Sabena Yaduma Ogundele’s Post

Hope & Courage Collective (H&CC) is an independent national organisation supporting communities and a broader ecosystem in Ireland working for safe, inclusive, caring and resilient communities, workplaces, institutions and democracy. Their unique focus is to counter far right hate and be a catalyst that inspires and builds confidence to strategically stand against hate and disinformation. H&CC's model is recognised as best practice—locally, nationally and across the EU—with the capacity to put algorithms and social media companies in the spotlight. Last year, H&CC supported over 45 communities and trained over 1,100 community and youth workers and volunteers to use their groundbreaking narrative research: https://lnkd.in/euHTeBhD Learn more about H&CC at hopeandcourage.ie and in the carousel below.

It's that simple.

True progress in child and family well-being requires collective effort. No single organization, policy, or program can address the complex challenges families face today. It’s when agencies, community groups, advocates, and families themselves work hand-in-hand that we create pathways to lasting change. When we engage as true partners—listening, learning, and building on each other’s strengths—we amplify our impact. I’ve committed my work to fostering this collaboration so that every child and family has the opportunity to thrive together. Let’s focus on breaking silos and building bridges.

Has been my December highlight (at work!), to sit down with reps from the National Policing Race Action plan yesterday. Thanks for the invite Rebecca Tipping! It’s probably not had as much visibility locally, but Cambridgeshire Constabulary has been quietly getting on with a number of cutting-edge initiatives to address disparity: co-producing approaches with local communities most affected by inequalities, working intensively on internal culture and incrementally putting in place meaningful structural changes to change trends (discrimination, hate crime reporting, use of force, diverse recruitment and more). This organisation does co-production at a greater scale and more consistently than you might expect, through scrutiny groups, the IAG, advisory groups and other community-led co-productive spaces. Having been away, things have changed a bit and many organisations are doing much more, but I see them as a local leader in terms of citizen involvement Impressed by the leadership of Rebecca Tipping, Neil Billany, John Massey and others in this space Has been fab to spearhead the Let’s talk race approach with neighbourhood officers (and to see the measurable impact on cultural awareness levels), to help to expand the reach of positive action work and to broker elements of new co-productive initiatives /spaces during the development stages. Very kind words from partners at the meeting. Great to discuss opportunities to share the learning from one specific project more broadly. Let’s see where it goes… Also huge credit to Ian Lombardo Caitlin Bones Oliver Warsop Price Awuah

Register now for the upcoming webinar on the role of policy in cultivating more welcoming communities:

PolicyWise for Children & Families is sharing resources to empower the social-serving community. Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI)'s Toolkit shares lessons learned from a roundtable discussion on organizational responses to social justice issues with the Region of Peel, Hyundai Auto Canada Corp., and Deloitte. Learn more at: https://bit.ly/3VSZl7i

Ideally, community researchers don't simply talk to people and write reports, like when we talked to AAPI community leaders about how they help people fight anti-Asian hate: https://lnkd.in/gyCk7-T7 Building evidence is of course critical, as is raising awareness. But in this project we were also able to create a toolkit, based on these lessons, that can hopefully directly benefit community members. And that's what it's all about—moving from evidence to practice.

It's National Reconciliation Week, and now more than ever we need to open (or re-open), and nourish connections between First Nations Peoples and multicultural communities. Roads to Reconciliation: Activating Multicultural Communities are exactly one of the innovative and impactful programs that does this

This insightful video highlights the work of individuals who coordinate or participate in state-level lived experience advisory councils. This resource offers a comprehensive overview of best practices in: ✅ Recruitment ✅ Retention ✅ Compensation ✅ Co-leadership approaches It’s a must-watch for anyone interested in leveraging lived experience to shape policy and practice. 💬 I would love to hear your thoughts! Check it out and let me know how these strategies resonate with you.

ICYMI: We celebrated Juneteenth with a conversation on Black Men's Health with Collin Mays and LaRon Evans, MS, MHC, LLPC who highlighted our YMCA's Boys & Young Men of Color Strategy! Watch. Share. Discuss.