ANNUAL REPORT 1ST JANUARY 2023 TO THE YEAR-END 31ST DECEMBER 2023
BLACK2NATURE IS A CHARITY, (ENGLAND & WALES), REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER 1192436 REGISTERED OFFICE: 257 ASHLEY DOWN RD, BRISTOL, BS7 9BW, UNITED KINGDOM
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| TABLE OF CONTENTS | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|---|---|
| Page No. | |
| Introduction | 3-4 |
| Photos, Website & Social Media Links | 5 |
| Executive Summary - Vision, Aims, Mission & Values | 6-7 |
| President's Statement | 8-10 |
| Chair's Statement | 11-12 |
| List of camps & activities & Newsletters | 13 |
| Financial Overview | 14 |
| Black2Nature - Balance Sheet | 15 |
| Black2Nature Consolidated statement of financial activities |
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| Statement of cash flows | 17 |
| Independent Examiner’s report to the Trustees | 18 |
| Black2Natures - Approach to Equalities Data | 19 |
| Trustee's - Equalities Monitoring Data | 20-22 |
| Attendees - Equalities Monitoring Data | 23-24 |
| Public engagement - Data | 25 |
| Founder and President | 26 |
| Introduction - Trustees | 27-29 |
| Introduction - Staff | 30-31 |
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INTRODUCTION
The Black2Nature Trustees present their report along with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2023.
What sets Black2Nature apart is that we are a registered charity, that all our nature camps, day events and activities are free at the point of access and available to children and young people teenagers from the most marginalised and deprived communities. We do not request deposits as we consider that to do so creates added financial barriers for parents. This has ensured our success in engaging and working with parents, children and teenagers from under-represented Visible Minority Ethnic (VME) communities.
We ensure we have VME young volunteers and youth workers who can support and inspire the young people in every aspect of their lives, including their educational aspirations by acting as role models.
During much of 2023, we had to spend a lot of time and energy catching up with activities that we were not able run during the covid lockdown and 2022. We had to spend a lot of resources promoting oir activities and camps. It was only by mid 2023, we felt were were delivering at the ability and level of pre-covid.
We have continued to see evidence that VME teenagers were being negatively impacted by the structural racism within the educational system increasing in sixth form when they were being told to study less academic subjects. We are continuing to provide advice, guidance and support to the young people, whilst still providing them with a safe space to discuss their worries, stresses and anxieties.
Mya-Rose Craig, Our President, continued attending events when possible to inspire and be a role model. She encouraged VME young people to aim high, motivating them to work harder and exceed their teachers expectations.
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Ourselves and Mya-Rose have also attended and spoken at lots of high profile events to promote Black2Nature to the environmental sector. However, Mya-Rose started Cambridge University in October 2021 and so since then she has focussed on the most impactful events she could attend during term time. We are grateful to her for using her influence, activities and huge social media to promote Black2Nature.
As in previous years, we have had a tremendous response to all the activities we organised for our camps and events, which included bird ringing, pond dipping, bio blitz, birdwatching walks, arts and craft which is popular with all ages and both sexes. When possible we provide children with fish and chips and ice-creams, a huge treat and something most of our children do not have at home. We organised camps and events visiting a range of locations including Compton Martin Amenity Field, Chew Valley Lake, Barton Camp, Mendip Activity Centre, Dartmoor National Park, and Skomer Island for teenagers from Bristol which was in partnership with The Welsh Wildlife Trust. It is extremely rewarding watching children engage with nature for the first time. We are proud to have had a 100% success rate in nature engagement by making nature relevant.
We continued to face one difficult hurdle. Due to stigma and parental lack of awareness, we are often not advised about educational needs. Parental concerns are compounded by schools and other voluntary organisations refusing to let their children attend out of school activities. We have had to take to this into account in our staffing levels, assessing the children ourselves when they arrive at events. We have identified the need for funding for 1-2-1 support workers to ensure that we can accommodate all children including those who need high levels of support.
