Faiths, hope and participation: celebrating faith groups' role in neighbourhood renewal

Local faith communities often feel themselves to be fragile and weak, yet the truth is that they are often the strongest local community grouping and the most comprehensive - they are well placed to be the catalyst for community development. This report is the result of a partnership between the New Economics Foundation, the Church Urban Fund and the DTLR's (Department of Transport, Local government and the Regions, UK) Special Grants Programme. It is based on findings from 14 æTaking PartÆ workshops conducted in the UK between 1999 and 2001, which brought people from different faith traditions to explore local participation in neighbourhood renewal. It explores how faith groups contribute to neighbourhood renewal and why local authority and renewal agencies benefit from work with faith groups. It also shows how faith groups work together to be more effective and how they can enable genuine, not token participation. The booklet is divided into five chapters examining the context of neighbourhood renewal (including the national Strategy for neighbourhood Renewal and Local Strategic Partnerships, LSPs); roles of faith groups in neighbourhood renewal; faith groups in partnership; the æTaking PartÆ workshops; and resources, organisations and networks relating to neighbourhood renewal