Colin Adams – Board Members
Colin Adams MBE,
Colin is the Director of a Community hub in North Islington (Hanley Crouch Community Association), and is the Chair of the Octopus Community Hubs network which is a collective of 12 community centres across Islington and has been the chair for the past 5 years. He is also the chair of the Hate Crime Forum which was set up in 2020 and works with approx. 20 community groups/networks across Islington ranging from faith groups to LGBT organisations. The aim is to increase the reporting of hate crime and more importantly, detection and sanction rates.
Colin’s previous work includes
- Team leader in the Equality & Diversity team for the Department for Children, Schools and Families for over 20 years. He managed the team that lead on diversity issues across the Department and has extensive knowledge of legislation including training colleagues on how to undertake equality impact assessments. He also ran the national volunteering programme; the harassment and bullying network and as a trained mediator, the mediation service launched in 2006. Colin has worked in the area of equality and diversity for a number of years and his previous roles have included working in ACAS running the “Equality Direct” telephone helpline for small business and also an Equality Adviser for the Dept for Education (at the time) advising on youth policy.
- Board member of the Civil Service Race Equality Network and the MERLIN group (Minority Ethnic Role Models in Leadership and Inspiration) which works closely with schools in raising aspirations and self esteem in young people
- Secondment in 2001 as a team leader for the Princes Trust setting up the first 2 volunteering teams in Islington. He has over 20 years of working with young people and ran a youth club on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in Finsbury Park for a number of years before becoming vice-chair of trustees at the same setting
- Chair of governors for a local primary school in East London and has been a school governor for the past 7 years until he retired in 2015.
- Working in a number of other wide and varied jobs in Government including the European Social Fund; the Small Business Advisory Service and Private Office for the Secretary of State for Employment at the time.
He was awarded an MBE for services to equality and diversity and young people in the New Years Honours list in 2007.
