‘No one can go back and start a new beginning, but we all can start today and make a new ending.’ ACF Young Person
Since 2003 the Active Change Foundation has been working to bring about greater social cohesion in the community and beyond, to prevent the spread of extremism in all its forms. The Active Change Foundation was established as a mechanism to facilitate this positive change. As a result of the ACF staff’s personal experiences of street crime and the lure of violent extremism, ACF has a unique, in-depth understanding of the social, cultural and faith issues that need addressing in the community. We are committed to providing all sections of our diverse communities with support, understanding the routes to personal and communal progression. Our work permeates the barriers of faith, race, gender and class in order to address individual needs with a united approach.
Our aim is to contribute to the creation and maintenance of communities that are bound by an inextricably linked sense of shared values and commonality that is promoted by respecting diversity and meeting challenges together. Disengagement from civil society; lack of opportunity; anti-social behaviour; gun, knife and gang crime, and violent extremism are all facets of the challenge facing urban communities in the twenty-first century. ACF is in direct, personal contact with the disaffected members of their community, we therefore work effectively to build bridges between such groups and mainstream UK society. This is vital to achieving their objective since disaffected, usually young, members of the community are beyond the reach of local authorities, charities and other agencies.
