International Newcastle CIC was proud to be awarded the FSB Diversity and Inclusion Award (North East) at a ceremony in Wynyard Hall last week. Declan Baharini, Chief Executive Officer, accepted the award and met with other regional prize winners, all of whom will be entered into the national FSB awards in May.
I’m proud to be Chair of International Newcastle CIC, a small not for profit organisation, which has developed a powerful partnership, dedicated to widening opportunities and promoting diversity and inclusion for all, but especially for the most disadvantaged and underrepresented groups of children in the city.
We are grateful to the Federation of Small Businesses for this recognition of our work and look forward to continuing and expanding our reach and providing opportunities for even more children and young people in future.
Professor Jon Reast, Chair International Newcastle
It was wonderful for International Newcastle to get recognition from the region’s business community, especially for diversity and inclusion.
We work with many local, regional, national and international partners to provide access to opportunities that schools and the children and families they serve might never be able to access otherwise.
These activities help to widen horizons, broaden perspectives, build aspirations and give children and young people the experience and skills that will impact on their future education, life and career opportunities.
From promoting language skills, to helping schools develop international links and access funding for visits abroad, as well as celebrating cultural and linguistic diversity within schools and the community, we are proud to play our part as a facilitator, broker and catalyst.
Declan Baharini, CEO, International Newcastle CIC
International Newcastle won the award on the strength of our delivery of ‘Our Newcastle Our World‘, a partnership initiative with ambitions to ensure our city is a place where all children and young people (0-30) are empowered to be confident global citizens.
With three interconnected strands of work around promoting the teaching and learning of languages, developing international links and connections and celebrating internationalism within the city and promoting intercultural awareness, this is a city approach which is unique in the UK.
We recently shared our partnership approach, the rationale, impact and future goals in a brochure, Empowering Newcastle’s Youth for a Global Future.
Our main objectives by delivering partnership initiatives around languages, international links and internationalism in the city are:
- raising aspirations and widening opportunities for children and young people, especially those from disadvantaged and underrepresented groups
- developing skills for the future workforce so they can achieve their potential in an increasingly interconnected world
- promoting intercultural awareness, inclusion and tolerance, celebrating differences and sharing positive opportunities for our diverse communities
Congratulations to all this year’s North East FSB Celebrating Small Business Award winners. They are reflective of the vibrancy, innovation and tenacity that makes up our small business community. It’s been thrilling to see so many businesses in the North East enthusiastically take part in our awards and the sheer scale and diversity of those who entered is a testimony to the vitality of the small business community in the area. The best of luck to all our winners for the UK national award finals in May.
Emma Smailes, Regional Development Manager, FSB
Pictured above: Declan Baharini (International Newcastle) far right in the picture with the 2024 FSB North East Award winners – click here for the full list of winners