Liverpool City Region's £3.2m fund targets racial inequality

A £3.2m fund for tackling racial inequality in Liverpool City Region will help "level the playing field", the area's mayor has said.

Steve Rotheram said it would fund "practical, proactive and positive action" and help "overcome bigotry".

It will see a hub aimed at removing labour market "barriers" set up and 22,000 council staff given training.

Earl Jenkins, who runs Liverpool's "most diverse football club", said the fund was the "right thing to do".

A spokesman for the mayor said the "Race Equality Hub", which was part of a programme set up in the region in response to the Black Lives Matter protests on 2020, would "target inequalities in employment" and provide training, employment support and business assistance for people from black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

It will also see all the region's local government staff receive race equality training.

He said the negative economic and social effects of race inequality were "significant" and addressing inequalities "could add around £300m to the Liverpool City Region economy each year".

Referencing the recent abuse faced by England footballers, Mr Rotheram said that "we've all seen in the past few weeks... that there is still a lot of work to be done to tackle racial inequality in this country".

"In the Liverpool City Region, we're trying to lead the way," he added.

"We are taking practical, proactive and positive action to level the playing field and overcome bigotry and discrimination."

Mr Jenkins, the chairman of Kingsley United FC, said the region's young people "have so much promise, but have had no arena to showcase their talent forcing them to move outside the city region for a career".

"Finally, we can now show the strength of our business case for inclusion and slam the doors on previous injustice within local employment," he said.

"This is the right thing to do morally and financially for our wonderful, multicultural city region."

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