“Like many individuals, collectives and organisations we have been deeply affected by two pandemics in recent weeks. One, the devastating COVID-19 crisis and two, racial inequality, and institutionalised racism. At Abri, we want to make this clear: we do not, and will not, accept or stand for any form of racism or racial prejudice.
“The recent tragedy of George Floyd, and so many others, alongside the Black Lives Matter movement, has reinforced the need to speak out against racism, inequality and discrimination in all its forms. As an organisation, this is something we have always believed, but we recognise that all of us – including Abri – need to work even harder to promote diversity within the housing sector, within our organisation, our leadership and our communities.
“Our senior leadership team has taken time to critique ourselves in this past week. It is not enough just to speak out. To make a difference, to be anti-racist, we have to look at our actions and behaviours and understand how we can do better. We will always be learning and improving, but we’re proud to say that we are working on our practices and our behaviours with a sense of urgency and purpose.
“We are currently working on a plan to create real and sustainable cultural change both now, and in the future. It will increase conversation about racism and diversity within our organisation and our communities. This plan will include, but is by no means limited to, a new Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training offer for all colleagues, the mainstreaming of EDI into our decision making, as well as the creation of Respect Allies to support any colleague experiencing issues in the workplace.
“We do not have all the answers, but we are committed to listening, learning, and evolving - to being the change we want to see in the world. We are committed to understanding what barriers prevent people accessing our services or entering and progressing in the organisation. We will do this by ensuring that all our policies, processes and projects are subject to scrutiny through an EDI lens.
“We work with communities every day and see them thrive because they are diverse and multi-cultural. We are committed to holding ourselves to account and will continue to work hard to create an organisation that is, by nature, diverse. We will openly discuss our own challenges and address inequality wherever we find it.
“We know that there is always more we can do, more to learn and to unlearn. We have a platform and will use our voices to create conversation that leads to long-lasting change. We will continue to call out injustice when we see it and seek to educate the perpetrators. We will work hard to be part of a community that is based on equality, champions diversity and stands for human rights no matter what because, we know, we are stronger when we are together.”
- Gary Orr, Abri, Chief Executive Officer
