Organisations Across Leeds United in Pledge to Root Out Racism.

Joining Councillor James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council and Tom Riordan, the Council’s chief executive and the chair of Leeds Health and Care Partnership Executive Group, are over 40 organisations and civic leaders in support of the movement.

Organisations and individuals across Leeds are also encouraged to get involved with the Root Out Racism movement and are encouraged to show their support online, by using #WYHRootOutRacism and resharing their own personal pledges.

Prior to the launch of the movement, Cllr Jonathan Pryor, Deputy Leader of Council and Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education, said: “I welcome the widespread support across Leeds for such an important movement. We all have an important role to play to ensure racism has no place in our city or society. This message serves as important reminder to us all of the hard work needed to ensure we create a fairer and more equal city for us all.”

Leaders from across Leeds have come together, to issue a joint statement to express their commitment to work together to Root Out Racism and their joint commitment to the movement moving forward.

The Pledge:

“As leaders in Leeds, we pledge to work together to Root Out Racism in all its forms across our organisations and our city. Eradicating racism is everybody’s business and we all have a role to play in challenging racism wherever we find it.

Leeds is richly diverse and multicultural city, something that we all consider to be one of our key strengths. We are proud of our fantastic individuals, communities and organisations that work tirelessly to create a fairer city for everybody and will continue to support and work with them.

We are committed to building a city in which everyone feels safe, valued and that they belong.  At the core of this commitment, is that we stand up to racism in all its forms. While we are proud of the progress we have made across Leeds, we recognise that racism and discrimination still exist and that there is more work to be done.

We are committed to having the challenging conversations about how we can do more to eradicate racism and discrimination and to support those who have experienced it.

Together we will ensure that racism has no place in Leeds.”

Signed by:

Cllr James Lewis, Leader, Leeds City Council

Cllr Jonathan Pryor, Deputy Leader, Leeds City Council

Tom Riordan, CEO, Leeds City Council and Chair Leeds Health and Care PEG

Dr Sara Munro, CEO, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Jenny Lewis, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Tracy Brabin, Mayor, West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Tim Ryley, CEO, NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group

Jim Barwick, CEO, Leeds GP Confederation

Hannah Davies, CEO, Healthwatch Leeds

Heather Nelson, CEO, Black Health Initiative

Dr Liz Mear, Managing Director, Leeds Academic Health Partnership

Pip Goff and Linda Glew, Forum Central

Simon Phillips and Rasool Bhamani, Co-Chairs, Leeds Faith Forum

Nik Peasgood, CEO, Leeds Women's Aid

Chris Hollins, Chair, Third Sector Leeds/Voluntary Action Leeds

Richard Jackson, CEO, Voluntary Action Leeds