Faith groups
In 2014, we started to build connections between faith organisations and the wider voluntary and community sector.
We set up a working group of 8-12 faith leaders drawn from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths to advise and help us to prioritise our work in this area. The group met regularly to oversee and develop an action plan for the work.
The focus of the work was on raising awareness of faith and faith-based issues, and undertaking activities to both celebrate and connect faith organisations with the wider voluntary and community sector.
Making change happen
The faith groups achieved:
- Two ‘Celebrating Faith in our Community’ events attended by over 250 people. The events enabled networking and awareness raising. Two thirds of attendees felt they’d gained a better understanding of faith organisations and they’d made a useful connection, and half identified an opportunity to work in partnership
- development of the Interfaith Contact website, which has increased their profile and enabled them to engage with more people from a range of faiths
- a mental health faith partnership to develop training to increase understanding of mental health, with the aim of increasing referrals from secular health services to faith organisations
- a single database of faith organisations and their social action projects and places of worship
- faith awareness training to promote a greater awareness of faiths and more confidence in tackling faith-based discrimination