£1.3m funding for Muslim Community Projects
(7 October 2008)

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears today named the twenty two projects that will share in a £1.3 m Community leadership Fund aimed at supporting Muslim communities to unlock the potential of local people to take a lead on tackling violent extremism. The aim is to support people finding solutions to local issues and responding to local concerns.

The Community Leadership Fund provides grants to projects that have mainly national reach and scope and places a particular emphasis on those activities that are focused on fostering the leadership skills of Muslim women and young people.

Hazel Blears said: "The importance of strong community leadership cannot be underestimated. Good leaders are the people that inspire and challenge and can rally communities to respond to some of the biggest issues we face.

"Alongside figureheads and spokespeople we need to ensure that people working in communities at all levels have a say and get the support they need. The influence of women and young people cannot be overlooked. Their voices often resonate deepest with the communities they live in and with the individuals that need to engaged with the most."

The Fund, which has more than doubled in its size since last year - rising from 650,000 in 07/08 to £2 million for 08/09, supports projects which build the capacity of individuals and organizations in Muslim Communities to take the lead in tackling violent extremist influences.

Funding has been allocated to projects that will :

* Develop the capacity of organisations and groups to engage in outreach work with their communities though programmes including helplines and roadshows

* Support youth-led projects which develop the leadership skills of young people - this includes both formal and informal activities and training such as sports, workshops and mentoring.

* Support Muslim women - including a project to highlight positive female role models

* Develop the capacity of faith leaders in order to ensure that they are equipped with the skills they need to engage with their communities, especially young people.

* Establish local forums against extremism and discrimination - to tackle problems and issues arising from misunderstandings and prejudice.

BUILDING THE CAPACITY OF ORGANISATIONS

British Muslim Forum

BMF will develop their own capacity and sustainability by recruiting to four posts. This will enable them to work with local Muslim organisations across the country to develop their own working arrangements and governance structures.

Funding: £75,000 (08/09), £50,000 (09/10)

Business in the Community (BiTC)

Mosaic Muslim Media Network for Muslims working in the media sector to build the confidence of community groups and leaders to engage the media.

Funding: £25,000 (08/09)

GW Theatre Company

GW Theatre will build their organisational infrastructure in order to deliver a national tour of their production 'One Extreme to the Other'. Aimed at young people aged 14-25 and adults too, "One Extreme to the Other" is a production prompting debate about issues relating to extremism and is accompanied by a comprehensive follow-up package to inform further discussion and lead in good practice. They aim to deliver around 110 performances over the next three years.

Funding: £95,000 (08/09)

Khayaal Theatre Company

Khayaal Theatre Company plans to build its capacity for growth and sustainability in order to deliver between 200-250 performances of their two plays 'Hearts and Minds' and 'Sun and Wind' in schools across the country over the next three years. Both of these plays address the issues of radicalisation and extremism as they manifest themselves in families and communities.

Funding: £129,541 (08/09)

Muslim Youth Helpline

Capacity building for MYH to recruit a Helpline Care Manager to develop the Helpline's support services and extend the reach of its support services to support vulnerable young people at risk of radicalisation in 'hard to reach' communities, such as the Somali and Eastern European Muslim communities.

Funding: £30,650 (08/09), £61,888 (09/10), £64,767 (10/11)

Association of Muslim Chaplains in Education (AMCED)

AMCED will build its organisational capacity to effectively deliver new services to Muslim chaplains to promote community cohesion and prevent violent extremism. This will involve recruitment and training of new staff, development and launch of their website.

Funding: £44,400 from CLG (08/09), £30,000 from DIUS (08/09)

YOUTH

Common Purpose

Common Purpose will deliver leadership training courses for younger members of the Muslim community:

* 'Your Turn' - a schools programme for year 9 pupils in London, Manchester, Birmingham and in West Yorkshire.

* 'Frontrunner' - a programme for young leaders in higher education.

* A customized 'Frontrunner' programme for 40 young Muslim leaders who are not in full time education or who cannot make the dates of the three open programmes.

* 'Navigator' - a programme in every region of the UK for first career leaders.

Funding: £65,000 (08/09)

Local Leagues Limited

Programme of sports coaching and local competitions as preventative and diversionary activities for Muslim young people (aged 8-19 years) and engagement of undergraduates with policy makers and decision makers.

Funding: £79,440 (08/09)

Karimia Institute

Develop the work of the Muslim Youth Development Partnership, funded by CLG in 07/08 to train and support 150 volunteer Muslim Youth Leaders over three years.

Funding: £67,180 (08/09), £50,000 (09/10), £50,000 (10/11)

Bradford Police Club for Young People

Engagement of young people through workshops and informal classroom settings to examine the relationship between peace, violence, conflict and war with a particular emphasis on questions of applied ethics in

Funding: £41,951 (08/09), £30,000 (09/10), £30,000 (10/11)

Muslim Youthwork Foundation

Scholarship programme for 10 individuals to undertake a National Youth Association accredited training course to qualify as Muslim youth and community workers.

Funding: £41,300 (08/09)

UK Race and Europe Network

Pilot of a citizenship toolkit resource to support the work of young leaders, youth workers, teachers, Imams and parents which has been developed using CLG funding in 2007/08.

Funding: £75,072 (08/09)

OneVoice Europe

Engagement of young Muslim and Jewish students in a youth leadership development training course to build and promote a consensus for a peaceful resolution to conflicts in the Middle East.

Funding: £35,000 (08/09)

Changemakers Foundation

Continuation of 2007-08 CLG funded project to deliver a youth leadership programme to develop young leaders to become 'Changemakers' and develop and deliver projects in their own communities.

Funding: £80,000 (08/09)

Nasiha

Youth Citizen Capacity Building Project to network young people in higher education to educate and support Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils in mosque schools.

Funding: £80, 000 (08/09)

WOMEN

Faith Matters

UK tour of Muslim women role models from the US. Women will be drawn from careers such as T.V presenters, researchers, civil servants, business entrepreneurs, civil society organisational heads.

Funding: £29,775 (08/09), £29,775 (09/10)

Faith Matters

The purpose of this project is to compile a directory of the 100 leading mosques that provide the best access to women. Each mosque will be awarded a rating out of five stars based on criteria developed through womens focus groups. The ultimate aim is to incentivise mosques to improve their engagement with and inclusion of women in all aspects of their work through greater access to recognition and resources from the public sector.

Funding: £75,350 (08/09)

FAITH LEADERS

Luqman Institute

Extension of the pilot Imam training programme funded in 2007-08 to develop training materials and deliver courses to 20 senior imams over an 8 month period

Funding: £80,006 (08/09)

Psychology and Religion Research Group, University of Cambridge

Imam Training Course to equip young, newly qualified Imams to engage with British culture and humanitarian values, and to find parallel values within the Qur'an.

Funding: £60,000 from CLG (08/09), £60,000 from DIUS (08/09)

Demos

'Futures thinking' workshops for Muslim young people and Imams to explore the 'future' of their interaction in the mosque. The workshops will be delivered in partnership with MINAB.

Funding: £65,624 (08/09)

LOCAL FORUMS

Gateshead Interfaith Forum

Gateshead Interfaith Forum will work closely with Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council to set up a Gateshead forum against extremism and Islamophobia, which will be run as a pilot in 08/09.

Funding: £9,925 (08/09)

Northampton Race Equality Council

The project will establish a local forum across Northamptonshire with representation from the diversity of Muslim groups across the county.

Funding: £14,800 (08/09)