Project to bring communities closer

Slough Borough Council has secured £25,000 of funding to work with communities and faith groups to build resilience and strengthen cohesion. 

The Common Ground Resilience Fund was launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in September last year to support towns and places across the country to bring people together from different backgrounds. 

The money is to be invested into the community and voluntary sector to promote social cohesion and connections. 

Community, voluntary and faith groups were invited to apply for the funding to lead on this project with Slough Borough Council.

Slough Council for Voluntary Services (SCVS) was awarded the contract at the end of December after being successful with a bid for the project. 

Over the next few months, a number of activities will be held with faith and community groups from across Slough with the aim of co-creating a Slough Faith Compact-style commitment to collaboration, inclusion, peace-building and strengthening cross-faith relationships.

Micro-grants will be available for faith-groups to aid discussion and participation of residents into the commitment and ideas for future focus. 

This draws on previous work in the last 12 months with the faith and voluntary sector around community cohesion including the Knowing Me, Knowing You event led by Slough Children First and the Faith Forum held by the council in July. 

Councillor Dexter Smith, leader of the council, said: “Slough was built on people coming here from across the country and across the world to work, live and make the town their home.

“We are, deservedly, known for our tolerance, welcoming nature and incredible diversity.

“But that reputation isn’t down to luck, it is down to the commitment from all our communities, faiths and official organisations to work together, to share our values, to learn about and from each other. 

“In these times when division appears to be the rise, this work is more important than ever, and we are proud to partner with SCVS and work with our communities and faiths to cement relationships and continue the community cohesion we are known for.”

He added: “The council using a voluntary sector partner to help us strengthen community cohesion is all part of the resilience-building work – with the council as a facilitator – that I have been promising over the last two years."

Asma Aziz, chief executive of SCVS, said: "This is a great opportunity to be working alongside the council, faith and voluntary groups, to support and create safe and inclusive spaces for dialogue, learning and collaboration, helping to strengthen social cohesion, respect and resilience at a time when it is needed most.

“This project is about listening to communities, co-creating solutions, and laying the foundations for long-term partnership working that supports the OneSlough approach and helps brings our faith partners to unite and thrive together.”

The project will be evaluated for how Slough Borough Council and partners can progress this work to support OneSlough ways of working in the future and continue to build and support cohesive and resilient communities.