Awardees
Our cherished thanks go to the incredible awardees that have been part of RRJ
Many we got to know very intimately and some we didn’t get to know as closely amidst the changing and stressful pandemic we are navigating.
Our awardees, as you will see, span a vast arena of racial justice work. They range from political interventions, community organising, resisting state violence, arts, health, food provisions, education, culture and providing direct support to frontline communities.
We see, in the varied breadth of work, that there are many leverage points and strategies needed for how porous racial injustice is and how multifaceted our strategies must be to overturn it.
Please take a moment to learn about our peers in racial justice; they deserve to be amplified, uplifted and invested in, alongside the approximately 1,400 other applicants that we were unable to resource that are out there doing great work.
These profiles were submitted at the initial stage of the award. Please look up their work for updated bios and to learn more about these incredible organisations, collectives and individuals.
Note that we are unable to profile all awardees here due to safeguarding issues around visibility.
Supporting Individual Awards
- A British Nigerian artist, director and writer born and based in London, their films deal with power, urbanism and stance.
- Kay runs the S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project to challenge the stereotypes of Black teenagers. The project challenges institutions and political discourse in the media that target young boys.
- Doctor Jennifer runs ChatHerBox with Doctor Remi Mogekwu, two Black female doctors in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. ChatHerBox (now known as Neara Health) supports Black women to make informed choices about their care and move away from medical paternalism.
- Amanda Smith is the Founder and Director of Maternity Engagement Action (MEA) CIC, an organisation dedicated to empowering the pregnancy, birth, and postnatal experiences of Black African, Caribbean and Mixed Heritage women. MEA supports the wellbeing of Black women during the perinatal phase so they can experience better maternal outcomes.
- Prema is a community builder and a mind body health advocate, passionate about living an authentic life through wholistic teachings. Hosting gatherings and events for young girls and women.
- Audrey is a young photographer and artist whose research-led practice focuses around the themes of forced displacement, migration, memories, identity, community and culture.
- Miranda is a writer who will turn her doctoral research with Black single mothers into a socio- political non-fiction book for the general reader. It will speak back to racist and misogynist claims about the single mothering of Black women.
- Diana is an academic and activist focusing on challenging structural and systemic racial inequalities through postcolonial, feminist and intersectional approaches that involves collaborating with and co-producing works with communities outside the academy in relation to racial justice.
- Ishah has a background in the violence against women and girls and migrants rights sector. After 19 years of working as a practitioner and campaigner, she recognised the need to step away from frontline trauma work. Reflecting on her experiences, Ishah realised that transformative spaces were needed where Women of Colour (WOC) could come together and heal from collective trauma.
- Angelica is an anti-racist writer, researcher, educator and organiser whose work looks at the intersection of racial and disability justice, and the role schools and education play in reproducing injustice. Angelica is the founding director of Embracing Difference, which amplifies Black and neurodivergent voices.
- Christine is an artist, producer and researcher who is highly committed to their own healing and the healing of others in their community through movement, sound and more.
Emergency and Recovery Awards
- A multi-award-winning Scotland-based platform dedicated to supporting Black and Brown people/People of Colour at arts festivals, as artists, workers and audience members.
- A community group of refugees and asylum seekers which offers mutual emotional and mental health support to fight against racism and homophobia. They also offer support to overcome barriers in their asylum cases.
- Mentek FoundationMentek is dedicated to meeting the needs of those with mental health and substance misuse needs from Black and ethnic communities. Mentek aims to provide integrated support for Users and Care in community settings.
- A support group that aims to provide practical and emotional support to lesbian and bisexual women based in Greater Manchester, who are either seeking asylum in the UK, or who are refugees.
- An Edinburgh-based charity, working towards addressing the root causes of racial and refugee homelessness through transitional accommodation, education and job training.
- A charity that supports the refugee community from French-speaking Central Africa living in West Midlands, through mental health support as well as youth and education activities.
- A mental health charity and resource service set up to offer support and advice in emotional and practical matters, primarily for BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority, Ethnic and Refugees) communities across Merseyside.
- An artist-led and run platform that aims to provide an open platform for discussion around what it means to be British, led by women and non-binary people of colour.
- A social enterprise which aims to support Bristol’s underrepresented young people aged 16-30 to affect wider social change through the arts.
- A charity that works with the Congolese community and other local BAME groups in Manchester to enable them to reconnect and build their lives to achieve their full potential as well as contribute to their local community.
- A charity set up to provide practical support to BAME women and girls affected by poverty, domestic violence and isolation in Bury, Greater Manchester.
- A charity based in Merseyside that provides support to people living with HIV. They support people experiencing multiple forms of marginalisation in the BAME and refugee community as well as asylum seekers amongst others.
- A migrant-led Latinx feminist collective based in London that set up Apoyo Comunitario Sur de Londres COVID19 to respond to the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 crisis on migrant communities.
- A Roma-led charity based in Glasgow that creates opportunities for the Roma musicians to showcase their talent and cultural heritage in the locality, especially given how this has historically been appropriated.
- A collective of radical filmmakers, based in London, who focus on race and class and resistance, particularly in light of how mainstream media can ignore and distort the experiences of racialised communities.
- A Northern Ireland-based charity that provides culturally sensitive counselling support to clients from the BAME community. They provide free one-to-one counselling services to improve the emotional, physical, mental health and well-being of their clients in a safe and secure environment.
- A sanctuary-residential, critical learning resource centre, and community hub for individuals, community groups and organisations seeking to find ways to radically work together to combat the sources and effects of inequality, racism, poverty, discrimination and oppression.
