Plymouth is a partner of Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council (PDREC), an independent and impartial registered charity working across Plymouth, Exeter and Devon, to promote equality of opportunity and eliminate racial discrimination.
Connect, engage and empower communities through partnership
The Plymouth Fairness Commission recommended that the city engage in a consolidated effort to generate leadership on tackling discrimination in all its forms in the city and Plymouth University's work with PDREC is a response to that recommendation.
PDREC work in partnership with The Devon and Cornwall Police Lay Advisory Group; Youth offending Service, Plymouth; Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue; Race Relations Partnership at HM Prison, Dartmoor; Devon County Council Equality Partnership Group; Devon County Council Equality Reference Group; UC St Mark and St John; Professional Youth and Community Forum; Devon Advocacy Consortium Board; Housing with Respect Consortium, Plymouth; Plymouth PAN Equality Consortium; Better Together Community Interest Company; Lipson Community College Co-operative Trust; LiNK and PAPOPS.
The benefits derived through working together for our students, staff and community include: providing support for staff and students; assisting with providing links into hard to reach communities and access into schools through project work; supporting with community consultancy in the review of the equality scheme; and general race awareness training for harassment advisors to provide understanding of current local issues.
The Respect Festival, organised by the PDREC, is the biggest celebration of diversity in the South West, attracting over 25,000 people each year. It enables people to come together in a safe space, free from oppression and fear, to celebrate the diverse cultural heritage of our city.
The festival has been redressing the balance of negative and fearful perceptions about Plymouth's Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities since 1998, and growing in stature year-on-year. In 2014 and 2015 the University was privileged to host Respect Festival on campus.
