Over the past five years, EMF has developed a portfolio of social investments aimed at nurturing community enterprising, regeneration and sustainability. The Foundation supports initiatives that seek to provide practical solutions to intractable social problems as well as those able to effect far-reaching social change.

Community Assets Programme

By creating community centres, EMF’s innovative Community Assets Programme aims to foster growth and long-term sustainability for Britain’s minority ethnic voluntary and community organisations. Our buildings provide local groups with office space, meeting and conferencing facilities as well as opportunities to engage in partnerships and joined-up work. In the past five years, the Foundation’s Community Assets Programme has secured the acquisition of two buildings: EMF House in Stratford, London and EMF House in Manchester. Additional buildings are in the process of being acquired for the Programme.

EMF House London

The very first building acquired by EMF in 2002, EMF House is located in Stratford at the heart of London’s East End area. EMF House is home to an amalgamation of faith communities, ethnic minority and refugee agencies, lobby groups, educational and development bodies as well as local business and creative ventures. Mostly supported by the Foundation, these organisations have access to an array of backroom support amenities, including ICT, business, financial, legal and Human Resources services. In addition, the building features fully catered state-of-the-art conference and meeting facilities.

Vital Statistics

Ü 4-storey building with car park

Ü 35,000 square feet of office space

Ü 20 business units for social enterprises and voluntary organisations

Ü 17 minority ethnic organisations housed in the building

Ü EMF House provides conferencing and adult learning facilities, ICT, training and
     business support services

Contact Details

Boardman House
@LondonEast
64 The Broadway
London E15 1NG

Tel.: +44 (0) 20 8432 0601
Fax: +44 (0) 20 8432 0648

Email: elc.conferencing@eastlondoncentre.co.uk
Website: www.eastlondoncentre.co.uk

EMF House Manchester

In 2005, EMF acquired a Grade-II listed building in the heart of Manchester’s Chinatown. A twelve-month refurbishment programme culminated in the official launch of EMF House on 8^th February 2006 as the Foundation’s second Community Asset. The event was attended by government representatives and local community leaders, including Councillor Afzal Khan, the Lord Mayor of Manchester and Sir Howard Bernstein, the Chief Executive of Manchester City Council. The organisations based in EMF House comprise faith communities, ethnic minority and refugee agencies, lobby groups, educational and development bodies as well as local business and creative ventures. Often supported by the Foundation, these organisations have access to an array of backroom support services similar to those available at EMF House, London.

Vital Statistics

Ü 4-storey Grade-II listed building

Ü Easy access to nearby car park

Ü 10,000 square feet of office space

Ü 12 business units for social enterprises and voluntary organisations

Ü 12 minority ethnic organisations housed in the building

Ü Conference, seminar and catering facilities

Contact Details

EMF House
12 Charlotte Street
Manchester M1 4FL

Tel.: 0161 245 3200
Fax: 0161 245 3333

Email: man.conferencing@EMFoundation.org.uk
Website: www.ethnicminorityfund.org.uk

The British Edutrust Foundation (Edutrust)

In 2006, EMF supported the creation of Edutrust: an educational charity that aims to improve significantly the academic attainment, quality of learning and personal development of all students, irrespective of ability, faith or ethnicity. To this end, Edutrust is in the process of establishing a number of Academies in key inner-city areas across England. The Academies are to become ‘Centres of Excellence’, playing a vital role in meeting the needs of all children through local community engagement.

In building the new Academies, EMF seeks to provide high quality educational environments that are conducive to greater social and community cohesion. Valuing diversity, tolerance and equality is at the core of every Edutrust Academy’s ethos.

The Equal Programme

Over the past two years, EMF - in partnership with Tribal Education and Technology - has run the EQUAL programme, an educational and training initiative aimed to empower marginalised British Muslim women across England. Funded by the European Social Fund and designed to enable Muslim women to access training and educational opportunities in the Creative and Cultural Industries, the programme provided beneficiaries with a choice of learning modules including: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), radio and television broadcasting, journalism, arts and crafts such as music, drama and painting. The overall objective of the project was to enable beneficiaries to gain relevant skills that would allow them to enter the labour market.

The pilot originally envisaged enrolling 100 Muslim women who would benefit from the programme in London, Bristol and Manchester. A team of twelve volunteers were recruited to work alongside the beneficiaries, giving freely their time and expertise. The project had a core staff of professional, full-time Muslim women to ensure proper management and record-keeping. As the pilot project came to an end in December 2007, over 200 volunteers have joined EMF at nine centres across the country (i.e. four in London and one in Leicester, Bradford, Manchester, Bolton and Bristol respectively) providing training to over 900 Muslim Women of all ages. As a result of this programme, approximately 20 per cent of these women have gone into Higher Education, employment and/or self-employment. Following on the success of the EQUAL programme, EMF is currently planning a five-year follow up intervention, which is expected to reach up to 10,000 British Muslim women beneficiaries nationwide.