Samina Ansari: Building anti-racist workplaces starts with honest conversations

Last week, PATH (Scotland) and CEMVO Scotland co-hosted an online workshop, Promoting Anti-Racism in Scotland’s Social Housing Sector. Over 20 professionals joined us from across the country, from frontline housing officers to managers and HR staff, all keen to deepen their understanding and reflect on what it means to embed anti racism in their workplaces.

The timing couldn’t have been more relevant. We met at the start of Black History Month, a time that calls us to both celebrate contributions and confront ongoing inequalities. It also comes at a moment when the UK’s anti migrant and anti-refugee climate feels more emboldened than ever, making it even more vital that we create spaces to talk honestly about belonging, equity and the responsibility of organisations like ours to lead with courage.

The workshop offered time for reflection and for learning, sharing definitions around anti racism, intersectionality, microaggressions, and privilege.  Together, we explored case studies drawn from real experiences in the sector, moments that challenged participants to think about how bias, policy and culture intersect in everyday practice.

One participant captured it powerfully:

“The session offered opportunity to improve understanding around anti-racism rhetoric with good signposting to access a wide range of information and support, some of which I didn’t know was there or might not have considered. Going forward, the information shared today will inform my practice in promoting an anti racist culture and allow me to create increased opportunity to do this in my workplace.”

Others shared:

“It highlighted for me how useful data can and could be when calling out racism.”

“Extremely interesting and well-facilitated session with good opportunity for interaction.”

These reflections matter. They show that the will to act exists across our sector; what’s needed now is support and leadership to translate that will into change.

The partnership with CEMVO Scotland’s ongoing commitment has been instrumental in making this conversation possible. Working alongside them has reaffirmed that anti racism isn’t a one-off session; it’s a continuous practice of learning, unlearning and accountability.

We’ll hopefully be running another workshop later this year, open again to housing professionals across Scotland. The session is free to attend, and we’re also keen to work directly with housing associations and local authorities that want to strengthen their own equity, diversity, inclusion and anti racism efforts.

If you’d like to attend a future session or explore how we might collaborate, please get in touch at info@pathscotland.org.uk.

Change comes from people, and when those of us in this sector use our positions to challenge inequity and build cultures of belonging, we move closer to a society where everyone can thrive.