JUST Lincolnshire

A new county wide equalities organisation called ‘JUST Lincolnshire’ has recently been established to act as the new single equality Infrastructure organisation in the county. It aims to encompass all strands of diversity and make a real difference to the lives of people from all backgrounds by championing equality, tackling discrimination and celebrating the richly diverse make up of the communities which form our county identity.

JUST Lincolnshire has been established with the assistance of a £222,000 grant from the Equality and Human Rights Commission and is supported by a number of public, private and voluntary sector organisations across the county.

JUST Lincolnshire’s vision is: ‘To ensure that Lincolnshire is a county built on fairness and respect, where people are able to pursue their preferred lifestyle, proud and confident in all aspects of their diversity.’

Paul Elliott has been appointed as JUST Lincolnshire Chief Executive and started work in April. Paul is a former Senior Lincolnshire Police Officer and most recently served as Chief Police Officer of the Falkland Islands for 2 years. As a police officer Paul worked to improve service and facilities in many areas concerned with equality and diversity, and is also well known throughout the county for his charity work in Romania.

Paul says “I am pleased to be back home in Lincolnshire, and I am delighted to have been appointed to this exciting new role. I am passionate about fairness and look forward very much indeed to helping to establish and provide a ‘one stop shop’ resource of benefit across all aspects of equality and human rights, and make a real difference to the quality of life of people throughout the County.“

Paul is currently supported by two members of staff seconded from Lincolnshire County Council and is in the process of recruiting a further outreach officer post.

The board of JUST Lincolnshire comprises up to 15 members drawn from all strands of diversity so as to be representative of the community it seeks to serve. JUST Lincolnshire has only recently been established and is so new that the process of  registration as a charity and limited company is still ongoing and its website remains under development, but should be up and running within a couple of weeks.

When fully operational JUST Lincolnshire will:

• Develop a shared knowledge base which will be used to give advice and signposting, work outreach in communities, and be a single point of reference & contact for individuals and organisations in Lincolnshire who have any connections with the Equalities and Human Rights fields.
• Provide strategic advice, support, training and development of the Equality & Human Rights Agenda in Lincolnshire. 
• Proactively facilitate the reporting of Hate Crime and identify appropriate support for victims of discrimination.
• Develop partnership working with Government, Local Authority and Voluntary sectors in relation to tackling Hate Crime Issues across all the Equality strains.
• Engage with the Public Sector and provide advice, scrutiny and accountability to the work they do in the Equalities and Human rights field. 
• Provide an advocacy service which will include analysis and the definition of key target areas, carrying out positive campaigning, awareness-raising, providing training and public relation facilities for individuals and voluntary organizations. 
• Build supportive relationships with marginalised communities and celebrate cultural diversity, so as to promote community cohesion.
• Carry out research, analysing the causes & effects of inequality in Lincolnshire, working in partnership with other research organizations to share resources and data so as to identify and address gaps in service provision.
• Support members to develop their infrastructure by providing advice on funding, administration, financial and performance management.

If you were recently contacted by Lincolnshire County Council asking if you would be willing to share your community group’s details with JUST Lincolnshire and you agree for this to happen then please complete the online consent form by following this link.