In the second of our ‘Spotlight On’ series, Wendy Kewley meets Lauren Wyllie, Project Coordinator for Cheltenham-based charity Lives of Colour.
Founded by Florence Nyasamo in 2018, Lives of Colour aims to elevate the voices of marginalised communities by promoting values of equity, equality and inclusion throughout the county. This way it develops strategic solutions through education, events and training partnerships and is firmly embedded within the Cheltenham community.
With four staff including Florence – and 12 projects on the go – Lives of Colour punches well above its weight, all by creating partnerships to ensure that projects are sustainable in the future.
The importance of its work was recognised by the National Lottery’s Community Fund and their funding is enabling Lives of Colour to expand its diversity and inclusion initiatives in Gloucestershire over the next two years. It’s an exhilarating time for the charity.
Lauren, who joined last July, said: “As an organisation, we have a multi-faceted approach, so the community is the most important, but we also work with statutory agencies, so schools, the NHS and the University of Gloucestershire as well.
“We help with the funding and finding people for the project and then promoting it, but the day-to-day running is passed on. Partnerships really help here with that support network and it’s about just helping each other.”
Projects include annual community events such as Culture Fest in Pittville Park, Cheltenham and Black History Month Gloucestershire, both supported by Cheltenham Borough Council with additional backing from engineering companies Spirax Sarco and GE Aviation.
The Young, Leading and Black scheme mentors 12 to 18-year-olds in the county including providing teenagers with work experience opportunities in the local STEM sector. Aimed at younger children, an Authors of Colour book club promotes more diverse literature to local schools – all facilitated by Lives of Colour’s partnership with the School Library Association.
Last year, Lives of Colour secured a high-profile partnership with Cheltenham-based SuperDry to spotlight African textile heritage via a Fabrics of Colour initiative. Participants also learned sewing and pattern techniques with their creations featured in a spectacular fashion show.
However, one of the charity’s most measurable community projects is Swimmers of Colour, a 26-week-long programme in collaboration with SoulCap, Swim Design England, Sport England and Active Gloucestershire.
It was set up initially in response to an Active Lives survey from Sport England in 2020 which found that 95% of black adults and 80% of black children did not participate in swimming activities regularly, compared to 89% of white British adults and 71% of white British children.
Swimmers of Colour was born to empower women and encourage them to be active, as well as giving them a valuable life skill. Many start the programme of 26 lessons with no swimming experience at all, but finish feeling totally at home in the water after supporting each other to learn the new life skill, as well as making new friends in the process.
Lauren said: “Talking to the swimmers, you can hear how much they enjoy it. I love the personal stories – there’s one woman who wanted to learn to swim, so she could take her granddaughter swimming and another who was so excited at now being able to swim with her family on holidays.”
The third programme is about to start in Cheltenham and Gloucester each with the maximum number of 20 participants and, not surprisingly, there is long waiting list for future courses.
A key principle underpinning Lives of Colours’ work is actively involving the local community in the decision-making process on projects.
On this Lauren said: “Don’t expect the community to come to you; you need to go to the community. Be open-minded and willing to learn.”
In January Lives of Colour organised Let’s Speak, an event where local people gave their views on two new projects: an After School Clubs and Mothers of Colour, an initiative to support women during their perinatal journey.
“The feedback was incredible,” reflected Lauren. “We were going through it the other day and the book club came up as something that they wanted as a focus in these After School Clubs.
“We were surprised about this as we didn’t want the clubs to be academic. We’d seen them as more of an empowering, confidence-building group to help reduce the numbers of children being excluded from schools*. As a result, we’ve now altered the programme, included the book clubs and changed it to be how the local community want it.”
The idea for a Mothers of Colour group came after NHS feedback suggested that women of ethnic and diverse backgrounds don’t always ask for maternity support when they might need it. Lives of Colour consulted with Gloucester-based Black Mothers Matter and the women said they loved the idea of the new group.
Lauren said: “It’s about creating a safe space for any woman to come and discuss their health – post-natal depression, etc, and supporting them so that they can look after themselves. And of course it’s about creating friendships within the group.”
Despite their small size, the Lives of Colour team are hugely ambitious. Their ultimate goal is to replicate these projects throughout the county and to support 100,000 residents by 2028.
Speaking about the Swimmers of Colour project, Florence said: “If you dream, it can happen – don’t stop dreaming.” Surely a mantra for everything.
Three tips for creating a successful partnership
- Make sure you have open and honest conversations.
- Try and agree on your views and aims in advance.
- Always be curious and willing to be wrong and to learn from it.
* 2020 exclusion data reported that in Gloucestershire, pupils of black Caribbean heritage are 5.6 times more likely than their white British peers, to face multiple fixed-term exclusions.
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