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Website & Social Media
Website: https://black2nature.org Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/officialblack2nature/ Twitter : https://bit.ly/46yTjKD Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/OfficialB2N
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Vision
Delivering equal access to nature to the hugely under-represented VME demographic in the UK.
Aims, purposes and objectives
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To advance in life and help children and young people, in particular from Visible Minority Ethnic communities across the UK through:
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The provision of recreational and leisure time activities provided in the interest of social welfare, designed to improve their conditions of life; Providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.
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To advance the education of children and young people, in particular from VME communities across the UK in the subject of nature, conservation and the environment.
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To promote equality and diversity for the public benefit across the UK.
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By being the lead national organisation in terms of achieving equal
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access to nature and the environment, running camps again for children and teenagers & other groups throughout England and Wales focussing on partnerships made across the UK and building case studies of success stories.
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To promote equality and diversity for the public benefit across the UK by:
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the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religion;
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advancing education and raising awareness in equality and diversity; promoting activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds;
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cultivating a sentiment in favour of equality and diversity and advancing diversity in particular but not exclusively racial diversity within the environmental sector in order that they better represent the racial diversity of the UK in their workforces, volunteers, trustees, and membership.
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Our Aims includes:
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Demonstrating to VME communities how they can enjoy, connect and learn the benefits of being outside and understanding it as part of their cultural heritage..
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Breaking down the barriers to VME people entering natural spaces, such as those summarised at our Race Equality in Nature Conferences. Increasing the number of VME people working within the environmental sector from 0.6% to the 13% national average as well as in senior roles, through partnership working;
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Changing attitudes and challenging racism within the nature, conservation and environmental sectors, in a way that facilitates positive change but which makes significant change.
Mission
Entice VME communities to engage with their natural environment in order to better reflect the ethnic diversity of the UK in natural spaces.
Our Values - What really matters to us
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Caring about both nature and human wellbeing and diversity;
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Encouraging VME communities to care about nature, the environment, saving species, stopping climate change & promoting human diversity; Reducing mental illness stigmatisation, promoting mental health and wellbeing as important advantages of going into nature;
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Promoting anti-racist practices and supporting the VME community where they face discrimination. Use young role models such as MyaRose Craig and Ayesha Ahmed-Mendoza to inspire and educate the young people who attend our events.
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VME communities should be encouraged to relate to nature as part of their cultural heritage. These skills will be seen to be breaking down barriers to encourage more VME people and communities to access nature.
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Ensuring that Black2Nature’s messages and purpose remains relevant to our target audience.
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Primarily engaging with stakeholders; boards, employees/volunteers, membership, the press, change-making organisations, and champions for change and be seen to be the leader for a solution in the UK.
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PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT
I founded Black2Nature when I was 14 years old and am President. I am a diversity and environmental activist and use my position to promote Black2Nature. 2023 was a busy year, studying in my third year at Cambridge University studying Human, Social and, Political Sciences.
I spoke on lots of TV, radio, panels, podcasts, also giving interviews and writing articles for newspapers and magazines. My work in 2023 included the launch of my children’s book, Flight about migrating birds. Black2Nature attended events with me, widening its network and benefiting from my talks and articles. I attended Glastonbury Festival, speaking, which lead to it receiving a £30,000 donation. I also obtained £20,000 from the Tenacity Awards and $10,000 from National Geographic. The highlight of the year was appearing on a panel with Hamza Yasin at the British Library, Hay Literary Festival with Greenpeace CEO, with Greta Thunberg at the Southbank Centre and for Fane Magazine with Lily Cole.
I attended a number of camps, engaging, inspiring and motivating the children and teenagers to connect with nature and their future.
I engaged with hundreds of thousands through my work and social media, including the Houses of Parliament, BBC Radio 4 Women’s Hour, The Guardian and The Daily Express, online websites, podcasts and Environmental Schools Network.
I was proud to win The Young Scientific Explorer of the Year and a number of awards for my books.
Mya-Rose Craig Honorary President
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CHAIR'S STATEMENT Welcome to Black2Nature's Annual Report for 2023.
