Forging ahead with Board Diversity Plans
Your Place has created a pool of next generation members, through a new initiative aimed to drive diversity.
Kevin Maxwell and Johana Parker will join the Board in the future, having successfully applied to Your Place’s Board Diversity Programme. Launched in June 2021 in partnership with the Housing Diversity Network (HDN), candidates are taken through a development programme, creating a pool of next generation trustees with new skills and characteristics.
Kevin said:
"It’s truly an honour to be joining The Board Diversity Programme. My experience of racism and homophobia led to me become homeless for over two years. I am now a writer and advocate of social justice and equality, and I want to use my knowledge and experience to ensure Your Place consistently strives to be the very best it can be for its residents and employees."
Johana said:
"The Board Diversity Programme is such an exciting opportunity for someone like me, who has come from a difficult background in Colombia. I have been exposed to extreme poverty in an area known for violence, drugs and homelessness, and have been really lucky to have found a path to a stable and fulfilling life. I now work for a national youth organisation and I am looking forward to enhancing my skills, so that I can extend the help I was offered to the people experiencing homelessness in east London."
Mushtaq Khan, Chief Executive of Housing Diversity Network said:
"We believe that you can’t magic up a diverse board overnight. Our programme recruits on potential rather the finished article and then works with the trainees on their personal development as well as on improving their board skills and knowledge. The board gains from better and more inclusive decision-making."
Amanda Dubarry, Chief Executive of Your Place said:
Donate to help more people"I look forward to welcoming our next generation trustees, as they graduate from our Board Diversity Programme. Equity, diversity and inclusion are central to everything we do at Your Place and we will continue to think creatively about how we can prioritise this within all aspects of our work."
