Community Awards Categories – Inspiring Youth

Community Awards Categories – Inspiring Youth

The COVID-19 pandemic has made us face a wide range of challenges as many of us are forced to adapt to a new lifestyle, such as working from home. However, this change has arguably been particularly difficult on children of all ages. Inspiring and engaging young people and children is an important yet difficult task as it is, but this is further highlighted with the restrictions and issues the lockdown and COVID-19 have brought. 

Despite these problems, many faith and belief groups and projects are committed to ensuring the youth within their communities have access to services that inspire, teach and enlighten them, regardless of the situation.  We at the Faith and Belief Forum believe it is more important than ever to share the stories of how faith groups are supporting their local communities, both in response to COVID-19, and their work in general. 

One such example of this is The Anti-Tribalism Movement, a London Faith & Belief Community Award winner from 2018. A member of the Council of Somali Organisations, The Anti-Tribalism Movement was established in 2010 by a group of young British-Somali’s who wanted to fight tribe-based discrimination and promote peace, equality and community amongst young people. The organisation offers a range of programmes and campaigns, to promote their values of peace and equality, and to encourage a dialogue on the issues faced by young Somali people in the UK. 

Their work includes, “Lead and Be Led”, an inspiring youth leadership programme, an ATM Fellowship, to help individuals gain a post-graduate degree in Law and Leadership, and the International Somali Awards. They also ran the successful Quit Knives Saves Lives Desistance Programme, in an effort to combat the rising levels of anti-social behaviour affecting young Somali men in London. Their hard work and dedication to fighting inequality and tribalism has allowed for a greater discussion on issues with in the British-Somali youth community, and allowed for a more tolerant, open and safer community for all. 

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic making the work they do more difficult, The Anti-Tribalism Movement stays committed to their cause, and has been running online youth workshops and hosting Instagram Lives. To find out how to take part in these, and for more information on The Anti Tribalism Movement please visit their website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. 

Another example is Triangoals, a 2019 London Faith & Belief Community Awards winner. Based in Barking, Triangoals is a community organisation that focuses on delivering various physical and sporting activities to children and young people. The organisation attempts to motivate young people and encourage healthy lifestyle and exercise choices. They do through running various sporting classes and activities, such as football and workouts. Triangoals, when speaking of their award win, said “we are here to serve the community and make it a better place and being part of the Faith & Belief community, it has empowered many of us moving forward”. 

The lockdown and other restrictions have had a great impact on how they operate, but Triangoals, ever committed to their mission, have encouraged keeping fit at home, even posting how their team members are working out on TikTok! To find out more about their work, please visit their Facebook and Twitter pages. 

Both The Anti-Tribalism Movement and Triangoals are exemplary examples of inspiring youth, one of the categories within the London Faith & Belief Community Awards. The inspiring youth category focuses on organisations and projects, such as those mentioned, that work tirelessly to motivate and engage with young people within and across their communities. Be it through leadership projects, sporting activities, forums with dialogue or creative outlets, we believe these organisations deserve to be highlighted for the hard work they do to inspire and support the next generation. 

With our upcoming London Faith & Belief Community Awards 2020, we hope to share the stories of similar, important work. For more information on the awards and to make a nomination please visit here or contact us at jessica@faithbeliefforum.org. 

The deadline for nominations is 27 July!

By Nick McDonald