I am so proud to Chair the Board of Trustees and support Black2Nature to grow and consolidate the work it does so that it can increase it's impact reaching more VME communities, engaging them with nature, helping them enjoy the beauty of nature and learn more about nature, wildlife and the countryside to improve their mental and physical health and well-being. VME communities can not engage with stopping climate change if they do not understand why we should protect the planet and learn to care for it. We need everyone involved in the flight to save our planet.
It is also important that we engage, not just VME people who are professionals and affluent but also those who are the most marginalised. Most of our attendees are the most disadvantaged and marginalised, are from the four to five most deprived wards in Bristol, which are also within the bottom 10% most deprived wards within the UK.
Our aim for 2023 was to increase its impact by reaching more vulnerable and in need children and teenagers each year and reaching an increased number of VME communities. We hoped to engage every child, teenager and adult we work with by teaching them about nature and connecting them with it, helping them enjoy its beauty and that of wildlife and the countryside, so that nature can improve their mental and physical health and well-being.
Many VME people in the UK have little knowledge about the causes of environmental issues that are impacting our lives and our planet, such as flooding or drought in the UK and in their countries of ethnicity.
We know that in terms of having a greater society, we need to improve the mental and physical health. This will reduce the pressure on society, schools and the NHS. Also educating children about environmental issues, will help the planet as we will only succeed in making change if everyone is working to stop climate change.
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We differentiate ourselves from other organisations by concentrating on children who have the least opportunities and are some of the most in need in our society.
Our children often come without warm clothes, coats, with only one pair of “best” trainers that they can not get muddy, without wellies and with clothes that are too small.
We continue to see children arriving hungry. Many have additional needs that are not disclosed by their parents, but have 1-2-1 support in school. We continue to receive donations of warm cloths, which is necessary due to many of our young people not having suitable outdoor clothing that children can take and use at home to go outdoors.
The biggest achievement of our charity for 2023 is the number of children that we have taken out to the countryside and engaged with nature, caring about the planet and taking action to make change. We have offered over 600 spaces on trips and given these VME inner-city children and teenagers the opportunity to engage with nature, enjoy themselves, make friends and learn about mental health resilience. Our children have nothing else to look forward to and there is no money in their homes for snacks and extras.
Most VME organisations mainly work with adults, are CIC’s who have to charge for their outings, so often attract VME people who have spare resources. In 2023, we continued to see significant food poverty, with children arriving hungry and being over the moon to be given food to take home.
The funding that we received for 2023's activities allowed us to continue to rebuild the momentum that we lost during Covid, step up our levels of activities considerably and work with many more children, teenagers and families. H E L E N A C R A I G ,
C H A I R O F T R U S T E E S
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CAMPS & ACTIVITIES 2023 February Chew Valley, 8-12 yrs Chew Valley, 8-12 yrs Tree Planting, Great Avon Wood, 8-12yrs Chew Valley 8-12yrs
March Tree planting, Nempnett Pastures, Chew Valley, Families
April Water sports, Mendip, 8-12 yrs Mendip, 8-12 yrs Mendip Camp, 12-18 yrs Mendip, 8-12 yrs
May Chew Valley Camp, 8-12 yrs Girls Surfing Camp, Croyde Bay 12-18yrs
June
Worthy Farm, Glastonbury, Families Camp Warham, Lulworth cove, 12-18 yrs Careys Secret Garden (Wareham), 12-18yrs
July Camp Avalon, 12-18 yrs Camp Avalon, 8-12 yrs Langaford Camp, 12-18 yrs Langaford Camp, 12-18 yrs
August Sugar Loaf Mountain, Wales, 12-18yrs Slimbridge, 8-12 yrs Skomer Camp, 12-18 yrs Slimbridge, 8-12 yrs
September Girls Only Surfing, The Wave, 8-12 yrs
October Careys Secret Garden (Wareham), Families
November Tree planting, Nempnett Pastures, Chew Valley, Families
Newsletter
Volume 1 Issue 1 - https://bit.ly/49T3nB4 Volume 1 Issue 2 - https://bit.ly/3QWDJCU Volume 1 Issue 3 - https://bit.ly/40VtAef
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FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
As required under our legal obligation as a charity, Black2Nature has produced its financial accounts to cover the period from 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023.
