New generation of student leaders celebrated for bringing communities together

3FF, the UK’s leading interfaith organisation, will celebrate the achievements of 50 young leaders of different faiths and beliefs graduating from their UN award-winning ParliaMentors programme this Tuesday. Teams of university students across the country have acted as beacons of activism, hope and inspiration while carrying out social action projects throughout the year in the face of challenging political times.

The graduating ParliaMentors will be celebrated in the Houses of Parliament on 11 July. The event will reward the ten teams of students for their innovative projects; ranging from the intersectional ‘Behind Closed Doors’ campaign and conference by the SOAS team which aimed to address the problems of domestic violence, to ‘Pension Pals’, launched by the Nottingham group to improve issues of loneliness amongst the older generation through having a pen pal.

The programme is in its 10^th anniversary year and has empowered over 400 young leaders through expert training and being mentored by MPs, including Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer and Hilary Benn.

Mentor Stephen Timms has praised the programme: “Young, emerging leaders like these play an absolutely vital role in building connections between people from different backgrounds. I have no doubt they will continue making a real difference in their communities in the future.”

India Atkin, one of the ParliaMentors students, said: “The programme has been a huge step forward for me in learning about politics and getting the connections I need to forge a career in politics.”

Many alumni of the programme have gone on to become leaders in many different sectors, from becoming published authors to holding office, as well as organising the annual Interfaith Summit, a conference involving workshops, discussions and music promoting dialogue and interfaith engagement.

The ceremony takes place in the Attlee Suite, Houses of Parliament, on Tuesday 11 July at 2:30pm.