Rise is passionate about embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across our entire organisation.
We are committed to ensuring that EDI underpins our internal policies, practices and organisational culture, and that our work focuses upon tackling inequalities, which is at the very heart of our Rise Together strategy.
We want to create a fairer society where sport and physical activity are accessible to all, and where everyone in Northumberland and Tyne and Wear can enjoy the wide-ranging benefits that being active bring, and lead happier and healthier lives.
EDI is something we think about in everything we do. We are passionate about becoming a diverse and fully inclusive organisation, and being an organisation which treats people as individuals, and which respects and values differences.
We’re on a journey with our EDI work and recognise that there are improvements we can make.
We are working to embed EDI throughout our organisation and to share the responsibility across the team, trustees and partners.
In 2024 we launched our Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) and its key areas of focus are listed below.
Key areas of focus
Attracting and retaining diverse talent
To ensure that we are able to meet the needs of the communities across Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, we must attract and recruit talent that reflects the breadth of our society.
If we are a diverse employer, we will be better able to understand our communities and meet their needs; this is fundamental if we are to tackle inequalities.
We recognise that if we are a diverse employer, we will be better able to understand our communities and meet their needs, which is fundamental if we are to tackle inequalities. This includes amplifying the lived experience voice at all levels of the organisation, to ensure our progress is authentic.
Our Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan includes an ambition to attract and retain diverse talent.
Leading at education and learning
The world is a constantly evolving place, and communities are evolving with it. Unless we remain committed to a continuous cycle of learning and development
in the EDI space, we will be left behind, and in the process, will let down our beneficiaries.
Enable inclusive access
Critical to the Government’s ‘Get Active’ strategy is an increase in physical activity
participation in under-represented groups, including women and girls, those from
ethnically diverse backgrounds, people with a disability or long-term health condition,
and those from lower socio-economic groups. This mirrors our own aspirations to tackle
inequalities using the power of sport and physical activity.
We should therefore have a razor-sharp focus on enabling access for these underrepresented groups, and others, through our core work.
Our commitments:
Rise is explicitly anti-racist. We are committed to ensuring that our organisation, and all those we work with, subscribe to this value. We will apply a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of prejudice and discrimination.
We are a Disability Confident Employer. This means we prioritise and take steps to improve the recruitment, retention, and development of disabled employees. We aim to tap into the vast pool of talent among disabled people, increasing understanding of disability and removing barriers to employment.
Accessible communications. We follow Plain English guidelines and the advice in Activity Alliance’s Inclusive Communications guide. We strive to ensure all communications are both inclusive and accessible.