UNIFY's History
UNIFY established in 2016 with five London based Housing Association members. The founding members at the time included organisations such as Clarion, Notting Hill, Peabody, Genesis and L&Q.Â
Over the past years UNIFY has become stronger and more influential. Some of our member organisations have gone through merger and we have welcomed the addition of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing.
UNIFY has now grown to become a strong national network. We have nine Housing Associations as Core Steering Group members and five partner organisation supporting us in the background.Â
2016
First Event - Social Justice Panel Discussion
In October 2016 the group held its first panel discussion on Social Justice. The discussion was focused on how BAME stafff are both affected in Private and Public sectors.Â
2017
BAME Housing Leadership Discussion
In June 2017 the group held its second event at Clarion Housing Group. This discussion was around leadership with different panel members talking about their experience.Â
2017
30 Years Forward
In October 2017, the group held its third event. This was a Q&A session held at NottingHill Housing Association.Â
2018
Colour in your Career - Make it Bright
October 2018Â
2019
Shining a spotlight on BAME
In October 2019, the CEOâs from the largest member organisations (Clarion, Peabody, L&Q, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, and NottingHill Genesis) were invited to sit down together and have an open discussion about BAME staff.Â
2022
LeadershipNOW! Graduation - Cohort 2
 In July 2022 we celebrated our  recent graduates of the Leadership NOW! programme. Our first face to face event since pandemic followed by a summer social of UNIFY members.Â
Alison Muir
Ex-FounderâI feel both proud and privileged to have been a founding member and co-chaired a network comprised of dynamic and committed individuals, who will continue UNIFY's journey to affect positive change and sustainable outcomes in areas of race."
Anthony Were
ChairâI'm so proud to be part of the UNIFYÂ journey, meeting so many amazing people, whilst also keeping how we discuss race at work firmly on the agenda!â
Jean Kikaya
ex-founderâIt became necessary to join UNIFY as way to influence change within my own organisation but also the social housing sector. Since joining UNIFY, I have both learnt and shared many good practices with different BAME Networks which in turn will only strengthen our goal.â
