In September, we celebrated the graduation of our third Impetus Leadership Academy (ILA) cohort. 

Founded in 2021 as part of the Connect Fund, the ILA is a key part of Impetus’ work to advance racial equity and decrease the race gap in youth employment. 

And the gap is severe. Young people from ethnic minority backgrounds* are twice as likely as their white peers to be unemployed and are more likely to be in low-paid, unstable jobs. 

Closing this gap must start with leadership. Yet, leadership teams in the UK charity sector remain predominantly white, with only 6% of charities led by CEOs from a Black or ethnic minority background. This imbalance persists despite well-established, tangible benefits to ethnic diversity in the workplace.  

The Impetus Leadership Academy is helping to reduce this disparity.  

There aren’t many places that would invest in Black and Brown people to continue to be leaders, and I feel really grateful that this space exists.

Amma Anderson, CEO of the Skills Spot C.I.C. and one of 12 graduates from this year’s cohort

Supported by Bank of America, the ILA is a free, year-long leadership development programme designed to support talent from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK youth sector to progress into senior leadership roles and contribute to the national conversation. The programme includes technical masterclasses, networking events with funders and sector leaders, and one-to-one coaching and mentoring sessions all designed to support participants to accelerate their personal growth and career progression.

Friday’s ceremony celebrated the graduates’ development as leaders, highlighting the cohort's achievements. Over the past three years, 36 participants have completed the ILA, with 22 advancing their careers while still in the programme. This year alone, half the cohort has already secured new leadership roles.

Shamaine Armstrong, Director of Programmes at LTSB, was one of graduates who successfully navigated a major role transition during the ILA. Without the support of her mentor and cohort, she said, the shift would have been much more difficult.

Shamaine hopes she can continue to rely on the support and guidance as the cohort moves forward in their careers.

We’ve been on this programme for a year now, but I think we should be in it for the long game... This network doesn’t have to just be now; it can be forever if we want it to be.

Shamaine Armstrong, Director of Programmes at LTSB

With Bank of America’s support, the ILA serves as a vital resource for emerging leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds and plays a key role in our efforts to address racial disparities in the youth sector.

Our relationship with ILA is hugely important to the bank as it forms part of the global commitment to advancing racial equality and economic opportunity.

Yomi Faleye, Director of Global Banking at Bank of America and an ILA mentor

Find out more about the Impetus Leadership Academy and Impetus’ racial equity work here.

* In the interests of using language that is familiar and widely understood by our audiences and drawing from the wider research used for the context of this blog, we have decided to use “ethnic minority backgrounds” in our messaging, but we acknowledge this is not perfect. We recognise that language is important, and that others use terms such as “global majority”, “racialised communities”, or “communities experiencing racial inequity”, each with specific and important nuance.