The Reach Events Scholarship Initiative has unveiled ‘Reach 2.0’, a legacy-driven restructure that sets a clear path to grow scholarships from three to five per year.
The Reach (Race Ethnicity And Cultural Heritage) Events Scholarship Initiative was launched in 2022 to provide a fund and help support Black, Asian and unrepresented minority ethnic students to study on events management degree programmes and enter the industry.
The initiative works to provide £5,000 yearly scholarships to support event management degree students at university with their living expenses over three years of study.
Reach 2.0 introduces an Advisory Board to steer strategy, operations and decision-making, alongside active working parties across social, PR, coaching & alumni, events and fundraising.
Robert Kenward, co-founder, Reach, said: “Reach 2.0 puts specialists around the table, organised into working parties that deliver measurable, actionable outcomes and also more visibility for the programme.”
Kenward continues: “My focus is securing five donors a year (up from three) so we can fund more scholars, while an engaged Advisory Board leads the programme’s overall strategy and deliverables. I’m an ally, not a person of colour, and as one of our ambassadors so eloquently put it, ‘you can’t be what you can’t see.’ That’s why this next phase is community-led, designed to outlive me and keep championing who gets to thrive in our sector.”
Advisory Board:
- Robert Kenward, fitability® recruiter & founder, Jigsaw Talent Solutions
- Anupa White, director, Principal Global Events
- Janine Hart, managing director, Pure Communications Group
- Nadu Placca Rodriguez, CEO, The Zoo XYZ
- Rummanah Promi, event co-ordinator, BUTL
- Samantha Salisbury, events manager, Jonsam Events Ltd
Ambassadors:
- Roeleen Johnson, head of account management & implementation, Hotel and Travel Solutions Ltd
- Diana Frederiksen, head of business development, conferences & events, Excel London
- Cherise Scotland, people and culture manager, EMC3
- David Ogiste, founder, Nobody’s Café
Companies that are interested in making a positive and long-term impact to D&I in the industry can contact Robert Kenward (Robert@RecruitmentProf.com) for more information.
