BLAM is working to ensure that Black History is included in schools

Black Learning Achievement and Mental Health UK (BLAM) is a Black-Led community organisation and mental health charity working to provide educational resources to children across the UK in addition to free advocacy support for black parents across London. 

BLAM formally began as a community outreach event in the spring of 2017 as the brainchild of six young women. The first event garnered a high level of community interest due to its acclaimed panel (which included Diane Abbott MP, Karl Lokko and Viv Ahmun) and the compelling debates which took place.

As a consequence of the first public forum, BLAM could see the need to provide a space for all members of the local community to engage in thoughtful discussion and help communities to create pragmatic resolutions to social issues that threaten to fragment the community spirit of London.

BLAM operates three core projects: The Rooted Project, the free Black History Summer school; The Grounded Project, their school-based termly Black history and culture project, and their advocacy project which provides free support for Black Parents whose children are excluded from schools in London. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic they have supported 140 young people to access Black History resources through their online version of The Grounded Project  

They also host quarterly events and create safe spaces for Black British community to come together and discuss pressing issues with an intergenerational, expert panel. The charity often focuses on mental health, racism, collective action and community building in their work. 

BLAM UK is committed to the wellbeing of people of African descent, which has been affected globally due to racism and racial trauma. Through their work they hope to dismantle the historical misrepresentation of black people, through our community outreach projects. These outreach projects provide critical engagement for the African and Afro-Caribbean diaspora. 

BLAM is working to ensure that Black History is included in schools, providing free African and Afro-Caribbean History worksheets to parents for children aged 6-16 that can be accessed by emailing [email protected]. Teachers can also find out more about training sessions to help give educators across the country the skills required to embed Black history within the curriculum, bringing about grassroots change. Additionally, people are also encouraged to join the School’s Campaign by sending an email to their local or former schools to raise awareness of the need for Black History to be taught in schools and the work BLAM is doing. 

Founder, community activist, writer & barrister Ife Thompson tells us that they need further funds to continue their work; ‘As we are a Not-for-Profit we heavily rely on grants and donations to sustain the free nature of our work. We also need schools to partner with us to deliver our Black History workshops or to use our resources, so Black history can be taught on more regular basis.’

You can find out more about the work of BLAM by following them on Twitter and Instagram You can also subscribe to their newsletter and donate to all of their projects by clicking here

By Ellen Jones