Croydon Council is asking residents for their views on how it can better support its diverse communities ahead of a new long-term strategy on equality, fairness and inclusion.
The council is currently updating its equality objectives, and will develop a strategy which will set out how it plans to tackle and reduce inequality in Croydon over the next four years, including areas such as access to public services, employment opportunities and health inequality issues.
To help develop this, the council is asking all local residents, community groups and voluntary sector organisations to complete a survey and share their views on what the council and its partners do well in tackling and reducing inequalities and what they can improve on.
The council is particularly keen to hear from community representatives and those who support vulnerable residents, as well as anyone that shares a protected characteristic under the Equality Act – these are race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity.
The council will then take on board all views before it updates its equality objectives and develops the Equalities Strategy 2020-2024 in the autumn to shape council services and equality priorities. To take part in the survey, visit the council website.
The survey comes as Croydon Council was named this week as one of five finalists nationwide for the Innovation in Building Diversity and Inclusion category at The MJ Achievement Awards 2020 this autumn.
“The unexplained racial disproportionality of Covid-19 and the brutal murder of George Floyd have shown everyone that structural inequality persists in plain sight.
“We are proud of Croydon’s diversity but we abhor the inequality that too many people continue to face purely because of who they are. Now more than ever we must use our role to tackle inequality across the board.
“This strategy will seek to address how we can influence fairer life chances in our borough, and to help make that happen we want to hear from as many people as possible from every background as we develop our thinking over the coming months.”
Councillor Hamida Ali, cabinet member for safer Croydon and communities
In addition, the council is holding a series of free, one-hour online workshops for up to 12 people at a time where members of the public are given the opportunity to have an in-depth discussion and share their views, issues and concerns about what needs to change and identify solutions, which will then feed into an action plan.
To book onto one of the sessions between now and early September, visit the Eventbrite booking website. If you are unable to get online and want to arrange a one-to-one session by telephone, call the council on 0208 726 6000 and ask to be transferred to Barbara Grant or Yvonne Okiyo.
