Diversity champions collect special award

John Heywood, Link4Life Trustee presenting the Diversity Special Award to members of the Community Hub

A special contribution to community cohesion has been recognised at this year’s 2014 Diversity Awards.

The surprise award, which has been sponsored by Link4Life, the Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, was presented to the Cohesion Hub, a group made up of representatives from a number of agencies including police, youth services, schools, licensing, community safety and communications.

The group was set up by the Rochdale Safer Communities Partnership to address the need to strengthen community resilience and cohesion, within the borough, in the challenging circumstances of on-going child sexual exploitation cases. The special award recognised their essential contribution in helping to preserve community relations and cohesion during this time.

The work the group has been involved in included promoting events and festivals, helping discussions to take place about controversial issues, setting up question and answer sessions in the community and developing understanding within the community about how decisions are made

Presenting the award, Link4Life Trustee, John Heywood congratulated all those involved and said, “Link4Life is delighted to be sponsoring an award that recognises the important work being done in promoting community cohesion in the borough. It clearly demonstrates the successful outcomes that can be achieved from effective partnership working.”

Zulf Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Kashmir Youth Project who organise the Diversity Awards, now in their third year, said, “The Diversity Awards aim to showcase the excellent work being done in the borough by individuals, groups and organisations. They recognise contributions being made within the workplace or service provision towards inclusion, cohesion and diversity.”

The work of the Cohesion Hub, which has recently been expanded, will continue into the future to engage with communities and ensure that agencies are equipped to work together effectively.