Black United Representation Network (BURN)

The Black United Representation Network (BURN) CIC is a membership organisation founded by nine Black VCSE and micro companies to challenge and tackle deep rooted racial inequalities in Greater Manchester, which negatively impact people of African Descent in order to bring about systemic change.

Greater Manchester has an acute shortage of people of African descent in senior leadership positions that can influence policy and decision-making. The decades long lack of strong and co-ordinated Black leadership has resulted in growing racial inequalities. BURN was created to fill this gap.

Headquartered in Manchester, BURN was established in Feb 2020, and founding members come from Wigan, Stockport, Manchester, Trafford and Salford. Whilst the City Region is multicultural, research from the Resolution Foundation revealed that one-in-three black employees is low paid in Greater Manchester, a figure that is 12 percentage points higher than that for white people.

BURN’s objective is to achieve parity and equality of opportunity for Black residents covering health, business, education, employment and training, to build back better in the post-COVID world. We are contributing to the levelling up agenda as the economy recovers post-Covid through:

• Growing the pipeline of board-ready Black professionals in senior decision-making positions;

• Helping Black led VCSEs and businesses to recover from the impact of Covid-19 through winning public sector contracts and facilitating supply chain inclusion as part of the Government’s new Social Value Commissioning;

• Being the Northern Gateway for SMEs wishing to do business in Africa and the Caribbean through leveraging the African Diaspora to secure new trade and investment opportunities.

BURN also engages in community-specific activity that seeks to empower, inspire and connect.

Find out more about them here: https://burncic.org/