“I love that my voice is used for good”: Black History Month - a CITC story | OneFootball

To celebrate Black History Month, the Club’s charity sat down with its Outreach Manager as part of as part of ‘We Are City in the Community’ storytelling campaign.

In the interview, Kimoni discusses how her drive to service others has allowed her to fit naturally into the work City in the Community do, as well as what Black History Month means to her.

Tell us a little bit about your journey to today…

My journey with Outreach started in around 2016, when I became a mentor supporting participants from underrepresented backgrounds. The aim was to inspire and widen access to higher education.

Following this, I became a school’s graduate advisor, supporting 16 schools across Manchester by providing IAG (Information, Advice and Guidance) to their students as part of the government-funded initiative Greater Manchester Higher.

At that point, I was also invited by my university to become a board member of their parent company, LTE Group. This is where my experience of combining strategy and outreach began.

After a few years of doing both successfully, I became the outreach project lead for Greater Manchester Higher, which works in partnership with all higher education institutions across Manchester.

Together, we aimed to widen participation in high schools through targeted outreach interventions designed to remove barriers for disadvantaged students.

How did you first become involved in CITC?

My journey started at City in the Community in September 2024. In the years before, I had overseen various programmes such as Football Champions and Sport Champions.

These were targeted support provisions for underrepresented groups who were unlikely to progress to higher education. Many faced barriers as simple as their postcode.

I created a programme that kept participants’ passion for sport at the forefront, while providing them with backup plans — helping them explore industries like journalism, finance, and media, and developing transferable skills such as teamwork, personal statement writing, and CV building.

Sport became the tool of engagement, while equipping participants with the experience and skills needed to progress beyond what was statistically expected of them.

Last year, I decided to take a leap of faith into the football industry to scale up the work I had been doing in education. I took on a temporary maternity cover role at CITC to manage the outreach programmes across Greater Manchester.

This allowed me to work with participants on a bigger scale, creating longer-term and more sustainable interventions.

Since this leap of faith, I have now been offered to remain in position, so I will continue to manage the outreach programmes going forward.

What does CITC mean to you?

What I love about City in the Community is its values; they align so closely with my own. To be caring, to be inclusive, to transform.

One of the biggest values embedded in me through my faith is to put others first. To me, that’s exactly what “youth-led” means: not prioritising yourself but serving others ahead of yourself.

So, for me, CITC represents a way of living that I was already committed to.

From your experience, what difference do relatable role models within CITC make to young black people in Manchester?

Representation is everything. It’s something I’ve championed throughout my career. Equality, diversity, and inclusion are rooted in representation, people feel safe when they see others like them in positions of influence and change.

Having positive and relatable role models on our Kicks programme makes our sessions powerful. It’s not just a box-ticking exercise, it’s psychological reinforcement and empowerment.

When young black people see black people leading sessions, championing them, and showing them alternative pathways, it creates safety and possibility. It shows them there’s a better way to live, that their ambitions are achievable, and that they too can lead.

That’s why I love programmes like PL Kicks, because they bring community members into paid roles.

Specifically, what difference does this make to young females?

Unfortunately, we currently don’t have any black female delivery staff, so there isn’t direct representation for that group.

However, I believe that having black male role models involved in young females’ lives still makes a positive impact.

It shows them how to be treated with respect, how to lead, and how to follow. It disrupts negative stereotypes they may have experienced.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The thing I enjoy most is having a voice. Growing up, I was always told I talked too much to the point where I was sent out of class for speaking, but now, I start most of my talks by telling children, I get paid to speak.

Whether it’s in a board meeting, a team environment, a motivational talk, a workshop, or mentoring, I love that my voice is used for good.

I enjoy championing prosocial behaviour and equality, diversity, and inclusion, and CITC gives me the freedom to do that.

The ability to speak openly and authentically is one of the things I value most.

What does Black History Month mean to you?

Black History Month is a time to tell our stories, to shine a light on the good we are doing, and to raise awareness of the challenges we’ve had to overcome.

It’s not about dwelling on limitations but about highlighting who you are and whose you are.

It’s the one month we get to show the world that, irrespective of stereotypes, we are overcomers.

What impact do you feel you are having on others from a community perspective?

Again, referring to the question about what I love most about my job, the impact I am having is through my voice.

I am using my voice for the community. I’m speaking in rooms inside and outside of the workplace, championing the area I grew up in and championing the City of Manchester as a whole.

Sometimes you can question your impact, but I can say my impact has been recognised as I’ve been nominated for various awards, and most recently in 2024 I won the Community Award on The Black Footballers List.

Why do you think it’s important that CITC supports the community you grew up in?

It’s vital because you can’t truly support a community from the outside.

Any organisation working in this city should take a personal stake in its communities.

I’m grateful CITC has done so for years now. The power of an organisation like this is life-changing, particularly in areas with high deprivation.

The evidence is visible: where our sessions are delivered, who we support, and the issues we target.

CITC works with children at risk of antisocial behaviour, children at risk of abuse, and young people facing structural disadvantage.

I always say… if not us then, who?

If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give them?

Don’t leave your faith behind, let it underpin every decision you make.

I’d also tell myself to listen more and talk less (in class). Words are powerful: they are either passwords for positivity, or they are roadblocks.

Finally, I’d remind myself that my race and gender are superpowers, irrespective of what society says. There is gold in both.

Keep an eye-out for more We Are CITC stories throughout the year.

If you would like to support CITC and its work, you can do so through the CITC Prize Draw which offers fans around the world* the opportunity to get their hands on signed player shirts, match tickets, cash prizes and much more each month for just £5 a ticket.

To enter the draw or find out more information, visit: www.mancity.com/citcprizedraw

City in the Community empowers healthier lives with city youth through football. To find out more, visit www.mancity.com/citc or follow @citcmancity.

*Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Cambodia, Qatar, Lebanon, and North Korea are the only excluded countries from the prize draw.