As both sides try to tackle systemic racism, Lewis Hamilton’s charitable organisation, Mission 44, will collaborate with Sky.
Lewis Hamilton’s nonprofit organization has announced a two-year collaboration with Sky to address the disproportionately high number of school exclusions among Black students in the United Kingdom.
As part of Sky’s £30 million commitment to tackling systemic racism, the firm will donate approximately £1 million to Mission 44.
Last year, Hamilton launched Mission 44 in order to empower and encourage young people from underserved communities in advancing into critical sectors and professions, as well as increasing educational inclusion.
The Mercedes driver has expressed his gratitude for Sky’s assistance.
“Understanding and addressing issues that lead to young people being excluded from school is really important to me,” Hamilton said.
“Having experienced unfair exclusions during my time at school, I understand how upsetting and stressful it can be.
“When we launched Mission 44 last year, implementing initiatives such as these was a personal priority and I am grateful to have the support of Sky to help Mission 44 take action.
“Through this partnership, I hope we can deliver meaningful change by arming schools with the proper strategies to support and empower young Black students, instead of giving up on them.”
Building on the work of The Hamilton Commission
Sky and Misson 44 will collaborate on a number of projects, including investing in interventions to lower school exclusion rates, according to Mission 44 research, which shows that Black Caribbean students are 2.5 times more likely than White pupils to be permanently excluded.
These projects were created in response to the findings of the Hamilton Commission report. The research, which was published last year, included ten actionable recommendations to help tackle the problems impeding Black students’ development into engineering careers as well as impediments in the motorsport business.
Sky Group’s CEO, Dana Strong, added: “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.”
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