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The annual awards are organised by the Grassroots Communities Network, led by local community groups, the Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality (ACRE) and Utulivu. The network is supported by Reading Borough Council, Berkshire Healthcare and Thames Valley Police.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by the Mayor of Reading, Dr Alice Mpofu-Coles, on 30 October as part of Black History Month. The mayor thanked the charities, nominees, winners and attendees for their work to address inequalities in the community - a key theme for her year in office.

Now in their fourth year, the awards celebrate organisations and individuals who support community engagement, cohesion and efforts to tackle inequalities across several categories.

We were delighted to receive the ‘Championing Grassroots Communities’ Voice’ organisation award. Alex Gild, our Deputy Chief Executive, also received the individual award for his leadership of our health inequalities and anti-racism work.

We’ve had a long-standing commitment to supporting ACRE and Utulivu’s community health programmes. Colleagues from across our mental health, physical health and community teams help deliver initiatives including the Men’s Wellbeing Forum, Women’s Trauma Therapy Groups, online Health & Wellbeing conversations, the Community Wellbeing Hub drop-in, and Community Health Champions. Our senior leaders also regularly join community events and activities.

This year’s recognition follows Reading Community Awards for our colleagues James Momoh (2023) and Karla Innis (2024), reflecting our continued focus on tackling health inequalities and championing anti-racism. Current work includes the Mental Health Act Detention project, which aims to improve access, experience and outcomes for Black people who are disproportionately detained under the Mental Health Act by understanding and addressing the causes behind this disparity.

Dr Kathryn MacDermott, Director of Strategic Planning, and Dan Brook, Armed Forces Lead, collected the award on our behalf. Kathryn said:
“We’ve done a lot of work around co-production and community engagement. We’ve recently set up an Equity Partnership Group to formalise how we engage with communities and ensure their insights shape our strategies and ways of working. These awards recognise that critical work, which will improve community healthcare.”

Reflecting on his individual award, Alex Gild said:
“This award reflects the hard work and dedication of our community partners and my Berkshire Healthcare colleagues, who share a passion for delivering better health and opportunity outcomes for all in Reading. Our commitment to anti-racism and tackling health inequalities continues, and I look forward to our ongoing collaboration.”