Our commitment to promoting equity, equality, diversity and inclusion
The RYPS team takes an intersectional approach to its work with young people, and central to that is each of us understanding our own positions and privilege. Our ability to understand people’s lived experience of racism, oppression, prejudice, and discrimination, can be influenced by our own lived experiences and we share some but not all of the experiences of others.
We want to be accountable for our work, and we are actively working to ensure that what we do seeks to challenge oppression at a systemic level, rather than reinforcing it. We are committed to taking action that confronts oppression and our team have developed a live EEDI action plan where we will continually add new growth goals in our anti-oppression work.
Young people in need of support will come from various backgrounds and have various intersecting identities such as Race, Ethnicity, Age, Disability, Gender identity, Religion or Beliefs, Sex, Sexual orientation and Class. It is vital that practitioners proactively seek to understand the diverse characteristics of each young person in order to offer appropriate responses to their needs within every element of the work that Respect young peoples’ service have developed.
Our vision is that each young person gets the most from the work that RYPS have developed and that our work is accessible to all. Our goal is to ensure that young people with diverse identities can engage in a way that accounts for their needs and positively impacts their relationships. We want them to trust that they will not only be welcomed but will be supported in a way that recognises and celebrates their individuality and identity.
We will consistently seek to proactively challenge oppression and unfair treatment and strive to set an example for what good looks like for all those we interact with.
As with all of our work, we are seeking to do better by refining this manual. Please do get in touch if you have any thoughts and recommendations. yps@respect.org.uk