Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion Statement
To feel like you truly belong, you must be heard, valued, and included. This is why Inspire North is committed to being a diverse and inclusive organisation. We want all colleagues, clients, tenants and volunteers, from any ethnicity, sexuality, ability, gender, age, or experience to feel like they can bring their whole self when engaging with our organisation. We wish to establish an ethos and culture that promotes inclusion, respect and dignity and has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination.
We strive to create an environment where inclusion is a reflex that runs through all aspects of Inspire North, from recruitment and retention to team meetings and client events. We know that different ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative working environment, which in turns makes for the best experience possible for our clients/tenants.
Diversity and Inclusion needs to be something that everyone has a stake in, and we continue to inspire people to work with us through allyship, network membership, strategy, training and understanding. Inclusion isn’t just about being ‘right’ but is our individual and organisational key to growth.
Everyone is welcome at Inspire North and you can learn more about our commitment to being an Inclusive Employer and supporting all of our colleagues by clicking here.
PRIDE at Inspire North!
Inspire North wants to make sure we celebrate the LGBTQIA+ colleagues and clients we work with. Pride is about acceptance, equality, celebrating the work of LGBTQIA+ people, education in queer history and raising awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community.
We will be celebrating Pride across our various service areas and will update this page with local events and activities throughout the summer.
For Pride Month 2023, we spoke to members of our LGBTQ+ Network to hear what Pride means to them. You can read the full blog here.
Our LGBTQ+ Network hosted a Pride Lunch & Learn for colleagues ahead of Leeds Pride. This was a chance to talk about the history of Pride, LGBTQ+ rights in the UK and to also highlight how to support LGBTQ+ colleagues in the workplace.
July is Disability Pride Month. A month to focus on and celebrate the disabled community and their pride. It is an opportunity to kickstart conversations about disability experiences and issues. Our Accessibility Network is a network of understanding and compassion. You can learn more about the network here.
Click here to donate to Inspire North and support our work
PRIDE 2023
We had a great time celebrating Pride this year. From creating colourful Pride Walls to getting dressed in our best rainbow attire to learning more about Pride from our LGBTQ+ Network. We have learnt, celebrated and cheered together. Looking forward to what next year brings but we will continue to have conversations and learn about the LGBTQ+ community all year round.
Leeds Pride- Sunday 6th August
We had a great time at Leeds Pride this year.
We joined, Leeds Mind, Carers Leeds, Advonet UK, BARCA, GIPSIL and Leeds Survivor-Led Crisis Service in the Parade and had our stall at the Village Fete.
It was great to see everyone celebrating together.
Local and National Support Services:
Linking Leeds
Linking Leeds is an integrated, free city-wide Social Prescribing service for people in Leeds. Linking Leeds focuses on connecting people, so that you can share your experiences and develop new support networks.
These links can range from support with Angels of Freedom or Friends of Dorothy, a befriending service connects you with an LGBTQ+ person who will call once a week. The service can also support you to attend social events or make you aware of local gems like the LGBTIQA+ book shop; The Bookish Type.
What matters to you, matters to us. To learn about how they can link you to various groups, visit the Linking Leeds website: linkingleeds.com
Foundation Durham
At Foundation Durham there is a weekly LGBTQ+ 1-2-1 drop in session to support those in the local community.
To learn more about what Foundation Durham are up to, click here.
To learn about what our services offer, visit the Foundation or Community Links websites.
Yorkshire MESMAC
Based in Leeds, Bradford, Rotherham and Hull. Yorkshire MESMAC supports people living with HIV, their families, friends and carers. They have several LGBT+ Youth Groups too. https://www.mesmac.co.uk/
York LGBT Forum
Improving LGBT rights in York, North Yorkshire and UK. They support older people, bisexual and trans people and young people. To get involved with their activities you can join through their website- https://www.yorklgbtforum.org.uk/
LGBT Foundation – a charity providing a wide range of services to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people such as:
Galop – is the national LGBTQ+ anti-violence charity, offering advice, support and advocacy.
Stonewall – Information and support for LGBT communities and their allies. Information Service and Freephone 0800 0502020. Lines open 09:30-4:30 Monday to Friday. For more information you can visit https://www.stonewall.org.uk/help-advice
