COMMISSIONS

---

The Empowerment Project (TEP) has been commissioned by the London Borough of Croydon as part of the Department of Education Holiday Activities and Food Programme to deliver four  Easter Clubs during April 11th - 22nd 2022, for children on vacation during the Easter period.

Each holiday club will provide fun and enriching activities that provide children with opportunities to develop or consolidate skills or knowledge, to consolidate existing skills and knowledge, or to try out new experiences. 

This Easter Club will positively build on the valuable experiences gained at TEP’s 2021 Summer and Winter Clubs.

FOR MORE SEE EASTER CAMPS

The Northwest Probation Service (NWPS) as part of its programme to engage and collaborate with specialist, local organisations that support Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME)people in a culturally informed way.

The Empowerment Project was commissioned by NWPS to better support and improve the outcomes for BAME People on Probation in the Northwest through the generation of ideas, models and working practices.

This Empowerment Project Pilot Programme for the Northwest Probation Service is open to every18-25-year-old young adult, who has the desire to look deeply within themselves, confront their troublesome past and to ignite that fire, to reshape their destiny, and to become responsible, respected, law- abiding citizens.

All we ask is complete honesty with themselves and with us, that they fully and wholeheartedly embrace the vision of the Project, and that they commit one hundred percent to fundamentally changing themselves.

First up is guided self - reflection and mentorship to discover their true selves, their inner core, and to ignite that passion and will to be successful in any and everything that they desire. 

Second, they learn the inner workings of the criminal justice system, the strengths and weaknesses of the very system that is having such a dominant impact on their day-to-day existence.

Third, they prepare themselves at their choosing, first as trainee administrative staff, technologists, researchers, community reporters, television anchors, analysts, videographers, editors, and video, film, and music producers, and thereafter become employees at The Empowerment Project.

The goal is the creation of a group of empowered young adults with the ability and confidence to  narrate stories that will shine a spotlight on and bring about fundamental change to, a system that disproportionately and negatively impacts the lives of three million BAME citizens, and residents of the United Kingdom. 

The avenue to this goal is through an examination of their individual profiles, plans for the future, and guidance and support through any of the following eight courses.

1. Creating a Nurturing Environment for Success- Three Days 
2. The Workings of and Career Options in the Criminal Justice System including a Mock Trial which would lead to a Students’ Court Television Series. -Five Days
3. Preparing Students and Young Adults for the World of Work-Two Days
4. Parents Do You Really Know That? One Day
5. The Law and You Young People – Three Days
6. Mentoring and Support – Two Days
7. Debating Society on general topics of interest to young people. One Day
8. Empowerment Community Fora on Social Issues – One Day
9. Personal Grooming, Etiquette for socialising at the Lunch and Dinner Tables- One Day
10. The Music, Fashion and Creative Sectors – One Day

The overall objective is to build a foundation upon which a sustained national dialogue on acknowledging and reversing if not eradicating, the range of inequities that stain and strain our collective well-being and bring about healing to the nation.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Human Resources Policy Transformation Programme, saw the creation of the Race Action Programme (RAP), to tackle disparities within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for Black and other Ethnic Minority staff, prisoners, people on probation and children.

The Programme entailed a review of  MOJ’s Diversity & Inclusion Structures and Policies, to ensure that HMPPS has fair and inclusive policies that are considerate of the lived experiences of all people. 

The Empowerment Project (TEP) was  commissioned to review a suite of draft  Grievance Resolution policy documents, followed by a two-hour virtual session with members of the policy drafting teams. 

Looming large over this critically important exercise are the following:

• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s (HMIP) Race Equality in Probation Report dated March 2021 on the experiences of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) service users and staff, and 
• MOJ HMPPS May 2021 Action Plan in response to the HMIP’s fifteen recommendations.  
• Observations as follows by the Immediate Past Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice, Rt Hon Robert Buckland MP in the foreword of the MOJ February 2020 Report on Tackling Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System:2020 Update:
• Making progress on racial disparity in the Criminal Justice System requires challenge to accepted norms right across the system and it will therefore take time. 
• Ultimately, racial disparities do not hold back individuals in our society, they prevent us as a nation from realising our true collective potential. That is something this government is determined to challenge.

This is a valuable opportunity for potential national leadership by MOJ HMPPS in the call for a national conversation on addressing the significant degree of disproportionality in the treatment of the BAME community in the Criminal Justice System.