The 7^th July 2005 is a day that shocked the United Kingdom. British born citizens were responsible for the death of many innocent lives. An Al-Qaeda inspired plot that was designed to threaten our security. This threat will continue to be one of the most important challenges to Britain’s security for many years to come.

Tackling violent extremism is about confronting and standing up to a small fringe group of terrorists and their extremist supporters. The majority of Muslims are law abiding citizens that respect the core British values and who reject violence.

As a community based organisation, the Active Change Foundation has to deal with the added negative impact that the UK’s Prevent Strategy has garnered in the community. The Muslim community in general has the feeling of being alienated, targeted and being held responsible for the actions of a minority. ACF tries to work closely with the community to help aleviate such negative perceptions surrounding the prevent agenda and constantly demonstrates the success stories of individuals now moving forward as positive role models within the community.

ACF believes that in order to understand violent extremism, the mind-set needs to be realised, the emotional drivers used need to be recognised and young people's grievances need to be addressed, if we are to be successful in stemming the tide of violent extremism in all its forms.

The personal experiences of the ACF staff give our organisation a unique understanding of the varied techniques used by opportunists & recruiters. ACF has an in-depth knowledge of the many strands of faith within Islam and fully understand the techniques, emotional drivers applied and the vast environments that recruiters operate in. As a result ACF are uniquely placed to help reduce the threat of violent extremism and have had numerous well documented successes.

Due to the ever changing nature of the extremists, ACF are always at the forefront of overtly confronting and challenging extremist groups in order to establish a presence in the community and to demonstrate that they do not have legitimacy nor do they represent Islam.