News

Monday 22nd June 2009

Leeds Prevent Programme

The tragic events of the July 2005 bombings have had a significant impact on Leeds and have unified the city's residents from all faiths and backgrounds, and its civic and faith leaders, to stand together against any form of violent or hate inspired extremism, religious or political. Since then Leeds City Council has worked hard to build partnerships with faith groups and communities to identify and explore their needs and concerns.
Preventing Extremism is a key theme within the Council's Cohesion and Integration priorities. Building cohesion and integration includes promoting a shared sense of belonging and ensuring that we can build better relationships between people from different cultures and backgrounds. Extremist messages can stem from some of the most cohesive communities which is why we need to undertake a more targeted approach to tackling violent and hate inspired extremism and building the resilience of individuals and communities.
Leeds City Council has available £200,000 for the Prevent programme to commission activity throughout the city which aims to deliver a range of new and innovative approaches to tackle the cause and effects of violent and hate inspired extremism within our communities and bring about improved cohesion, tolerance, and understanding.
The Prevent programme seeks to engage local organisations to work in partnership over the funding period 1st September 2009 - 31st March 2011, to develop models of best practice that support vulnerable individuals, and build the resilience and confidence of communities to challenge robustly the ideas of violent and hate inspired extremists who seek to undermine our way of life.
The commissioning period will commence on 1st June 2009, with a closing date of 5pm on 3rd July 2009. All interested parties will need to complete a pre-application registration form which will be available on www.leedsinitiative.org from Monday 1st June 2009. For parties who do not have access to the internet, please contact the Prevent Team on (0113) 224 3361 for further information. On completion of the preapplication form, applicants will be issued with a unique reference number and the Prevent commissioning pack. Unless a request is made for a paper version of the commissioning pack, all applicants will receive this via email within one working day of receiving your pre-application form. Any queries related to the process, application form, or guidance notes can be emailed to prevent@leeds.gov.uk.

Prevent Small Grants Fund

A separate small grants pot will also be available that will provide up to £500 for small scale projects to be delivered by local groups within their communities. Guidance notes and application forms for the small grants fund are available from the 1st June.
There will be three funding rounds of the Prevent small grants fund and the first closing date for receiving completed application forms is 5pm on Thursday 10th September 2009.

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