#SRtRCSpotlight: Anti-Racist Captains programme continued

In May we held the second part of our North West Anti-Racist Captains programme at Old Trafford in partnership with the Manchester United Foundation.

At the event, forty students from Year 9 and Year 10 at six different schools came together to continue a project that was launched on Wear Red Day in last October. The aim was to celebrate their progress so far and plan next steps in highlighting understanding of racism within their school communities, raising awareness, and planning ways of challenging incidents.

After meeting and asking questions with a panel of guests, including Ericka Williams, Disability Access Officer at MUFC and SRtRC Trustee, Salford artist Venessa Scott and comedian / actor Justin Moorhouse, the participants shared their initial ideas for combatting racism, and explored the different barriers that exist when trying to implement these in school. This enabled them to update and adapt their Anti-Racist Captains action plans, with support from SRtRC and MUFC Foundation staff.

In the afternoon, the groups were given a creative challenge: inspired by the guest panellists, and given expert input from Venessa, who was happy to share her artistic skills and advice across the event, they were asked to transform their plans into a piece of artwork then create a short presentation.

Each group produced a wonderfully inspiring response, showcasing their plans through art, poetry and rap, as well as through use of audio-visual technology. Most importantly, they had come up with powerful ideas which they will implement across the coming months. We look forward to continuing to support them in this inspirational work, and coming together again later in 2026 to celebrate their achievements.