A new generation of black role models - Hazel Blears responds to the Reach Report

Published	5 December 2007

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has today announced a national role modelling programme aimed at boosting the number of positive Black role models for our young Black men to aspire to.

The programme is one part of a package of measures aimed at countering a culture of low aspirations and low attainment amongst some Black boys and young Black men. The actions are in response to the independent REACH report published in August that highlighted the barriers that are preventing some Black boys from fulfilling their full potential. The group said that if more Black boys and men overcame these barriers, it could benefit the economy by £24billion over the next 50 years.

The independent group - drawn from a range of disciplines working with young Black men - made clear that too often the only images of successful Black men were those of rap artists - who can glamorise crime, guns and gangs - or sportsmen. Black boys and young Black men needed a greater diversity of images and portrayals, showing that Black men can be, and are, successful in a wide range of fields.

Hazel Blears said:

"Young Black men want and need to see role models from everyday life who have been successful in business, in retail, as doctors and accountants - and to be reassured that these paths are open to them too.

"It is these men who will provide the most powerful antidote to a culture of low aspiration that is seeing too many of our young Black men fail. We have listened to the Black community and the recommendations of the REACH report, and we are determined to do everything we can in helping to turn things around. There will always be the rap stars and the bling, but I think you can cut through it.

"Black pupils made the biggest improvement in this year's GCSE results and the attainment gap is closing. We must continue to boost the attainment of our young Black men if we are going to see improvements in other areas too. A concerted focus on what is happening for Black pupils both in schools and outside is a vital part of getting this right."

The package of measures outlined by Government today consists of:

The creation of the first ever Black Boys' National Role Model programme. An independent panel comprising fashion designer and businessman Ozwald Boateng, entrepreneur Tim Campbell, founder and Director of Operation Black Vote Simon Woolley and Metropolitan Police Superintendent Leroy Logan plus four young Black men, will spend the coming months identifying and recruiting twenty national Black role models who will work to help raise aspirations of Black boys.

Once recruited the twenty national role models will tour the country speaking to Black communities. This might include schools, youth clubs and young offender institutes. They will also use other mechanisms such as podcasts and webchats to reach a wider audience and boost the visibility of positive images of Black male achievement and the journey to success.
A renewed focus in education to better engage Black parents. Schools have to be the starting point for any changes in attainment and aspiration. The current pilots of home school partnership arrangements being run across the country will ensure an explicit focus on supporting the interaction of Black families with schools and their child's education. The learning from these partnerships will be used to help inform all involved on how to continue to build better links with Black parents.
A focus on Race Equality in Schools. Ofsted has reviewed, revised and published new guidance for inspectors which will strengthen the way that it reports on race equality issues including drawing attention to good practice and highlighting inequalities.

It will also continue to develop its inspection methodology and practice and will:

Consult with stakeholders including the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the REACH Taskforce.
Keep the quality of its reporting under review through its quality assurance processes.
Regularly sample reports to check on how well and consistently race equality issues are reported, and make improvements where needed.
Ensure that there are formal mechanisms in place to measure and monitor progress against the specific actions in its Race Equality Action Plan.

Establishing a Ministerial Board to oversee all efforts in raising the aspirations of Black boys. Hazel Blears will chair a Ministerial Board that will bring together minsters from across government in order to focus attention on this vital issue. This board will include Ministers from the relevant departments necessary to drive the response to the recommendations forward and will include representatives from the Departments for Children, Families and Schools; Innovation & Skills; Cabinet Office/Office of the Third Sector and the Home Office. This board will also be joined by Joel Edwards from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Greater involvement from the third sector. The REACH report recommended action on the part of the voluntary and community sector who are working to support Black boys and young Black men. These are often the organisations working most closely with young Black men at risk of dropping out, but are sometimes small and spread thinly. The report suggested that they should group together to form consortia so that they could share their expertise and resources, and forge links with local schools and other service providers.

To help these consortia along the way, the Government will ensure that a share of the recently announced £6 million 3 year Strategic Partner programme run by the Communities and Local Government Department will focus on race equality and within that the recommendations of the REACH panel. The Government is also encouraging Black-led organisations and/or organisations working with Black boys, to engage in the current discussion on improving the engagement of the third sector with local partnerships.

