London Sport commits to being an anti-racist organisation and tackling inequality

On Tuesday, London Sport joined Active Partnerships across England in committing to being an anti-racist organisation and tackling inequality. Today CEO Tove Okunniwa shares her reflections on our #RacialEqualityCommitment.

As CEO I am extremely proud of London Sport and the powerful work that we do; however, we know there is always more we can do to as we strive to make London the most physically active city in the world.

Which is why, in the 12 months since George Floyd’s murder in the US, we’ve been working closely with Active Partnerships across England to do more to address racism and racial inequality.

An important milestone, and recognising this is the beginning of the journey, is to publicly commit to being an anti-racist organisation and to proactively tackle the racial inequalities in our sector in London.

Such inequalities prevent or discourage people from leading active lives and enjoying the benefits of sport and physical activity whether as participants or volunteers. They must not continue.

You can read more on the work being done by Active Partnerships up and down the country, and the six key focuses of our Racial Equality Commitment, here.

Meanwhile at London Sport our anti-racism efforts continue apace through approach to recruitment , our Tackling Inequalities funding and our digital behaviour change work.

Our Director of Finance, People and Governance, Susan Hutton, outlines here why we’re working to better level the playing field and ensure our organisation is reflective of the city it serves.

Second, our Tackling Inequalities funding continues to focus on those worst affected by the pandemic and often these are London’s ethnically diverse communities.

There is no shortage of data to back this up. Sport England data pre-pandemic shows 57.7% of Black people were active, completing the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity a day.

The most recent data (Nov 19-20) shows that figure has dropped to 53.3%. This is a significantly bigger drop than the percentage of White British who are active which fell from 64.6% to 63.3%.

Such figures are stark. The worrying inactivity figures, in part, led us to partner with Sport England and Our Parks to help create the Couch to Fitness, specifically for a diverse audience.

The digital marketing campaign we ran to support the programme's promotion reached more than 800,000 Londoners with 50% of active users from ethnically diverse communities.

Supported by National Lottery Funding, the nine-week home exercise plan for beginners gave extra support and motivation for those looking to get active.

The programme has no jumping exercises to minimise disruption for those in flats and shorter, bitesize sessions for those worried about the cost of streaming longer classes.

Such projects are incredibly important if we’re to tackle racial inequalities and they are just the start. Being an anti-racist organisation must, and will, be embedded in everything we do.