Black History Month 2022: Actions Not Words
In the uk, each October marks black history month. this is a time to learn about black history and culture, to celebrate black accomplishments in society and recognise how much further we still have to go before equality and equity is achieved.
This year, the theme for Black History Month is Time For Change: Actions Not Words. With the hope of inspiring collective action to address the historic, systemic and institutional issue of racism, this theme encourages us to get out and make a tangible, positive impact. Whether you’re attending an event and workshop organised through work, reading a book to further your knowledge or even just interacting with content on social media, there’s always actions that we can be taking to continue our learning in this area.
Employee Volunteering is a great way to support racial inclusivity and take the action that is so desperately needed. Firstly, volunteering allows us to empower Black-Owned businesses and charities and help these organisations to thrive. Supporting Black-Owned impact organisations and charities is a great way to learn from the lived experience of Black people in a way where the marginalised group is receiving compensation of some kind for undertaking the emotional labour of education.
In addition to this, skilled volunteering in particular is a great way to maximise your impact for the greater good. Did you know that volunteerism has a value of over $184 million, and that a recent Deloitte study showed that 77% of nonprofits believe that skilled volunteers could improve their organisation’s business practices.
We wanted to highlight two impact organisations in our network, who are going above and beyond to support the global Black community. And for lucky Matchable volunteers, opportunities to support these organisations are available on our platform! Login here.
Jericho Prize for Writing
Representation matters, and yet debates about Black representation in popular media are commonplace. Most recently, the release of the new Little Mermaid film, which features Halle Bailey as the Disney princess, sparked controversy over the adaptation of Ariel, with some viewers criticising the casting of Ariel for not aligning with the original visuals. However, as the video on the right highlights, it’s so important for young Black children to see themselves reflected on the big screen!
Jericho Prize for Writing exist to rectify this representation disparity, and empower emergent Black writers of children’s literature to not only have their voices heard and platformed, but to create Black protagonists and create the representation that they rarely experienced growing up themselves.
Jericho Prize run a free-to-enter competition for emerging, unpublished or self-published Black-British children's writers over 18, where the criteria for entry is that their picture book or chapter book scripts must feature a Black main character in a starring role. They are launching their next competition round on on 7 November 2022, running until 9 January 2023, so make sure you check this out if you’re a budding children’s literature writer! They are also planning on expanding their project to include a series of writing workshops and a mentoring scheme, led by experts from the publishing industry.
Using your volunteering time to support an organisation like this would have a massive impact, as the time you spend helping this organisation to grow and scale means that there are more young Black children who get to experience the joy of seeing themselves accurately reflected on screens.
Soul Purpose 360
Black women are often the victims of intersectional discrimination and prejudice, oppressed both on account of their gender and account of their race (not to mention other intersections of identity politics such as sexuality, disability, class, etc). It can be hard to thrive in a social system and institution that was not set up to include your intersectional experience, which leads to cycles of oppression where Black women in particular are unfairly held back from reaching their full potential.
Enter Soul Purpose 360. Run by Black women, for Black women, Soul Purpose provides coaching and mentoring to support, encourage and nurture Black women in the UK to positively impact their communities and themselves. Far too often, Black women are held back by personal obstacles and challenges that prevent them from participating in their communities. Soul Purpose works to challenge this by blending personal development with community development.
Founded by Palma Black in 2020, the social enterprise supports and inspires Black women to live fulfilled lives by connecting them with others on similar journeys and supports them to contribute positively in their communities. By supporting this organisation, you are not only empowering Black women themselves to excel, but also their whole network by associate. After all, when once of us thrives, we all thrive.
About Matchable
Matchable are a tech for good platform connecting employees to high-impact, short-term volunteering opportunities at innovative non-profits and startups.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how your employees can benefit through our social impact projects, get in touch here.