We have covered a lot of groundwork and planning in setting out our strategy, as we seek to continue our work with people who are affected by Hate Crime or other targeted crime.

Developing a 3-year strategy is a hard task, as we have had to look at all aspects of our work and the charity itself as a whole, from both an introspective and external viewpoint.

I am pleased to say that it was a thoroughly inclusive process, with every area of the organisation represented at an initial away day – from staff to volunteers and members and Trustees– so that we could listen to and gather the thoughts and opinions from people across the charity.

However, turning the spotlight on oneself is incredibly challenging; not only do you look inside to find the good things, but also the things we know we can do better.

Externally, the landscape is ever-changing as, invariably, modern life now moves at such a fast pace and technology evolves, finding more and more ways of invading our lives – sometimes in a great way, but other times in a much more sinister and intrusive way.

So, our first task was to set out what we are here to do…

Stop Hate UK also has a long history of providing support to those affected by Hate Crime, often with complex needs, so we wanted to build on the very successful face-to-face advocacy and enhanced support work developed thus far.

Obviously, key to our services and a big part of our strategy as a whole, is to continue to provide our 24-hr helplines – often a ‘lifeline’ for those experiencing the harrowing effects of Hate Crime or other targeted crime.

Our helplines also provides a vehicle to report incidences of Hate Crime, so we are very pleased also to announce that the helplines will continue in their current format, featuring 3 distinctly branded lines. Opportunities to extend the scope of these lines and introduce new ones will be taken wherever this will help our aim to support more and more people experiencing targeted crime.

We also plan to continue to develop our role as a training and consultancy service to a variety of related organisations. Stop Hate UK has recently provided training to the police, prison services, youth offending team, probation services, housing bodies and multi-agency groups. Our new strategy aims to build on this platform whilst looking to increase the range of organisations to which we provide training and also the types of courses and subject areas we cover.

As ever, scrutiny will also be a part of our strategy as, with our extensive expertise, we now have experience in both setting up and managing scrutiny panels, which also includes the recruitment and training of panel members.

But, to realise this dream, we need to be the organisation that provides the vehicle and channels for all those affected to be able to challenge, report and change their experience; we want to be there to support and empower people affected by all forms of Hate Crime; we want to be able to influence and guide organisations in their responses and we need to develop, build and maintain effective partnerships with other organisations to share in our dream.

We must also ensure that our core values do not change during the course of us working towards our vision. All staff, Trustees, members and volunteers must be committed to challenging hatred harassment and discrimination.

So, as part of the wider strategy, we have developed a list of core values that we must all fully embrace to have any chance of achieving our objectives.

For example, we must display genuine sensitivity to how people describe themselves, in order to communicate effectively with them. The language we use in how we communicate with the various people and groups that use our services is a crucial part of the services we provide. Essentially, what we say is of equal importance as how we say it.

To help us to achieve our strategic aims, then, we’ve also developed key objectives, that sit underneath each aim and we believe that if Stop Hate UK’s staff, Trustees, members and volunteers embrace and adopt the strategy and its objectives, our 3-year plan should carry the organisation forward to a better place and a stronger position, come 2019 and, hopefully, we can look back on this time and say that we had a real effect on and brought about change to the Hate Crime landscape.

I sincerely hope that this information has given you a valuable insight, as to where, why and how our new strategy was developed and is to be deployed. I would also be more than happy to discuss any aspect of any part of it, if anyone feels they might have any questions or comments.

With that in mind, I thank you for taking the time to read this blog and we all now look forward to Stop Hate UK’s continued success in the fight against Hate Crime.

Rose Simkins
Chief Executive Stop Hate UK