The best solution for intolerance is to fix its causes first, and then unleash aspiration. Welcome to the Hopeful Towns Network

An interesting new initiative from Hope Not Hate, who campaign to increase empathy and reduce ethnic/racial tension in UK communities. Here’s the opening pitch from their new Hopeful Towns Network:

This project aims to better understand what makes a place confident, optimistic and open, and to help towns across England and Wales to fulfil their potential. We want to address the root causes of hate, to stop divisive narratives from taking hold in the first place. And we want to promote policies which champion the value of towns, and stress that every town matters.

…Many of Britain’s towns are confident, welcoming and optimistic places. They have rich histories and strong identities. But big changes have put many communities under strain. Our previous research has shown how feelings of loss and decline give hatred a foothold in some of Britain's strongest and proudest communities.

The aim of this project is to understand what makes a town resilient in the face of change and tolerant in the face of difference. 

…No two towns are the same – they are not proxy for ‘left behind’ areas. Each has a different geography, population, and history, and not all are feeling the effects of deindustrialisation or geographical isolation.

At the same time, there are clear differences between towns and cities. Wealth, infrastructure and industry, as well as cultural investment, continue to be concentrated in core cities. The populations of towns are getting older, as younger graduates leave for cities to find work.

Towns are, on the whole, less diverse places with less history of migration, so people are less likely to have meaningful contact with someone from a different background to themselves.

…Integration cannot just be focused on the efforts of migrant and minority communities, but is about everyone. This means creating places that are confident, optimistic and welcoming, by ensuring that people feel in control of their own lives. Our work campaigning against the far right has consistently shown that, for people to have faith in others, they need to have hope for themselves.

HOPE not hate believes in a dual strategy for combatting extreme and hateful politics. We challenge the politics and organisations that spread division and hate – whilst also building the capacity of communities and of society as a whole, to resist their messages… We aim to find what makes a town confident, optimistic and welcoming to new groups – and to help put the mechanisms in place to make every town hopeful.

More here. If you’d like to join the Hopeful Towns Network, click here. There’s also a regular blog, and a major report (click on the cover below) which backs up this project.

For report click on image above, or here