Hazel Blears said:

"There are many examples up and down the country of successful Black men - businessmen, politicians, lawyers and doctors - and we need to make sure that it is their stories that young Black men are hearing and that it is those people in whose footsteps they are aspiring to follow.

"The programme I am announcing today will deliver our young Black men with a new generation of real life examples of what they could achieve. In addition, the package of measures in Education will help to remove barriers and pave the way to success. It is of both social and an economic importance that we improve the life chances and raise the aspirations of our young Black men and boys , as it stands too many Black boys are not realising their true potential.

"The Government is taking a strong lead on this issue but as the REACH report itself pointed out, change will only happen if we pull together in a co-ordinated effort - Government, local organisations, schools, families and Black boys and young men themselves all have a part to play and will benefit from its success. Today is the start of that process."

Notes to editors

1. REACH was an independent body commissioned by Government and chaired by Clive Lewis, Director of The Mens Room a charity working with Black young men.

2. The REACH group was set-up by Government in 2006 and had 22 members drawn from a variety of sectors, including the voluntary and community sector, education, academia and law enforcement.

3. The £24 billion referred to above is from research by PricewaterhouseCoopers and includes the costs of the impact of lower educational achievement on labour market outcomes; schools exclusions and involvement in the criminal justice system. This research was commissioned by Communities and Local Government and is based on 2006 data.

4. The Governments full response to the REACH report will be available at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/reachresponse

5. The REACH report An Independent Report to Government on Raising the Aspirations and Attainment of Black boys and Young Black Men can be found at www.communities.gov.uk/communities/racecohesionfaith/raceandethnicity/raceequalityadvice/reach/

6. The draft 'Guiding Principles: A framework for third sector representation on Local Strategic Partnerships' is available at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/principlesofrepresentation and available for comment until January 2008.

7. Young Advisors are young people aged between 15 and 21, who show community leaders and decision makers how to engage young people in community life, regeneration and renewal.

Additional Background:

Launching the search for national race models

When the REACH report was published in the summer chair of the group Clive Lewis said "We need to create a new culture where young Black men look up less to rappers and sports stars and more to successful young Black role models in their communities like doctors lawyers, community leaders and others."

The REACH group said that the image of Black boys was too often portrayed as being aligned to guns, gangs and criminality. The absence of positive male role models and low expectations surrounding Black boys were all contributing to low self-image, low aspirations and low achievements amongst young Black men and they stressed that this needed to be challenged.

They called for a collective effort on the part of Government, local organisations, schools, families and Black boys and young men themselves in order to catalyse a shift in the aspirations of this group of young men.

The Government is today responding to this challenge by announcing support for a new generation of Black male role models.

To kick start this process Hazel Blears has invited four well recognised, successful Black men to lead on establishing the first ever national programme to identify and recruit a team of twenty Black male role models. These role models will be drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and help to show today's generation of Black boys how they can succeed and demonstrate the wide range of opportunities and careers that are available to them. The four men chairing the panel are:

Ozwald Boateng - Fashion designer and businessman
Tim Campbell, Entrepreneur and winner of TV's The Apprentice
Leroy Logan - Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police and ex chairman of the Metropolitan Black Police Association
Simon Woolley - Founder and Director of Operation Black Vote

These leading figures will be joined on the panel by two pupils from Eastlea Community School and two "Young Advisers" who will help the panel to devise the programme for the role models once appointed. Their presence will help to ensure that the role models that are selected have real appeal and will truly resonate with Black boys and young Black men.

The REACH research also found that the young people want to see local citizens as role models too. That is why alongside the national programme government also want to see an enhanced local network of Black male role models working within local communities. It is these local networks of role models and mentors - doctors, youth workers, lawyers, local pastors, policemen and teachers - who are often on hand to provide more intensive support and guidance and who give Black boys a sense of belonging - the lack of which can create a vacuum that gangs might fill. Having the national group of role models is intended to stimulate and support local activity, as envisaged by the REACH report.

In addition, the Government will work with established national role modelling and mentoring umbrella organisations such as the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation so that their best practice mentoring case studies, guidance, toolkits, training and quality standards can be used to support small scale Black VCS role modelling and mentoring organisations at a local level working within local communities.

We will also work with organisations such as Business in the Community (BITC)'s MERLIN project to increase the accessibility of resource materials and Black male role models from the business and professional Community - creating a resource for schools and small scale local Black VCS organisations to draw on.