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Cambridge City Council

New training sessions to help volunteers develop skills to challenge discriminatory behaviour

9 June 2023

Funding has been awarded to Cambridge Council for Voluntary Services (CCVS) and Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum by Cambridge City Council to support the running of training sessions to help local community groups and volunteers challenge discriminatory behaviour.

The first session, focusing on unconscious bias, will take place on 15 June. Anyone with an interest in challenging unacceptable behaviour is welcome to sign up, with CCVS and Hunts Forum members able to attend for free, and others welcome to attend for £40.

The funding was awarded to enable community groups and volunteer organisations to equip their staff to feel empowered to challenge unacceptable behaviour when witnessed in their roles working within local communities.

The training sessions will all be delivered online:

  • Unconscious Bias: Understanding assumptions that influence decision-making, on Thursday 15 June, 10am to 12.30pm (this session is free to attend for members of CCVS and Hunts Forum, or £40 for non-members)
  • Community Builder: What works in creating inclusive, connected, and equitable communities? A three-session course on Wednesdays, on 9, 16 and 23 August (this session is free for everyone, with the time TBC)
  • Active Bystander and Allyship: Play a role in tackling identity-based harms in your community or place of work, on Wednesday 11 October, 10am to 1pm (this session is free for everyone).

The dates are still to be confirmed for an additional cultural awareness ‘on demand’ course which will be run in the autumn. Find out the latest training offers on the CCVS website.

Cllr Mairéad Healy, Executive Councillor for Communities, said: “We have made this funding available as a result of a public question at a recent scrutiny committee meeting, where a public questioner asked for frontline workers in the community and voluntary sector to be able to benefit from this training. We are delighted to be able to now fund it in partnership with local organisations.

“As a council we strongly support the need for enhanced training in relation to our equality, diversity and inclusion commitments and particularly in relation to anti-racism. We are delighted that our local community and voluntary sector will now also benefit from this extra training and understanding specifically in relation to identifying unconscious biases and equipping volunteers and staff in community settings with the tools to challenge inappropriate behaviours that they may come across through the course of their community-based work, in a positive way."