{"id":63693,"date":"2015-11-04T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=de89c622f899b52e8528b59080ac1d80"},"modified":"2015-11-04T13:26:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-04T13:26:00","slug":"press-release-austrian-foreign-minister-sees-how-britains-diverse-communities-are-thriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=63693","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Austrian Foreign Minister sees how Britain\u2019s diverse communities are thriving"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Austrian Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, was yesterday (3 November 2015) shown around a \u201ccraft and conversation class\u201d which brings people of all faiths together in Southall. <\/p>\n<p>Accompanied by the UK\u2019s Communities Minister Baroness Williams, Kurz was keen to discover the ground-breaking integration work that goes on across England through <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cuf.org.uk\/how-we-help\/near-neighbours\/\">Near Neighbours<\/a> projects.<\/p>\n<p>The project in Southall has been held up as one of the best in the country. It brings women from the diverse local community together to encourage them to practise their English while they learn creative skills \u2013 like sewing, photography, baking and painting.<\/p>\n<p>Communities Minister Baroness Williams said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Projects like the one here in Southall help bring people together right across our country. That\u2019s why over the past 3 years we\u2019ve been able to support over a thousand like it.<\/p>\n<p>Every class helps neighbours in diverse areas get to know one another\u2019s culture and recognise and cherish the shared British values that bind us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">These fantastic projects have been met with great enthusiasm across the country. Now I hope they will inspire another country too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Baroness Williams takes part in sewing lessons\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/45862\/Baroness_Williams_takes_part_in_sewing_lessons_960x640.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption>Baroness Williams takes part in sewing lessons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Near Neighbours bring people together in communities that are religiously and ethnically diverse, so that they can get to know each other better, and strengthen the local community they live in.<\/p>\n<p>So far 300,000 people across the country have benefitted, with:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>97% considering that projects had developed relationships with neighbours from different religious backgrounds<\/li>\n<li>89% of project leaders considering that their projects to have led to a greater sense of togetherness or community spirit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During the visit the minister also met the leaders of Southall\u2019s diverse faith community to hear their views and discuss why integration was so important to their area.<\/p>\n<p>Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz believes that integration is of vital importance. <\/p>\n<p>He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Successful integration is vital for any country. It is a major focus of my government and that\u2019s why I\u2019m eager to see examples of successful projects which bring people from every background together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">It was clear to see that the faith leaders I met today in Southall are bound by their shared values and the discussions I had with them will certainly give me food for thought.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h2>\n<p>Near Neighbours was set up in 2011 in partnership between the Church Urban Fund and the Archbishop\u2019s Council and is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government.<\/p>\n<p>Near Neighbours grants were first targeted in 4 areas: the M62 \u2018mill towns\u2019 of Bradford, Burnley, and Oldham; Leicester; and selected boroughs and wards in east London and Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p>Last year the department boosted the fund by a further \u00a33 million, to bring the total funding to \u00a38 million and expansion to 9 new areas \u2013 Luton, Rochdale, Bury, Dewsbury, Leeds, Nottingham, north and west London and the Black Country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contact postal-address\" id=\"contact_40\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Office address and general enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<p class=\"adr\">\n<span class=\"street-address\">2 Marsham Street<br \/>\n<br \/>\nLondon<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"postal-code\">SW1P 4DF<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"contact_form_url\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Contact form<\/span><br \/>\n              <a href=\"http:\/\/forms.communities.gov.uk\/\">http:\/\/forms.communiti&#8230;<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">General enquiries:  please use this number if you are a member of the public<\/span><br \/>\n              030 3444 0000\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_171\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:press.office@communities.gsi.gov.uk\">press.office@communities.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Please use this number if you&#8217;re a journalist wishing to speak to Press Office<\/span><br \/>\n              030 3444 1201\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ministers see ground-breaking integration work that goes on across England through Near Neighbours projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}