As part of this financial overview, we have produced:-
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Black2Nature - Balance Sheet
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Black2Nature - Consolidated statement of financial activities
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Statement of cash flows
These accounts were then independently examined and an Independent examiner's report was produced and signed off.
It was fantastic to receive an extra payment of £22,500 from Esmee Fairbairn in March 2023 to cover extra costs during 2023-2025 but we still had to find the money we needed for the remaining core costs, camps and events.
Our funds came from both grants and donations and was mainly restricted funds (to be used for nature camps and events) compared to 2022 which was split fairly equally with unrestricted funds, to be spent as we think best to further our aims.
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| Black2Nature - BALANCE SHEET | ||
|---|---|---|
| 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 | 31/12/2023 | |
| £ | ||
| Fixed assets | 0.00 | |
| Intangible Fixed Assets | 0.00 | |
| Tangible Fixed Assets | 0.00 | |
| Investments | 0.00 | |
| Total | 0.00 | |
| Current assets | ||
| Debtors | 0.00 | |
| Stock | 0.00 | |
| Cash and bank and in hand | 139597.65 | |
| Total | 139597.65 | |
| Liabilities | ||
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | 0.00 | |
| Net current assets | 139597.65 | |
| Total assets less current liabilites | 139597.65 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due after more then one year | 0.00 | |
| Net asssets | 139597.65 | |
| Funds | ||
| Restricted funds | 125314.47 | |
| Unrestricted funds | 13139.63 | |
| Designated funds | 0.00 | |
| General funds | 0.00 | |
| Total charity funds | 138454.10 | |
| The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to entities. Subject to the charities regime. Approved by the Trustees on 27 Oct 2023 (previsional date) |
||
| Helena Craig, Chair of Trustees HELENA CRAIG |
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| Black2Nature | Black2Nature | Black2Nature | Black2Nature | Black2Nature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidated statement of financial activities | ||||
| 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 | ||||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Designated | Period Total | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Income and endowments from: | ||||
| Donations and legacies | 21209.12 | 193368.70 | 0.00 | 214577.82 |
| Charitable activities | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Other trading activities | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Investment income | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Bank interest | 993.56 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 993.56 |
| Other income | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Foreign exchange gain | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 22202.68 | 193368.70 | 0.00 | 215571.38 |
| Expenditure on: | ||||
| Raising funds | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Cost of generating voluntary income | 550 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 550 |
| Charitable activities - camps/events | 13981.89 | 64347.52 | 0.00 | 78329.41 |
| Charitable activities - general costs | 2662.15 | 105826.06 | 0.00 | 108488.21 |
| Total resources expended | 17194.04 | 170173.58 | 0.00 | 187367.62 |
| Net income/(expenditure) before transfers | 5008.64 | 23195.12 | 0.00 | 28203.76 |
| Transfers between funds | 540 | -540 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Net movement in fund | 4468.64 | 23735.12 | 0.00 | 28203.76 |
| Total funds brought forward | 8615.43 | 102779.42 | 0.00 | 111394.85 |
| Total funds carried forward | 13084.07 | 126514.54 | 0.00 | 139598.61 |
| All the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses than those stated above |
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| Black2Nature | Black2Nature |
|---|---|
| Statement of cash flows | |
| 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 | |
| 31/12/2023 | |
| £ | |
| Net cash provided by operating activities | 0.00 |
| Cash flows from investing activities | |
| Interest | 993.56 |
| Purchase of plant, property and equipment | 0.00 |
| Cash (used in)/provided by investing activities | 993.56 |
| Cash flows from financing activities | 0.00 |
| Drawdown of borrowing facilities | 0.00 |
| Cash provided by financing activities | 0.00 |
| Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year | 18202.80 |
| Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year | 111394.85 |
| Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year | 139597.65 |
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Black2Nature
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BLACK2NATURES APPROACH TO EQUALITIES DATA
Black2Nature understands and supports the collection of Equalities data, especially regarding its trustees, staff, and attendees at its different activities and camps.
