Leon Alleyne-McLaughlin, Safeguarding Officer

Put simply, I’m here because someone pointed me towards a then 5-year-old (now decade-old) pamphlet in a second-hand bookshop in Durham. Enraptured by Hillary Benn’s musing on an ethical transatlantic partnership, I became obsessed with the idea of Fabian style policy work, looking for every old pamphlet and article I could find.

Eventually, I forked over my £2.50 membership due and then did nothing (give or take a few blog pieces) until I moved to London 3 years later. However, from there I threw myself into YF, getting involved in the Networks, writing more for Antics and the blog, and setting up the BAME Advocacy Group, before joining the exec in 2019, first as Secretary, now as (I think our first ever) Safeguarding Officer.

As far as my aims for the year are concerned, I want to make sure that safeguarding is not an afterthought, but built into everything we do. I plan to rewrite the Society’s safeguarding policy to include lessons learned in the past few months, and ensure it’s actually adhered to.

At the same time, I intend to either find a qualified organisation that can deliver proper safeguarding training to all network and group officers or failing that devise a training course that can be delivered inhouse so that all our volunteers understand their responsibilities. Separately, I’ll be acting as the lead for any safeguarding matters that come up and setting up a more formal system for reporting safeguarding concerns.

I won’t pretend that we will never make another mistake in this area, but my hope for this year is that, when we do make a mistake, we’ll get better at owning up to and dealing seriously with it. If you need to get in touch, my contact details are:

• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @leon_alleyne

Morenike Adeleke, Women's Officer

Most of you know me as Nicki, and I’m honoured to be your Women’s Officer. I joined the Young Fabians because of their policy-driven thinking and have met some incredible people. I am the outgoing Vice-Chair of the Young Fabians Health Network, and also an alumna of the Fabian Women’s Network (FWN) Mentoring Programme. Outside of politics, I work as a hospital pharmacist, and have seen first hand how COVID-19 has affected the NHS. 

As Women’s Officer, I want to ensure women are represented in every section of the Society, and everyone has a part to play. 

My aims are: 

• Working with Cecilia, our Vice-Chair, to launch the pamphlet, The Gendered Impact of the Pandemic; Rebuilding The World For Womxn, focusing on the issues we face in the 21st century, the impact of the pandemic and the changes we can make. Please get in touch if you have any ideas and would like to be involved! 
• Aim to have 50% of women contributing to our blogs and podcast. I will work with the executive to come up with ideas to inspire women to write and speak on our platforms. Have an idea for the blog or podcast? Get in touch! 
• Hold regular meetings with members to ensure fresh ideas and approaches, keep myself accountable and encourage women to participate.
• Work with the Fabian Women’s Network to compare ideas, host events together and collaborate with them to create a platform for young women to flourish 

It takes a collaborative approach to make these things happen, and I wouldn’t be in this role if not for many incredible women, of which there are too many to name, who had my back and cheered me on.

Just as they supported me, I want to support you.

If you want to get involved and have questions, or simply want to have a chat, my contact details are:

• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @morenikeadeleke