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Innovate Trust and friends celebrate Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend

Mark, to the left wears a black tshirt with Vaguely Artistic printed in red capital letters and a yellow shape in the background. They are wearing pink lipstick overlining their lips and colourful pink and white eyeshadow. Mark also has a silver chain with a blue heart-shaped gemstone around their neck. Katie, to the right, is wearing a white tshirt with the words pride rocks on the front, in the colours of the pride flag. They are wearing gemsones on their eyebrows in the colours of the pride flag and the transgender pride flag colours on their lips. Katie is smiling while looking away from the camera.

A big celebration

We believe in diversity and driving forward inclusion. As part of this commitment we joined in on Pride Cymru’s big weekend celebrations this weekend.

Pride Cymru is a national event, hosted in Cardiff celebrating and raising awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community. The event consisted of a Parade through the capital city, an open-air market and many performances and attractions.

It was great to see members of our team and the people we support enjoy the day and help make it a success. A group of over 25 people from Innovate Trust marched in the Parade celebrating equality, with many other people we support also marching with our Partner Organisations including Learning Disability Wales, Gig Buddies, Cardiff People First and House of Deviant. It was great to see Mark R and Peter C, representing Innovate Trust on ITV News’ coverage of the event too!

During the Parade, we bumped into Mark Drakeford MS, Wales’s First Minister. It was great to see Mr Drakeford, who we last saw at our Smart Supported Living Home in Canton. He also previously sponsored our 2018 History Exhibition at the Senedd.

Joining forces

The event was a collaboration between Innovate Trust, the people supported at Innovate Trust, and our LGBTQIA+ Employee Network. Our Chief Executive and Director of Operations, Nick French and Karen Baker, joined in on the celebrations with everyone too. We had a stall in the open-air market where we were able to meet over 500 new people, sharing information about the employment and volunteering opportunities at Innovate Trust. The goodie bags we gifted were a nice little treat too.

“I enjoyed it. My favourite part of the day was taking part in the march with everyone from Innovate Trust. I would love to go back to Pride next year.”

– Paul N

As part of Innovate Trust’s continuing commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), our Skills and Wellbeing Department the Act Now for Equality project in collaboration with our sister charity, Skills and Volunteering Cymru, with support from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the Postcode Community Trust. The project aims to builds awareness, education and understanding of EDI and the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act.

If you are interested in learning more about our commitment to equality, projects, employment or volunteering opportunities contact us today!