an expert in Racial Justice but we do ask that you have experience working with diversity and you have support from your organisation to bring about change.

As our society changes, we have more young people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds in our communities. Global campaigns like Black Lives Matter are bringing conversations on racial justice to the fore for all young people. Meanwhile a resurgent Far Right increasingly reaches into the lives of young people through the media they consume. These are both challenging and exciting times for youth work.

The Champions on Racial Justice Network

The Champions Network is a nationwide network of youth workers interested in developing their expertise in advancing racial justice in youth work.

• Each Champion will commit to participating in network meetings that will happen once a month in the initial phases.  This will be an invaluable space for youth workers to share and learn from others with similar interests and goals.
• The network will also get specific tailored training in advancing racial justice in youth work over 3 morning sessions in October through November.
• Champions will also have access to one-to-one mentoring to either deepen there understanding or get support on implementing change in their own individual practice and/or in their organisation.

Taking Action!

Following training champions will, working in pairs or small groups to come up with a project/intervention within their organisation or region (see why we need your organisations to buy in!). We can even give you a seed fund of €400 to get you going. Don’t worry if you have no idea what a project might look like, we have plenty of ideas and mentoring supports will be there to help.

Action projects will support you, as a champion, to bring real impact back to your organisation. We understand how difficult it can be within an organisation to be a lone voice on a particular issue or how quickly after a training the opportunities for implementing new approaches often pass us by.

Staying Together

The champions network is a long term networking of youth workers committed to promoting and achieving diversity and inclusion in youth work and addressing racism in our communities. The network will continue to meet a few times a year, and we will seek to grow its reach and membership over time.

To achieve a truly national reach we will be working online, meeting via Zoom. This opens up supports to the many amazing youth workers there are in more remote parts of the country. It also relieves the time commitment for all youth workers.

Sound exciting? Use the form below to register your interest Before September 24th. Alternatively, if you need more information, you can contact me Kate O’Connell (project lead) at kateoc@nyci.ie