Introduction to ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Powering Up was a two-year initiative that supported community businesses across England. Alongside grants and tailored capacity-building support, the programme placed equity and inclusion at its heart - recognising the additional barriers faced by minoritised and racialised communities. This page and associated blog, both written by Steve Conway shares key lessons from our approach, from simplifying access and embedding culturally competent support, to building trust through lived experience and continuously evolving the programme design. For funders and practitioners working toward more equitable support models, these reflections offer practical insights and a call to keep learning, adapting, and sharing.

“The Table: Program design & decision making”

• Program Design
• Decision Making

The Team

• Learning from the COVID pandemic
• Why this mattered
• Limitations
• Implicit approaches to Equity vs Explicit

Inclusion: pre-application support, learning and improvements

• Overview
• What we delivered
• Learning and Improvements

Diversity and Inclusion in the Supplier Pool

• The process used for delivering support
• Limited Supply Pool and Limited Diversity in Existing Networks
• Spot Purchases – a tool for delivery, diversity and inclusion of new suppliers

Supplier Pool Lessons & Improvement