One of the reasons why the Decade of the 2011-2021 may just be an important decade in British history, is because of the success of the Near Neighbours Programme, which was created by Church Urban Fund (CUF) and the C of E Archbishop’s Council following the award of £5million by the Department for Communities and Local Government in February 2011.
Since then, Near Neighbours has established 11 hubs across England, helping to develop positive relationships in specific multi-faith areas through small grants of £250 - £5,000, whilst also supporting and resourcing the growth of new ‘social action’ and ‘social interaction’ projects.
Hubs act as focal points for Near Neighbours activity and a local coordinator in each hub connects with and resources local projects, developing the work of the programme at a grassroots level and feeding into national strategy.
In Luton, GRASSROOTS Programme has been operating as the local Near Neighbours hub and Kim Greig (seen in the pic below) has been the first ever appointed Near Neighbours Coordinator.
In a recently held 10th Anniversary Celebrations in Luton, Kim shared that during the last 10 years, Luton has seen 287 projects undertaking activities e.g. community gardening, litter picking, music for those suffering from dementia, connecting young people with horses, arts & sports activities, mental health first aid training programmes, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, international women and inter faith week activities and several other projects involving people from diverse backgrounds, promoting cultural and racial understanding and integration.
Kim said Near Neighbours Programme through Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has contributed £728,157 worth of grants to support Luton communities, which is a significant contribution, much of it helped during the pandemic lockdowns too.
Elizabeth Carnelley, Director, Near Neighbours Programme said she is proud that the programme, nationally as well as locally, has been at the forefront of confronting the rumours and conspiracy myths which were and still are undermining public trust in health authorities and in tested and approved vaccines, which threaten an effective public health response to the pandemic.
Over 25 Luton organisations, present at the 10th Anniversary celebrations held locally, shared their outstanding work of helping people and communities in this town supported by Near Neighbours Programme. They all unequivocally expressed their gratitude and shouted aloud –
THANK YOU NEAR NEIGHBOURS!
For more information about Near Neighbours Programme, please see https://www.near-neighbours.org.uk/
