BOOST programme celebrates year two graduation

Colleagues from the Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP) gathered at the People’s History Museum, on Monday 6 October 2025, to celebrate the graduation of the Year 2 BOOST programme participants.

The BOOST Organisational Change Programme aims to challenge and address the under-representation of ethnically diverse colleagues at leadership level in the housing sector by breaking down barriers to recruitment and progression and creating a context where talents of ethnically diverse leaders can thrive.

The BOOST programme is a collaborative project being delivered through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between GMHP and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). The aim of BOOST is to make our organisations more inclusive with senior leaders that are more representative of our diverse communities.

Southway Housing Trust leads on the BOOST programme for GMHP, therefore Southway’s Chief Executive John Bowker welcomed everyone to the graduation ceremony and spoke about successes and highlights from the last year, which saw members build on the inclusive recruitment projects of Year 1 with new ideas, which have included:

• Looking at succession planning
• Facilitating job shadowing
• Providing further development opportunities

Charlie Norman, Chief Executive of Mosscare St Vincent’s Housing Group (MSV) and Chair of GMHP, presented the 19 mentors and 19 mentees with their certificates. Some mentees shared inspiring stories of their experience in the programme; from what made them want to take part, to the positive impact of the mentoring relationships.

We welcomed guest speakers Sharon Amesu, co-founder of She Leads for Legacy, and Julia Rouse, Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and Lead Academic on BOOST. Sharon talked about her personal experiences and the power of the BOOST programme, and Julia emphasized the importance of the programme facilitating positive and sustainable change through hardwiring allyship into leadership roles.

Part of the BOOST programme involves monthly sessions where mentors and mentees work together towards the mentee’s goal.
Reciprocal mentoring is a key part of the BOOST programme model which enables the movement to be more disruptive in creating change. To support this, our mentors learn about the experiences of our mentees and their experiences at work, particularly regarding race.

The success of this year’s programme has seen five mentees gain new roles, three of which have been internal moves. The other two have earned roles at new employers.

Three other mentees are undertaking new qualifications, while two more are doing professional development including the Housing Diversity Network’s trainee board programme.

This year also seen organisations tackle the cultural change aspect of BOOST, a big part of which is the GMHP-wide training for leaders and managers that begins in the next few months.

John Bowker said: “BOOST is a fantastic project which is really helping to improve the chances of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds to get into leadership positions. I was delighted to see the mentees and mentors receive their certificates at the graduation ceremony and hear their success stories.”

Julia Rouse added: “BOOST is a powerful journey for all of us involved. As a white person, I have learnt so much about the lived experience of our ethnically diverse colleagues, as have the mentors on our programme. That is really powerful in enabling us to see how our organisations can improve, and how we can be part of healing increasingly divisive communities. I am continuously bowled over by the talent and growth of our mentees and their courage in sharing their experiences with the BOOST movement.”

The next cohort of BOOST participants started earlier this month, with 19 new mentors and mentees joining our Movement. We’re also excited to have a new housing association involved, Arawak Walton.