CORE (Coalition of Race Equality Organisations)

CORE, the Coalition of Race Equality Organisations, is comprised of a number of the leading organisations within the UK Black Asian and Minority Ethnic, voluntary and community sector. CORE acts as a collective voice to lobby government, influence policy, and raise awareness of issues of inequality that permeate society. Priority areas include housing, health, criminal justice, education, employment, and political engagement and representation.

The Secretariat for CORE is provided by a partnership between Race on the Agenda (ROTA) and Voice4Change England (V4CE). The two organisations have close ties and significant experience of servicing networks of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic led organisations to campaign on race equality issues.

CORE’s current membership is outlined below:

In 2020/2021, CORE has responded to a number of government consultations, and co-ordinated open letters to the government (initiated by individual members), on issues including:

Institutional racism in the Home Office, in response to the Windrush Lessons Learned Review publication.
The impact of COVID-19 on the BAME VCS sector
Supporting vulnerable migrants during the coronavirus pandemic
Race bias in predicted GCSE and A-Level Grades
The Criminalisation of trespass and eviction of unauthorised camps, and the adverse impact on the Gypsy and Traveller community

If you would like to join the CORE network or for more information, please contact Karun Maudgil, CORE Development Officer at Karun.Maudgil@core-network.org.uk.

Find out more about CORE’s work:

CORE (Coalition of Race Equality Organisations) brings together many of the UK’s leading black and minority ethnic voluntary and community organisations for the promotion of race equality.

In October 2010, CORE received a request from the Department for Communities and Local Government to produce a position statement to:

inform the Government’s development of a race equality strategy
affirm a collective commitment to work with the Government to reduce racial inequalities.

The paper represents a starting point for discussions between the coalition and the Minister, highlighting 20 key priorities for the promotion of race equality across UK society on issues including health, education, employment and political engagement.

Read the Position statement on race equality HERE.

Further developments on this work will be here outlined shortly or watch out for updates on Twitter at @raceequality.

A coalition of the UK’s leading black and minority ethnic voluntary and community organisations have produced a call to action for the promotion of race equality in post-election Britain. Designed to tackle continued discrimination and disadvantage in the UK, the call to action highlights 8 key asks which they hope the incoming Government will implement post-election.

“This election is a chance for political parties and their candidates to state how they will achieve race equality. The eight ‘Key Asks’ set out some of the ways that the incoming Government can do this. We believe that these changes are critical to achieving race equality in the UK and eliminating discrimination.”
A spokesperson from the Coalition for Race Equality (CORE) stated

The key calls for action ask government to:

Develop a race equality strategy and nominate a Cabinet-level minister to be responsible for delivering it. This should include investing in partnerships with voluntary organisations to develop and make it happen;
Tackle housing inequalities for black and minority ethnic communities by regulating private rented housing, building more social housing, ensuring a good supply of sites for Gypsy-Traveller communities, and creating a statutory duty to reduce overcrowding;
Work with employers to introduce a target for all national companies for 15 per cent of new hires (including apprenticeships) under 40 years old to be black and minority ethnic by 2020. In London this target should be 40 per cent of new hires;
Develop a strategy with employers and Jobcentre Plus to address ethnic employment gaps, particularly at the leadership level, and to hold organisations accountable for unequal recruitment and progression decisions;
Create an environment that positively values the contribution of migrants and their children, and create an immigration system based on fair, timely and transparent decisions with appeal rights. End arbitrary enforcement raids and income requirements for partners and relatives;
Work with community organisations and the justice system to tackle disproportionality in sentencing, prisons, reoffending, and stop and search operations and review race equality training for the criminal justice sector;
Improve support for black and minority ethnic families with children by improving the quality of education available as well as the provision of effective family support services, such as parent education programmes;
Work across government and with the voluntary sector to close the health inequalities experienced by different black and minority ethnic communities, such as outcomes for diabetes, heart disease, stroke and mental health.
The eight ‘Key Asks’ come from a longer document, developed by CORE to outline some of the challenges relating to racial inequality in the UK. They are seeking feedback and support for this draft report from voluntary and community organisations and think-tanks during the run-up to the election.

