A YOUTH-LED radio station and football anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out are among the recipients of this year’s Windrush Day fund.

The 49 community groups and organisations across the country that were granted a portion of the £500,000 fund, set aside to mark the second annual Windrush Day, were announced today.

Intergenerational

Kick It Out has been awarded £15,000 to work with students to devise and perform untold Windrush stories, production of Getting the Third Degree and educational work with schools.

Reprezent, a radio station led by young people in south London, has been awarded £15,500 to train second generation Windrush youth to develop a week of specialist radio programming shining a light on the impact of the Windrush generation.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick, who confirmed the recipients of the fund, said: “Windrush Day provides a great opportunity for all of us to come together and remember that we are a better country for the central role British Caribbean communities have played in post-war Britain.

“British Caribbean communities have made Britain a better, more prosperous country in so many ways. From the communities they have built to the public services they have supported and led, and the arts and culture they have enriched, they have made an incredible contribution to their country.”

Following the inaugural national Windrush Day last year, selected projects will receive funding to celebrate the positive impact Caribbean communities have made in Britain – and their ongoing contributions.

The funded projects also include Highfield Rangers, a youth football team founded by teenage Windrush arrivals in Leicester, 50th anniversary celebration; and Bernie Grant Arts Centre’s Windrush festival.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s has also received a £16,825 Windrush Day grant to stage a national touring exhibition and publish an accompanying publication celebrating its black history.

The funding will be enable community groups and organisations to host events on and around the second national Windrush Day on June 22 2020, which marks the 72nd anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks.

The activities will work to educate communities on the leading role the Windrush generation and their descendants have played in making Britain stronger, culturally richer and more inclusive.

Wallen Matthie, Windrush Day advisory panel member said: “It was moving to join events last year as the nation came together to mark this vital part of our shared heritage and history.

“Now the aim is to further embed Windrush Day in the national consciousness and ensure we continue to honour the Windrush generation and their descendants for years to come.”

Today, new guidance supporting community groups and civil society organisations to host their own events has also been launched. The marketing and events toolkit will ensure Windrush Day is marked as widely as possible in communities around the country.