Its approach to 'data-led inclusion' means looking at who we are, who has a seat at the table, and whom we are supporting so that we can intentionally and directly take action to readdress the inequities identified. We use our data to inform our decision-making processes and the development of inclusion strategies
When collecting this data we had to be aware and be sensitive to the fact that we had to maintain people's anonymity.
Trustee/staff - The data we collected was:-
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Ethnicity
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Age
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Disability
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Gender
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Sexual Orientation Faith
We have not published our date for staff as we have only one staff member and so do not want their personal date identified.
Attendees - The data we collected was:-
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Ethnicity Age Gender
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Faith
We collect data to ensure we engage all VME communities. We plan to review whether locations can be collected easily, so that we can identify which wards attendees live.
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TRUSTEES - EQUALITIES DATA
| How would you describe your sexual orientation | How would you describe your sexual orientation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bisexual | 0 | ||
| Heterosexual / straight | 4 | ||
| Gay man | 0 | ||
| Gay woman/lesbian | 0 | ||
| Prefer not to say | 2 |
| Faith | Faith |
|---|---|
| Muslim | 3 |
| Christian | 2 |
| Prefer not to say | 1 |
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TRUSTEES - EQUALITIES DATA
| Gender | Gender |
|---|---|
| Female | 3 |
| Male | 3 |
| Non binary | 0 |
| Age group | Age group |
|---|---|
| 19 - 34 | 0 |
| 35 - 49 | 3 |
| 50 - 64 | 3 |
| 65+ | 0 |
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TRUSTEES - EQUALITIES DATA
| How would you describe your ethnic origin? | How would you describe your ethnic origin? |
|---|---|
| Asian/Asian British Bangladeshi | 2 |
| Asian/Asian British Pakistani | 1 |
| Black/Black British Caribbean | 2 |
| Dual Heritage - Mixed | 1 |
| Any other ethnic group | 0 |
| Do you have a disability? | Do you have a disability? |
|---|---|
| Non-disabled | 3 |
| Disabled | 2 |
| Prefer not to say | 1 |
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ATTENDEES - EQUALITIES DATA
In total 21,344 young people and adults attended events, camps and activities through out 2023 with Black2Nature and Mya-Rose.
| Ethnic Origin of attendees | |
|---|---|
| Pakistan | Sudan |
| Indian | White/Black African |
| Jamaica | White/Black Caribbean |
| Bangladesh | Algeria |
| Sierra Leone | China |
| Iran | White British |
| White/Asian | Poland |
| Somalia | Chad |
| Nigeria | Ghana |
| Georgia | Guyana |
| Afghanistan | Morocco |
| Turkey | Barbados |
| Syria | Trinidad |
| Brazil | Iran |
| Mixed/Spain | Other mixed/multiple Ethnic Backgrounds |
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ATTENDEES - EQUALITIES DATA
| ATTENDEES - | EQUALITIES |
|---|---|
| Age of attendees | Number of attendees |
| Under 8 years | 46 |
| Child - 8 - 12 years | 10238 |
| Child - 13 - 18 years | 5678 |
| Adult - 18+ years | 5382 |
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Faith of attendees Christian Muslim Sikh Buddhist Jewish Hindu Black Church No Religion
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT - DATA
DATA |
|
|---|---|
| Public Engagement | Members of the public |
| Social Media | 174,573,500 |
| Direct community contacts | 7600 |
| 35000 | |
| 50,000 | |
| Telephone | 8000 |
| Mya-Rose events & articles | 550,000 |
| Mya-Rose social media reach | 488,700,000 |
| Reach | Total number of reach |
| Direct through Events | 21344 |
| Feeding Bristol | 3500 |
| Laptop Project | 250 |
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FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
Dr Mya-Rosa Craig, President D.Sc. h.c. Honorary position) https://www.birdgirluk.com
Dr Mya-Rose is a 22 year old British-Bangladeshi birder and environmentalist. She founded Black2Nature when she was 13 years old in 2015 and is President. She is committed to stopping biodiversity loss and saving our planet through halting climate change, whilst respecting indigenous peoples and highlighting Global Climate Justice.
