Our Race and Religion Hate Crime project creates safe spaces to foster dialogue, build resilience and develop networks that support victims and witnesses of hate crimes and incidents across Derbyshire.
The Multi-Faith Centre launched the Race and Religion Hate Crime Project in July 2019 with assistance from the Derbyshire OPCC and close work with the University of Derby.
Hate and prejudice towards diverse groups have been on the rise. Perpetrators of hate conflate race and religion, and this is particularly concerning for the members of all BAME communities. Sadly, at a time when community cohesion is needed, levels of religion- and hate-based crimes are steadily increasing. Underreporting of this stream of hate is especially concerning, especially due to the known rise in hate crimes following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This project coordinates community groups across Derbyshire to create safe spaces for dialogue, build resilience and develop joined up networks to support victims and report incidences of religious hate crime. MFC manages a network of 40 community groups to build bridges, improve communications and shape better police responses and interventions around this agenda. The network supports communities that might not otherwise know about victim support services.
Significant achievements in the last two years include launching the project, building a network of organisations across the city and county, developing an online knowledge hub to share ideas and best practice, running a Hate Crime Awareness activities and the successful launch of an Innovation Fund which supported 12 groups to trial new ways of working to tackle race and religious hate crime and support victims.