More than 330 Career Connect staff from all over the country came together in Manchester to celebrate the second ConnectUs conference.
Sheila Clark, our CEO, introduced the day by welcoming the teams and highlighting some key figures that show our reach over the last year. This was followed by a video that focused on the impact our work has had on the lives of our participants’.
Anti-racism champion and co-founder of the Anthony Walker foundation, Dominique White then took to the stage and gave a thought-provoking input about racism in our society and how we can all do better to be allies and help our participants’ to feel safer and more comfortable in their communities.
Dominique shared her experiences of the harm of racism and hatred and gave some examples of practical processes that can be put in place to protect people, such as having an anonymous bias incident report. She challenged us all to reflect on all the ways we can adopt some of the solutions she put forward and work towards to being actively anti-racist in all our work. Staff members followed up with their own questions for Dominique.
Then followed the announcement of the ConnectUs award winners.
After more than 200 nominations our CEO Sheila and Chair of our Board Lorraine Dodd announced the winners.
Inclusive Award: Jenny Booth, Careers Adviser, Wirral
Impartial Award: Judy Brimson, Careers Adviser, E+B team
Professional Award: Hadiya Gul Rahman, Achieve GM ETE, apprentice
Aspirational Award: Martha Nunes, Employability Support Worker, Flexible Response Team
Person-centred Award: Zoe Doran, HR Adviser, Corporate services
Rising Star Award: William Clare, Engagement Worker, Manchester
Unsung Hero Award: Sarah Allen, Team Leader, UK SPF
Inspirational Leader/Manager award: Chloe Elliott, Operations Manager, E+B team and Jane Gilinsky, Team Manager, Liverpool
Innovation award: Achieve CFO Discovery Wing, HMP Risley
Two long service awards were also presented to those who are celebrating an impressive 40 years or more with Career Connect and our predecessor organisations:
- Andy Cannell
- Debbie Rathbone
Career Connect CEO Sheila Clark said: “It was an honour to be able to lead this event and bring together so many of our people in one place. I would like to congratulate all the winners and those shortlisted and nominated. As I said on the day, the judging process was very difficult with so many examples of individuals truly living our values and often going above and beyond.”
“The energy in the room was electric, reflecting the true passion we all have for what we do.”
“A special thank you to Dominique White for coming to speak to us and to Lorraine Dodd for helping present the awards, our volunteers for helping with the check-in and roving microphones and everyone involved in organising ConnectUs 2024.”
