Elim Supports LGBTQ+ History Month 2023

Elim are proud to support LGBTQ+ History Month 2023, celebrated every February across the UK. Founded in 2004 by ‘Schools Out’ project, it provides free resources for education settings, businesses, services and organisations to help them celebrate and usualise LGBTQ+ lives in their full diversity.

Housing Issues are also an Equalities Issue

We understand that housing issues within the LGBTQ+ community need to be recognised as an equalities issue. We know that 122,000 young people are homeless or are at risk of homelessness in the UK (Centrepoint 2021). Furthermore, according to ‘akt’s research on these figures, over 24% of these young people identify as LGBTQ+.

So what can we do to support individuals? Elim is continuously developing an inclusive, values driven culture that welcomes and embraces the diversity of our colleagues and customers. We understand the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace in improving performance, attracting and retaining happy and motivated colleagues and representing our diverse customer base.

Elim’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group, made up of colleagues and board members, aims to support the delivery of our EDI strategy. This includes ensuring that all colleagues have appropriate and intersectional training, that LGBTQ+ colleagues feel protected by Elim and that with the support of our Board, we address issues around diversity and inclusion in meaningful and measurable ways.

Continued Learning

As part of our support this month we are teaming up with charity ‘akt’ who supports LGBTQ+ young people aged 16-25 in the UK who are facing or experiencing homelessness or living in a hostile environment. They support young people into safe homes and employment, education or training, in a welcoming and open environment that celebrates LGBTQ+ identities.

Akt will be hosting a lunchtime learning session with Elim colleagues exploring the barriers young LGBTQ+ individuals face in relation to homelessness and to further support our learning and understanding so we can fully support members of this community across all of the services we deliver.

We will also be sharing a series of resources over the month of February shining a spotlight on the work of individuals and organisations that support the LGBTQ+ community and proving information on how to access their services.