Crawley Town Community Foundation marks Black History Month​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Foundation’s Premier League Primary Stars coordinator Liam Joyce visited Northgate Primary and the Bewbush Academy to give No Room for Racism, anti-discrimination and education activation workshops throughout October.

The Premier League initiative aims to educate young students about diversity and inclusion with high profile footballers featuring in the programme.

Joyce said: “We used a case study of Manchester City and Lioness player Demi Stokes which was about her journey, background and what she has experienced to share with the the pupils; to then look at their own environments of diversity, culture and heritage.

”This was important because in Crawley we have such a diverse community and so many children can relate to Demi Stokes in so many ways so it allowed us to empower, share, celebrate and embrace everyone – culture race, language and religion.

”For me it’s about empowering and being proud whatever the race, religion of your background. We discussed how you can be and ally, how to show solidarity and how we can take a stand.”

The programme has reached over 300 children in Crawley and Joyce hopes that it will be the impetus to do more: “We are not celebrating for a month, but including in all our PSHE delivery and look to engage with more schools.

"It has made us reflect and want to create more empowering content as a club and a foundation for our communities.”

The Foundation is also revamping its flagship Broadfield Extra Time Hub session this month with a special relaunch on November 11 at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium.

The session runs 11.30am-1.30pm and is an opportunity to get Crawley’s older community active and engaged in a social space.

There will be a programme of jewellery making and table tennis tournaments with card making, quizzes and choirs throughout a special Christmas-themed December.

The town centre’s County Mall has donated a £100 raffle prize for the day which will include Foundation partners coming to talk with participants about what there is on offer for the community.

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