Uniting Communities with CARE

“In particular football, can have a positive role in delivering a wide range of social policy outcomes, including those relating to education, health, anti-social behaviour, and employment.”

The Joint Chairs of Charlton Athletic FC’s award-winning equality partnership with Greenwich Council, Harcourt Alleyne and Martin Simons, look at the vital role sport can play in promoting positive relationships between different communities.

As the new millennium gathers pace the issues of equality, diversity and community cohesion have acquired a new importance and currently occupy a prominent position on the political and policy agendas of many countries across Europe. Indeed, it has been argued that the major challenges facing “cities of the 21st century” will be “inherently characterised by diversity.”

In Britain today, there is an increas¬ing recognition of the rich and complex nature of the diversity of cultures and experiences that are reflected in everyday customs, traditions and religious practices. There is now a great emphasis on promoting social inclusion, building community cohesion, and engaging with the community embodied within the requirements of all new social policy initiatives.

Projects and programmes are actively encouraged to promote a culture of joint working and partnership between service providers, the local community, and other key stakeholders. There is a keen focus on the development of effective strategies designed to increase community participation and extend local involvement in social regeneration programmes.

“Projects designed to promote participation in sport and football can play a leading role in bringing communities together by facilitating inter-action between groups from different backgrounds.”

Discrimination, however, can exclude and disadvantage groups and individuals according to their gender, disability, ethnicity, and age, making it difficult to promote integration and to develop positive relationships between different groups. Furthermore, the complex inter-play between inequality, economic marginalisation and social exclusion can also fuel tensions between different groups, and further increase divisions.

The development of social networks and community relationships that help to build connections between different groups and encourage social contact, particularly those that cut across ethnic identities, can help to build and sustain a sense of community, and an attachment to a particular place or neighbourhood.

The universal appeal of sport and global popularity of football influences many aspects of our everyday life. It is widely recognised that sport is a powerful social force, and that the promotion of sports based activities, in particular football, can have a positive role in delivering a wide range of social policy outcomes, including those relating to education, health, anti-social behaviour, and employment.

Furthermore, projects designed to promote participation in sport and football can play a leading role in bringing communities together by facilitating inter-action between groups from different backgrounds.

"Charlton Athletic Football Club has a remarkable history of delivering a wide range of community programmes designed to promote social inclusion and build community cohesion."

Charlton Athletic Football club has a remarkable history of delivering a wide range of community programmes designed to promote social inclusion and build community cohesion. Alongside its internationally renowned community trust, and through its award-winning partnership with Greenwich council, the Charlton Athletic Race Equality (CARE) partnership forms an integral part of  “one of the most extensive community schemes . . . seen anywhere in Europe.”

The CARE partnership was set up in the mid 1990s, with an initial focus on developing projects to promote anti-racism. over the years CARE’s work has expanded considerably, and now embraces a much wider equality and diversity agenda, with a particular focus on building positive community relations by tackling inequality and discrimination.

CARE is a unique partnership, led by Greenwich council and Charlton Athletic Football Club. As a key local authority, Greenwich council is a host borough for the 2012 Olympics, which will also act as a major catalyst for the development of sport and physical activity programmes, healthy promotion schemes, new facilities and new partnerships.

CARE has an impressive track record of delivering a diverse and comprehensive range of community based activities, using multi-sports and inter-active arts based programmes to promote cohesion, interaction and in¬clusion.

Projects are primarily designed to positively engage with the local community, and the high profile nature of Charlton Athletic FC is invaluable in helping to attract and motivate participants in the projects. CARE drives forward an exciting and innovative range of initiatives, including the popular CARE Unity cup, an inter-faith, cross-cultural 6-a-side football tournament that aims to bring together young people from different communities in order to build bridges between different groups.

The CARE Unity cup model is distinctive, in that it is based on a non-traditional method of selecting teams, where the players are recruited in advance and then divided into mixed teams. This provides the opportunity for the young people to inter-act with members from other communities, and has a real impact in helping to develop and foster positive community relationships. Significantly, the cup also provides a fun, enjoyable and healthy way for people, regardless of their background, to ‘come together as one’.

CARE’s work plays a crucial role in helping to tackle social exclusion, encourage healthier lifestyles, and build positive relationships between people from dif¬ferent backgrounds, and is “a fantastic example of an extremely positive initiative … key to developing community cohesion and understanding between people from different backgrounds.” CARE uses a diverse range of innovative, interactive sports and arts initiatives to create informal platforms for interaction and communication between individuals and groups who might not otherwise have normally associated - contributing to the building of positive relationships and a sense of community. An independent commission on Integration cohesion (CIC), based within the department for communities and local Government, whose landmark report looked at how to build strong communities in England, recently acknowledged CARE’s pioneering work as an example of Best practice.

For more information in regard to Charlton Athletic‘s activities against racism, see: www.cafe.co.uk/anti_racism.ink

In order to contact CARE, please write to: [email protected]

"Projects are primarily designed to positively engage with the local community, and the high profile nature of Charlton Athletic FC is invaluable in helping to attract and motivate participants in the projects."