- Croydon Refugee CentreA community resource centre that offers support to refugee and BME communities to address social issues such as poor health, homelessness, family breakdown and youth, as well as support with numeracy and literacy.
- Bristol’s first and multi-award winning community radio station, which uses a mix of talk and music shows to inform, educate and entertain diverse and under-represented target audiences, 24 hours a day in multiple different languages, including Somali, Arabic and Spanish.
- A London-based education and support group calling for justice and rights for Britain’s 16,000 migrant domestic workers (MDWs). Their work seeks to end discrimination and protect MDWs living in the UK by campaigning and providing education, training, healthcare and legal advice.
- A community Nepali organisation based in Nottingham and working all over the East Midlands, to preserve and promote Nepalese culture and values through festivals and Nepalese language and cultural exchange programs. They also offer sports and physical and mental health programs as well as employment support.
- A charity that works with migrant and ethnic groups, and Latin Americans in particular, to increase participation, inclusion and engagement in processes of urban change in London. This is achieved by responding to urban policy frameworks supporting migrant and ethnic economies in London, supporting existing migrant and ethnic businesses in the context of broader processes of regeneration and increasing awareness of displacement of BAME in processes of urban change.
- A social enterprise that supports and champions Black Women and Women of Colour writers based in London, by providing the tools, space and confidence they need to achieve their writing goals. REWRITE encourages women to develop their full potential through dynamic and evolving courses.
- An anti-racist think-tank, publishing house and resource centre for all those striving for racial justice. They carry out investigations, analysis and research projects, based around case studies, centring the needs of social justice movements and the most vulnerable in society.
- A community space for the homeless and those in desperate need, Brixton Soup Kitchen (BSK) empowers Londoners to work together to prevent and relieve poverty and social exclusion. BSK provides mental health support, employment, housing and legal advice with Lawyers in the Soup Kitchen, using food as a facilitator to reach those most in need.
- A one-to-one service that has supported Somali individuals facing serious mental health issues for over twenty-five years. They are the bridge between the Somali community in Sheffield and the mainstream NHS services and other agencies.
- An asylum seeker, refugee and migrant-led organisation looking to set up the first UK destitution housing project run by and for people with lived experience of destitution/the asylum system.
- An educational platform centred around providing support and guidance for young Black students experiencing racial injustice in education. Their primary aim is to provide a safe space for Black students aged 11-18 to share their stories of racial prejudice within educational institutions.
- A grassroots group founded and led by people with lived experience of immigration and asylum. Formed in 2014, MiSol was set up as a convergence space for all migrants and people seeking asylum to build a powerful political voice against the systematic mistreatment of migrants in the UK.
Long Term Structural Change Awards
- An anti-racist, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) led organisation working with Black, Asian, ethnic minority and migrant communities across Greater Manchester. They collect intersectional archives that document how systematic, institutional and interpersonal racism affect Black, Asian, ethnic minority and migrant people and communities, as well as their broader experiences.
- An abolitionist grassroots coalition movement in education, for a system that works for all. Their mission is to bring about an end to the persistent race-disparities in school exclusions in the next five years and to affect change at legal, policy, practice and cultural level in education and society as a whole over the next ten years.
- A grassroots land justice collective, committed to securing land for communities of colour. Their work transforms narratives around British land, making ownership inequalities visible and linked to systemic oppression. They hold workshops and events to strategise, network-build and document their activities through writing, photography and video.
- A Scotland-wide organisation led by and for migrant, Black and minoritised womxn, that supports and campaigns for providing services and shelter for destitute asylum seekers and women with no recourse to public funds who are survivors of violence. Their work has been developed through an intersectional, anti-racist and No Borders ethos and lens.
- A collective of queer abolitionist and anti-border activists and organisers of East and Southeast Asian descent, primarily working in the arts and political education in order to build solidarity with migrant communities and across anti-racist struggles.
- A CIC that offers free therapeutic support for women and families around child loss and miscarriage within diverse communities.
- A member-led youth organisation empowering young people and communities to fight for justice, peace and freedom. 4Front supports members with experiences of violence and the criminal justice system to create change; in their own lives, communities and society.
Crowdfunder Awardees
- Colorintech looks to address how systemic racism manifest in tech by increasing the number ethnic minorities entering the UK tech workforce and to make Europe the most inclusive tech hub in the world. They do this by building programs that create access to some of the world’s most innovative companies for ethnic minorities.
- CAHN is a Black-led organisation set up to address the wider social determinants to reduce health inequalities for people of Caribbean & African heritage in Greater Manchester and beyond. We work with the Black community and cross-sector organisations to build community resilience, relationships and a social movement to reduce health inequalities.
- Sex and Rage is a collective led by sex workers, activists and educators based in London. We work to resist stigma and shame as root causes of gender-based and sexual violence, particularly for BAME communities and sexual minorities.
- UK Pivot wants to influence the narrative and help to make Northern Ireland more inclusive for all races by using modern tools of communication and sharing to engage in dialogue which highlights and celebrates our differences and similarities as we believe that this fosters greater community cohesion and racial equality.
- Black + youth-led social enterprise restaurant + business programme for young people w/ experience of youth violence. delivering programmes + food security.
- Brighton and Hove Black Women’s GroupBrighton and Hove Black Women’s Group (B&HBWG) was established in 1987 as a self-help group with members across Sussex to ensure Black women’s needs are heard and met.
- An Artistic Activist working to address structural and systemic oppression within the community. I am also an experienced Counsellor, Counselling Supervisor, Playwright, Actor, Poet and Therapeutic Theatre Practitioner.