Action for Race Equality
Action for Race Equality (ARE) works to ensure positive outcomes for all young people aged 10-30 from Black, Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds. Their aim is to reduce the disparities they face in education, employment and the criminal justice system.
Through the Shared Ground Fund, ARE supports the grassroots sector to provide advocacy support to those seeking compensation through the Windrush Compensation Scheme. ARE’s Windrush Justice Programme provides small grants and consultancy to strengthen these organisations. As of April 2023, ARE have funded 12 grassroots organisations across England with grants of £22,500 each, and are hoping to fund a further 20 organisations across the UK with similar small grants. ARE also provides bespoke consultancy support, enabling each organisation to understand their strengths and identify areas for development. This funding will enable grassroots groups, often working for free and run entirely by volunteers, to fund some of their activities and as a result reach more people – to provide much needed advocacy support to access the complex Windrush Compensation Scheme run by the Home Office.
“ARE is delighted that PHF along with a group of funders have selected ARE to manage this important and much needed grant programme. We look forward to supporting the Windrush organisations with this funding.”
Jeremy Crook OBE, Chief Executive, action for Race Equality
Windrush Legal Advice Clinic CIC, one of the organisations funded through ARE’s Windrush Justice Programme, explains the difference this support has made:
“Up until the receipt of the grant we were considering delegating our files to other organisations that had capacity to take on our clients as we did not have the staff who were prepared to continue to do it for free for the hours required to provide an efficient service. Now we have two caseworkers in place doing the work and have taken on three new clients with incredibly complex cases to ensure they receive the compensation they deserve.
“Applying to the scheme and its various levels of appeal, is a very complex matter and without the funding from PHF (and the other funders of Windrush Justice Programme) we would be unable to provide the level of advocacy support that we now do.”
