“Being part of LocalMotion Lincoln has literally changed my life”
As part of Lincoln’s response to the need for strengthening connections and telling community stories, Matti Colley reflected alongside Kate O’ Reilly on their work to tackle systemic racism in a recent “Matti Meets” episode.
Kate, Community Manager at Lincoln City Foundation, took part in the first funded brap PACT Pioneers programme in 2024, and Matti joined the 2025 cohort.
Both then joined the local programme delivered in Lincoln throughout 2025, with Kate supporting LocalMotion Lincoln Coordinator Charlotte Brooks with facilitation and designing content for the local learning.
Here are some of the key learning insights that Kate shared with us:
- Being part of a “bigger picture” community movement has helped build her self-confidence and self-esteem
- Alternative (“out of the norm”) external learning and training opportunities can be transformational for organisations and individuals to think deeply about the impact that they want to have, and are having, through the work
- Kate recognises the “white fragility” that exists in communities and networks, and would like to see more white leaders feel empowered and confident to talk about racism as a system
- Inclusive practice is forever evolving- “we cannot stand still in this work”
- It is essential to hear different perspectives and systems tools are less effective when only used in spaces where like-minded people already share similar thoughts and ideas
- “Spreading the no” (the disagreement or different perspective) can be uncomfortable and existing systems favour people who “save face” and don’t prioritise the radical.
“I don’t know why (LocalMotion Lincoln) approached me initially but I am grateful for the support and opportunity….going on the brap PACT Pioneer training helped create the space for me to think about systemic racism and how whiteness is perceived within the system. I can now see that I had held views which have been transmitted through the systems I am part of and that that realisation of how engrained those views were, was uncomfortable – but necessary.”
Since the brap PACT Pioneers training Kate and Matti are continuing their learning and deeper systemic thinking around racism. They are both looking for opportunities to test tools and resources in their own networks and are continuing to build their confidence and capacity in anti-racist practice.
About “Matti Meets”
Matti Meets launched in 2026 to celebrate and share positive community stories and the growing network of individuals, groups and organisations that are joining our LocalMotion movement.
Matti, who took over the LocalMotion Lincoln communications channels in 2025, collects her own insights from conversations and records interviews to capture and help curate journeys for change.
Matti says: “It is an absolute pleasure to be working alongside everyone within our LocalMotion movement locally and nationally to talk about their experiences of community work and self and collective learning. I’m looking forward to recording many more “Matti Meets” and to see how our collective experience of learning evolves as the movement evolves.