CRE announces £4m funding to promote racial integration

Communities across Britain are set to receive over £4 million in funding to promote racial integration, the Commission for Racial Equality announced today.

The awards, which are the last to be made by the CRE before it hands over to the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights this October, will provide vital cash injection for a wide range of frontline race relations projects.

The awards are part of the CRE's annual Getting Results agenda, an annual funding programme that has already invested a record £20 million in tackling racial discrimination since 2003.

The awards are part of the CRE's lasting commitment to fighting discrimination and promoting good race relations at a local level.

Examples of current Getting Results funding include:

A Slough conflict resolution scheme that has been awarded £33,500 to train young people from different ethnic backgrounds to teach other young people about how to resolve problems, peacefully. Race hate crime is a real problem on Britain's streets and this ground breaking scheme works at a grass roots level to combat it. In Newcastle-upon-Tyne, BECON (Black Ethnic Minority Community Organisations Network) has been awarded £35,000. The North East is, according to census 2001 figures, one of the 'whitest' areas in Britain. This project aims to break down racial barriers and encourage interaction amongst young people from different ethnic backgrounds in the North East. London's Hammersmith and Fulham Refugee Forum has been awarded £32,000. Refugees and asylum seekers are often portrayed in a negative light by the media; this fuels racial tensions and prevents communities from getting along. This scheme is one of the few projects focused on combating this problem by promoting positive images of this largely vulnerable group of people.

Kay Hampton, CRE Chair said: "The issue of race is alive and kicking as can be seen from the recent coverage of Big Brother to newspaper reports on the rise of gun crime.

"Getting Results goes a long way to tackling these problems at the sharp local level where the impact of race is most acutely felt.

"Communities know the issues that affect them, and how best to overcome them, be it through a drop-in centre for young people from different backgrounds or through an advice centre for victims of discrimination. This is the focal point of the Getting Results programme.

"The face of modern Britain is changing not just on paper but on our streets and at a grassroots level. It is only by funding projects such as these that we shape the future from one of tension to one of integration and understanding. In the past we have spoken about the way our communities are drifting apart and this funding is part of the practical solutions to reverse this trend."

Meg Munn, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Women and Equality) said: "I wholeheartedly support the CRE's Getting Results Programme which is an important source of funding for local race equality work.

"The purpose of the funding is to support projects concerned with integration and inter-community conflict resolution, and to help victims of racial discrimination and harassment.

"This work continues to be of crucial importance and I wish the CRE and their grant holders every success with it."

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