The BAME Football Forum presents 'At the Grass Roots of Racism', an event that aims to give "players, coaches, managers, parents and the public" the opportunity to discuss racism and discrimination in football.

Racism in football is a hot topic in the media right now, and it seems that a new story is published everyday about a new case of racist abuse within the community. The BAME Football Forum believe that the best way to tackle this problem is by "engaging with grassroots football communities." Next month, the BFF will hold an event that integrates attendees from the semi professional and professional game, local and national FA's, universities, police and police crime commissioners, the local authority, national campaign groups and more. As well as this, non-BAME football clubs are being encouraged to attend so that they can be part of the conversation.

On the day, the BFF will present results from a recent survey on discrimination, victims of racist abuse within the football community will tell their stories, and the challenges of past and present footballers - such as ex England International, Liverpool and Leicester star, Emile Heskey - will be addressed.

The event is being held at Leicester City Football Club and tickets are free - for more information click here.
Anyone wishing to attend or discuss any other media requests can contact Ivan Liburd at:
E: bamefootballforum@gmail.com
T: @BAME_FF
W: www.bamefootballforum.com 

House of Commons launches programme to find next generation of BAME leaders
 
The House of Commons has committed to increasing the representation of BAME (Black, Asian and Ethnic-Minority) people within its workforce and in Parliament more widely with the Pathway to Success Leadership and Development Programme.

Lloyds Banking Group have joined the initiative, with Fiona Cannon (pictured left), Responsible Business, Sustainability & Inclusion Director, saying: “We know that diverse and inclusive leadership is good for business and are pleased to support the Pathway to Success Leadership and Development programme to increase the representation of BAME people in politics. As part of our on-going commitment to help Britain prosper, we have set our own goals to increase BAME representation across our whole workforce, as well as within senior management. We recognise that our ability to reflect and understand our customer base, and harness different perspectives is key to our success.”   

Bank of England chief, Mark Carney, to open the second Investing in Ethnicity Conference. The Governor of the financial institution wanted to show his commitment to this agenda, and will talk about areas which the BoE have been working on in the past year.

​This year's conference engages all areas of the organisation, and will include recommended tracks for the following:

• Diversity & Inclusion track
• Future leaders track
• ERG track
​• Leaders & Allies track
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The last three years have seen an exciting journey within the ethnicity agenda, with the launch of various reports and the Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting Consultation being launched. Over that time, we've worked on this initiative and listened to over 200 organisations, become the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Governance and Inclusive Leadership, launched a workplace conference and awards.
Sarah Garrett MBE tells us how she's keen to ensure that 2019 sees just as much progress as the past few years.