Mya-Rose started campaigning when she was 8 years old after meeting indigenous peoples in the Amazon and hearing what was happening to them.
Mya-Rose started the UK movement to engage VME people with nature and to make the nature, conservation and environmental sectors ethnically diverse and is incredibly vocal and fearless. She keeps a post-it labelled ”Disrupt” on her laptop as a reminder of the work she is needed to do. As a result she sees many attempts from these sectors to circumnavigate her by choosing to work with VME people who give the responses that they are looking for. Want to know more? Just ask!
She writes a blog, Birdgirl, which has had 7 million views, give talks, shared a stage speaking with Emma Watson, Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, writes articles, she also appeared on TV, Podcast and other media.
She became the youngest British person to be awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science at age 17 for fighting for equal access to nature and ethnic diversity in the environmental sector. In September 2020 she also did the most northerly youth strike in the Arctic with Greenpeace.
She is studying in her third year at St John’s College, Cambridge University studying Human Social and, Political Sciences.
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TRUSTEES
Helena Craig, Chair of the Board
Helena was a qualified Solicitor, working in a Solicitor’ firms for 20 years of which she was a partner for 10 years, running a large personal injury department of up to 150 people. The firm was in the top ten private and a top 3 injury department in Bristol.
She also has 40 years of experience fighting racism, being on the Bristol Law Society Race Equality Committee, the Support Against Racist Incidents Management Committee and taking my firm from being almost all White to my department being 30% VME and introducing Focussed Training Contracts which allowed VME graduates to qualify as solicitors.
Since 2010 she has spent her spare time birding and being out in nature, supporting her daughter Mya-Rose Craig (Birdgirl) in her conservation and diversity projects including Black2Nature, Race Equality in Nature Conferences, nature camps for Visible Minority Ethnic young people in 2015 to 2017 (Camp Chew & Camp Avalon). She has helped Mya-Rose in her campaign to make the environmental sector ethnically diverse and fighting for our planet and has taken up these campaigns in her own right and that of Black2Nature since 2015, such as speaking at conferences, on panels and podcasts. She also helps Mya-Rose with organisational support and giving advice in relationship management when needed especially where this crosses over with Black2Nature work.
She has been interested in equality, diversity and inclusion since her teens, being on the Bristol Law Society Race Equality Team, Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) Management Committee and succeeding in making her law firm ethnically diverse. She previously did lots of pro bono helping VME to file grievances for racism.
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Jackie Davis, Trustee
Jackie qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and specialised in Employment Law. She went onto gain experience working in both private practice and inhouse. Jacqueline spent some time working as a Human Resource Consultant travelling throughout the UK advising SME employees on a wide range of issues including redundancy, TUPE, disciplinary and grievance procedures, maternity issues..
In 2010 Jacqueline took a year out to attend a theological college. This was followed by her undertaking training which resulted in her becoming an ordained minister in 2015. Jackie served on the leadership team of one of the largest churches in Bristol offering pastoral care, managing volunteers and teams and developing community and family support programs. Today Jackie is a self employed property consultant.
Jackie is also a Director of Bristol Green Capital Partnership which was formed to bring together now 800 organisations to carry forward the positive legacy of the European Bristol Green Capital Year 2015.
Sonia Morison, Trustee
Sonia has worked in Solicitors firms for 25 years and has been a Fellow of the Legal Executives for over 20 years. previous role involved management which allowed her to develop a good knowledge of HR issues and of carrying out risk assessments.
She currently works for a Solicitors firm as an internal auditor, supporting the business with regards to governance risk and regulatory compliance.
She is also very well connected in Bristol to those working in race and VME communities, and has a good understanding of the issues impacting those communities.
