Each year the CIH NI hold their annual Housing Awards. This event recognises and celebrates the creativity, passion and innovation of housing organisations and individuals across the sector in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
We are incredibly proud to have 3 overall winners at the virtual awards in 2021.
• ‘Inspirational Young Housing Professional’ - Catriona McCann
• ‘Best Housing Story'- The Bank, Maple & May
• ‘Excellence in championing equality & diversity’- Choice Diversity Team.
Today we are celebrating our Diversity Team, winners of Excellence in championing equality and diversity. This award will recognise organisations who are leading on promoting equality and diversity in their businesses. We want to hear about organisations who are driving positive, meaningful change and who are contributing to building a truly inclusive community.
Recognising that our workforce consists of people from different backgrounds, Choice aspires to be representative of the community that it serves. Demonstrating our commitment to leading on promoting equality and diversity, in 2019, the senior management team overwhelmingly supported a request from staff that Choice be part of the annual ‘Belfast Pride Festival’.
A voluntary committee was set up to devise a range of activities to raise awareness for ‘Choice Pride Week’ including:
Staff were overwhelmingly positive about ‘Choice Pride Week’ which culminated in Choice’s Chief Executive attending Belfast Pride Parade along with 31 staff and family members: “Fantastic! So happy to work for an organisation that is inclusive”, and “This is quite progressive...I have wanted this to happen for years”. Another said: “Having a daughter who is gay and knowing the stigma and struggle she had to go through to be herself I feel very strongly that I should support this in whatever way I can”. Choice shared updates throughout the day on its Facebook and Twitter platforms, highlighting the Pride Festival and their participation in the event.
As well as championing equality and diversity in the workplace, Choice is committed to building stronger inclusive communities through leading on initiatives around regeneration, financial inclusion, employability and integration.
Throughout 2019/20 Choice continued to work with the ‘Housing Associations’ Integration Project’ Peace IV and Together: Building United Communities (Housing For All) projects. These unique partnerships consisting of Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA), social housing providers, NIHE, and Department for Communities (DfC) aim to improve good relations, promote community integration and shared housing. Choice now has three TBUC schemes where our dedicated Community Support Officer provides community support initiatives and bridging events with adjacent neighbourhoods while actively promoting the benefits of a shared society e.g. Good relations workshops, Multi-cultural event, Cross Community Ceilidh, Men’s Shed and 17 tenants and members of the wider community received funding to complete an OCN Level II accredited course in Good Relations and Civic Leadership.
Through its Building Futures programme, Choice continues its partnership with Bryson Future Skills to deliver WorkChoice, a programme aimed at upskilling people to help them secure long-term employment. WorkChoice equips participants with practical training alongside OCN accreditations whilst enabling participants to earn a salary. The latest programme commenced in January 2020 with five participants currently working in a range of disciplines across the organisation.
Part of Building Futures, Choice also believes that academic achievement should be open to all regardless of background and circumstances and is currently working with Queens and Ulster to provide much needed support to those who face financial, social and logistical barriers to furthering their education. Through these 5 year programmes, 3 prizes of £1,000 per year are being awarded to encourage students from under-represented groups to reach their full potential. One student recently awarded said: “I couldn’t be more thankful to Choice for this award! I have been a lot more motivated in my studies since receiving it as I now feel the work I put in doesn’t go unnoticed”.
Our HR Manager, Julie Fleming had this to say-
"We would like to thank the Diversity Team, and in particular Sean McLery who lead the team and championed our Pride Experience. A special thanks also to Sharon Hunt, for her work in promoting inclusivity and diversity; her TBUC work and helping to organise good relations training. Thanks also to the HR and Corporate Service Team for organising training, and all their hard work on the WorkChoice scheme. A big thanks also to SMT for their commitment and support for all these initiatives. It’s a wonderful achievement for Choice and hopefully we can build on this success".
Congratulations to all involved!
