Sky announces two-year partnership with Sir Lewis Hamilton’s foundation, Mission 44, to address the disproportionate rate of school exclusions amongst Black pupils.
Announcing the partnership, Sky’s Group CEO, Dana Strong:
“We are passionate about tackling racial injustice and welcome the opportunity to partner with Sir Lewis Hamilton and Mission 44 to champion and empower young people. We hope our partnership will support Mission 44’s work to improve the experience of Black pupils and support them to succeed at school and beyond.”
Sky has today announced a two-year partnership with Sir Lewis Hamilton’s charitable foundation, Mission 44, that aims to address the disproportionately high rate of school exclusions among Black students in the UK. The partnership forms part of Sky’s £30 million commitment towards tackling systemic racism and will see Mission 44 receive over £1million during the two-year period.
Lewis Hamilton is personally driven to help address disproportionate exclusion rates as a result of his own experiences with behaviour management practices at school. His foundation, Mission 44, aims to support, champion and empower young people from underserved groups in the UK to succeed by narrowing opportunity gaps with a focus on education and employment. Research from Mission 44 shows that Black Caribbean students are 2.5 times more likely to be permanently excluded compared with their White counterparts.
Mission 44 CEO, Jason Arthur:
“Preventing school exclusions is an issue of social justice. Excluded students often must contend with a range of complex social and economic challenges, such as poverty, racism and mental ill-health, that cause them to face both disadvantage and discrimination in our education system. I’m delighted that Mission 44 will be working with Sky to transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable learners in our education system.”
Sky also has a broad range of programmes in place to support young people. Through long-established programmes including Sky Academy Studios, The Edit and Sky Scholars, Sky has offered thousands of young the opportunity to learn, create, and excel in what they are passionate about. More recently, in 2021, Sky also launched the ‘Content Academy’, providing paid placements to trainees from groups that are underrepresented in the media industry. In its first year, Content Academy offered 36 placements across Sky Sports, Sky News, Sky Studios and UK Content by working with partners such as Mama Youth and Creative Access.