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Alex Chikhani, Trustee
Alex is very experienced in achieving goals and managing stakeholders. He thrives from working under pressure to dependably achieve results through creative and innovative solutions - always delivering on, cost and quality, a former Military Officer, an experienced SME Director, a Chartered Manager, and Fellow of the CMI, with an MBA from Cranfield University.
Confident, articulate and innovative business leader with a broad scope of roles gained predominantly in the defence, technology, telecommunications, finance, and charitable sectors. He is highly skilled in problem solving, and brings his can-do attitude to any organisation or task; Experienced in Strategy, P3M, technologyfocused business, operational management, and senior leadership positions. Strong ability to form effective relationships with teams and individuals in order to achieve.
Afzal Shah, Trustee
Afzal is a well known community leader an activist. He is a former Councillor for Easton, and Former Cabinet Member for Climate, Ecology, and Sustainable Growth at Bristol City Council. Afzal is extensively involved in communities within Bristol especially VME communities within central Bristol and has strong links with funders and community and environmental organisations.
Syed Murshid Ahmed, Trustee
Murshid is a part qualified ACCA accountant and has been working within finance in the voluntary sector for over 10 years. He is an active member of Bristol’s VME communities, being involved in helping making their lives better.
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STAFF
A yesha Ahmed-Mendoza - Project Manager (Camps & Events)
Ayesha is a birder, naturalist, conservationist and environmentalist. She spent her childhood watching birds, became the youngest person to see the landmark 400 birds in the UK age 12.
In January 2015 Ayesha started volunteering with Camp Avalon, being responsible for the young attendees, their behaviour, safety, risk management, nature activities as well as assisting in organising the Race Equality in Nature Conferences in 2016 and 2019.
From 2017 Ayesha has been working for Black2Nature being responsible for and running its nature camps, events and activities, risk management, social media, fundraising projects, marketing and educational talks especially in schools. Ayesha is focussing on learning new skills to improve events organisation, recruiting attendees and volunteers, working with and developing links from VME Communities and environmental organisations.
Ayesha developed her management skills working as assistant pub managers and a restaurant manager. She also has experience working as an admin assistant in a law firm and managing her cleaning company.
Between 2005 and 2008 she volunteered with Time To Change working with a 14 year boy with physical disabilities to give his family a weekly break. Following this she worked in a primary school as a lunchtime assistant for a year. Whilst in this position, she raised concern about the safeguarding of various children.
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Lily Khandker - Senior Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and Community Engagement Manager
Lily has accumulated 30 years of experience working in senior Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) roles and project management within both the public and voluntary sectors. She has held EDI positions at Bristol City Council, including the Corporate Equlities Team and Adult Social Care, the NHS, Wiltshire Police, and the Avon and Somerset Police Commissioner's Office.
Additionally, she has worked as a freelance consultant, providing EDI consultancy and training to organizations such as the Government Office of the South West and NHS teams. Lily holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Management Studies (DMS).
She managed the Bristol City Council team that achieved Beacon Status for Promoting Racial Equality. As the Senior Project Manager of the Europeanfunded 3E Houses Project, she successfully linked Bristol with Spain, Germany, and Bulgaria, aiming to help council tenants reduce their consumption by 20% in a year. This project's success contributed to Bristol being awarded the European Green Capital in 2015.
As EDI Manager for Wiltshire Police she was responsible for developing its Single Equality Scheme and Action Plan and Equalities Standard in Policing. She often represented the force at regional and National meetings and events. During her time as the Principal Equality and Inclusion Officer at Bristol City Council, Lily managed various Equality Forums and established the Bristol MultiFaith Forum. She secured funding for the forum and later joined as its Development Officer, gaining exceptional knowledge of various VME (visible minority ethnic) communities and faiths in Bristol.
Lily recognizes the importance of adapting her approach to diverse social, cultural, and educational backgrounds and needs when developing and maintaining successful relationships. Passionate about leading change, pushing boundaries, and addressing social inequality, she collaborates with public, third, and business sectors.