Hadiya speaks at global cultural gathering

Our founder Hadiya Masieh was privileged to be on the roster for the inaugural SXSW London festival - coming to the UK's shores for the first time after it built a global reputation as one of the foremost cultural, tech and music events in the USA.

Speaking on the first day of the event - which also attracted major celebrity speakers such as Idris Elba - she talked to a gathered crowd on the topic of 'Saving Young Girls from the Eyes of ISIS'. She spoke about her unique background in the field and the experiences she's had, as well as Groundswell's key role to play in stopping young people being drawn into radical extremism through training and education.

You can see more about SXSW London here. 

Celebrating sanctuary seekers for Refugee Week 

For this year's Refugee Week in late June, Groundswell partnered with a number of groups in Luton to celebrate those who have sought sanctuary here in the UK - and everything that they bring to enrich its culture.

Working with Luton City of Sanctuary, the Orange Picture Club and Luton Council, we were pleased to be able to make available a film screening of 'Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza'. Later in the week, we took part in a community festival to mark Refugee Week at the Chaul End Community Centre.

International Day of Peace is coming - join us

A message from our founder, Hadiya:
"The wars taking place in the Middle East Ukraine, parts of Africa and elsewhere in the world are not just physically taking place, but are in every human mind, body and soul. We all suffer as a result - when one part of humanity aches so does the rest.

"There has been no break for humanity since the pandemic, it's just like our governments and leaders have not learned lessons. If you consider yourself a conscious, awakened, enlightened, aware or spiritual individual, we invite you to share your thoughts and ideas on how we can come together on 25 September - the International Day of Peace."

Send any contributions to info@groundswell.world. And watch our video for International Day of Peace last year, by clicking on the image.

It's a knockout - men's group hailed a success

Working in conjunction with Hope Church in Luton, we've been able to attract funding to set up a men's peer support group in the town.

Entitled Knockout Minds, it's the brainchild of our Community Connector in Luton, Leela.

Alongside the opportunity for men to get together and talk, helping to combat isolation and mental health issues, it also doubles as a boxing class, helping with physical fitness and discipline.

The classes began in May and we have funding to run them as a six-month pilot.

Discussing the impact of misogynistic influencers

We have been recognised nationally for the work we've done to tackle the negative impact of extreme misogynistic influencers, and were glad to have the opportunity to talk more about this at a recent conference for professionals.

Our debate and Q&A at the Best Practice Network conference on the 'manosphere' was able to share hints and tips on what influencers do to draw young men in, and what works in terms of drawing them back out. The Q&A was well received and prompted a number of productive conversations.

To find out more about the work we do to tackle this, including our training for schools and other settings, visit our training page here or email us at info@groundswell.world.

Working with the Street Fathers for safer streets

We were delighted to see the launch of the Street Fathers project in Luton recently, having played a key role in helping source funding and strategy planning.

The scheme is aimed at helping people to feel safer when out and about, through the implementation of street engagement teams who can speak to groups, and are on hand to help provide guidance and support to disenfranchised young people and their families.

This was a great example of community connection in action - and we're looking forward to seeing the results over the coming months.

Supporting new cafe initiative in Oldham

At Groundswell Manchester, we are proud of our work to connect with and support groups doing great work in the community.

We are supporting Dipact CIC who have just launched their Global Roots Cafe at the 1853 Studios in Oldham.

The initiative launched at the end of July, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, and is a way of bringing together cultures, storytelling and community over food.

Find out more at Dipact CIC's Instagram here. 

Adeel promotes cohesion through sport at mela

Our Community Connector in Glasgow, Adeel, attended the Glasgow Mela on 22 June at Kelvingrove Park.

The get-together is Scotland's largest celebration of South Asian culture, and Adeel was continuing to promote the sport of Kabbadi as a means of bringing people together through sport.

The event followed on from our recent sponsorship of the Scottish Kabbadi team at the Kabbadi World Cup held in the West Midlands.

The use of sport, and particularly Kabbadi, is a key strand of Adeel's community work in the city.

Feasting and chatting to join up communities

Luton Listens: A Feast took place this month - and was an opportunity to get people from many different cultures and backgrounds together to talk and listen to each other.

Under the banner of 'talking faith, making friends, changing lives', the aim of the session was to encourage people with diverse views to come together, debate and widen perspectives, with the overarching hope that it will help build peace and tackle division.

We played a key role in getting the event off the ground and had some great discussions with the local council and other key stakeholders, as well as hearing from many members of the public about how we can build a more cohesive community.

Don't forget our mapper app

Don't forget that our Kindness Mapper is now available on a new web platform and we have also made it available as an app via the App Store and Google Play Store.

As well as finding out what's happening in your local area, there's a brand new feature that allows you to donate to organisations you support.

Lots of feedback we've received over the years has been that people would find our mapper easier to use in app form, so we are really excited to finally make that a reality. Find out more about the map here. Download for iPhone here and on Google Play here.