Please distribute the report to interested parties, show your support for our call to action or join in the discussion on Twitter using #RacialJusticeMatters. Alternatively, email your comments to Megan Wong.

Key Asks: RacialJusticeMatters [204kb PDF]

Draft call to Action: #RacialJusticeMatters [927kb PDF]

Addressing institutional discrimination and inequalities associated with race and other protected characteristics takes commitment, evidence, leadership, legislative tools, a long term vision, support and time. There is always scope for improvements in the Public Sector Equality Duty’s (PSED) requirements and its practical application. The most important factor in ensuring the most effective implementation of the PSED is leadership from senior management and political leaders. We are concerned that, despite clear support from some Ministers for action to advance equality of opportunity, the messages from other senior Government members characterise equality considerations as unnecessary ‘red tape’ are having a negative effect and undermining effective implementation of the PSED. The focus should be on improving outcomes. This response outlines our concerns and our recommendations for the PSED.

Response of the Race Equality Coalition, and supporters of this submission, to the Government’s Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) review.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PSED

The PSED is a piece of legislation which is designed to protect us from discrimination. Developed in the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the PSED was a response to “institutional racism” in the police force and combines a number of older pieces of legislation, such as the Disability Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act and Sex Discrimination Act. It states that when public services are developed, the following “protected characteristics” should be taken into account:

Race	Marriage and civil partnership
Religion or belief	Gender
Age	Pregnancy and Maternity
Sexual orientation	Gender reassignment
Disability

WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE PROTECTED?

Within one year of the duty coming into force the Government decided to review the PSED as part of its “red tape challenge”. The Race Equality Coalition has a number of concerns about this review, notably that by being labelled as ‘red tape’ equality considerations are being undermined. Whilst the Coalition recognises that there is scope for improvement in the requirements and practical application of the PSED, the response argues that few pieces of legislation have been subject to this level of scrutiny, particularly when they have been in effect such a short time. Combined with concerns about the process of the review, for example, the level of consultation with those effected by the proposed changes and the lack of clarity on the grounds on which the review will be conducted, the Coalition argues that the review has undermined the government’s apparent commitment to transparency and accountability, and to equal citizenship .

An in-depth response and recommendations from the Race Equality Coalition are available below:

ROTA CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT THE PSED

ROTA have recently launched a petition which allows members of the public to show their commitment to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and challenge any efforts to undermine this important piece of legalisation.

There is a three step plan to show your support for the PSED:

Support the campaign: Sign the petition to state your commitment to the PSED
Share the campaign: Raise awareness of the petition through social media, websites, newsletters etc.
Contribute to the campaign: Send us case studies showing how the PSED has helped and support you.

For more information on the campaign and more information on the PSED, please visit the PSED campaign website.

RACE EQUALITY FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

The Race Equality Foundation has also commissioned Leander Neckles to produce articles for our newsletter which focus on various legislative changes, including the PSED review:

If you would like to automatically receive Leander’s bulletins, please register for the Race Equality Foundation’s monthly newsletter.

In May 2016, Londoners will elect a new Mayor for their city. The Coalition of Race Equality Organisations (CORE) wants to make sure the views of young people from London’s minority ethnic communities are heard. For that, we have launched a new initiative called All London Voices to involve young Londoners like you in the run up to the 2016 London Mayoral elections on May 5th.

We are keen to hear your views and will be:

Holding a husting with the Mayoral candidates
Organising focus groups
Carrying out an on-line survey for young BME Londoners.

Producing an e-manifesto highlighting the actions you want to see London’s new Mayor prioritise.

Your views are important and deserve to be heard so please complete our on-line questionnaire, tell us what you think and get the chance to win a £100 Amazon voucher.

If you require more information or want to give additional feedback email Mark Blake or Keren Lasme.

Please share the questionnaire with your friends. Have you registered to vote? If not, find out how to here.

Please, find the final report on All London Voices HERE.