Lewis Hamilton’s charity Mission 44 and the education charity Teach First partner to launch STEM from Black

SIR LEWIS Hamilton’s charity Mission 44 and the education charity Teach First have partnered to launch STEM from Black – a new campaign fronted by Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE which aims to recruit and upskill 150 Black STEM teachers.

Mission 44 was founded to transform the lives of young people facing disadvantage and discrimination. As a new charitable foundation with diversity at its core, the organisation is working to support young people to fulfil their potential. They’re working to transform the lives of young people facing disadvantage and discrimination by:

funding great organisations and projects, scaling-up their work to help them reach more young people who need support
commissioning research to understand problems and what works in solving them
campaigning for change, working with young people to influence decision-makers

Dr Imafidon is a keynote speaker, presenter, and co-founder of the award-winning social enterprise, Stemettes. She was voted the most influential women in tech in the UK of 2020 by Computer Weekly and featured among the top 10 BAME leaders in tech by The Financial Times.

AMBITIONS: (from left to right): Dwain Brandy, Nadine Bernard, Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, Aqueel Morgan

Dr Imafidon said: “When I was growing up, there were so few women to look up to in science and technology.

Now I’m a role model in my own right and I take that as a great responsibility. Every decision I make comes down to what’s best for the young girls in Stemettes. I hope I continue to honour them in the best way possible.”

Only 2.4% of the teaching workforce identify as Black, (GOV.UK, 2022) compared to 84.2% of teachers being White British.

The STEM from Blackcampaign shines a light on the experiences of Black STEM leaders, celebrates their contributions to society, and encourages Black communities to join the STEM community by applying for the Teach First Training Programme.

The campaign also features Dwain Brandy, a successful managing director turned deputy headteacher, Nadine Bernard, head teacher and founder of Aspiring Heads, Professor Nira Chamberlain OBE, mathematics professor and Aqueel Morgan, Teach First science trainee.

Dwain touches on his journey into teaching, when he said: “Representation is key. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it’.”

“I always knew I wanted to be in a position of influence. I stuck to my values and nurtured my values and that led me to a position of leadership.”

Click here to view and download the 30 sec trailer.