Sporting initiatives that help integrate Britain's diverse communities will receive over £2 million in funding the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) announced today. Speaking at the CRE's conference 'Building an Integrated Society - Delivering Good Race Relations', Trevor Phillips, CRE Chair, said: "Over the next three years, along with our partners at Sport England we will, through our joint body, Sporting Equals, invest over £2 million in projects throughout England which use sport as a way of bringing people of different ethnicities together.

"The events of the past week have dramatised and given urgency to the need to bring our society together. One way we can help make this a reality is by providing backing for efforts to bring people together in neighbourhoods and towns all over the country, in activities that give people pleasure.

"In the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London we want young people to discover that they share a passion for sport with people who they would never otherwise meet. We know that playing sport will not guarantee that young people become friends, but it will mean that they need not be strangers, and once they know each other they are less likely to be enemies."

Mr Phillips went on to talk about the need for a more proactive approach to integration with three key aims: equality; interaction; and participation. He said:

"We want to reassert the need for a society in which everyone's life chances are unaffected by what or where they were born. Although we have made huge progress over the past forty years, we are more unequal by race and ethnicity; less likely to interact with people not like ourselves; and less likely to see minority participation in the key arenas of political, civic and cultural life."

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said: "All our citizens should be able to feel that there are equal opportunities for them to benefit from and contribute to society. The Government's ambitious action plan to reduce inequalities and build community cohesion is set out in the cross-government strategy 'Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society'. Race equality remains a major priority for this government, and we have come a long way - but there is still much to do.

"The dreadful attacks on London on 7th July did not discriminate on the basis of race or religion. We are determined that these atrocities will not be allowed to create tensions within our community, and are deeply proud of the determination and unity with which our citizens have responded. At this time more than most, we should remember that more unites our communities than divides them."

The CRE today also launched a Good Race Relations Guide which includes examples of good practice from the public, private and voluntary sectors which have led to greater interaction between communities. The CRE's Good Race Relations Guide is available from www.cre.gov.uk/goodracerelations

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