Each session is structured to last approximately two hours. Responding effectively to change will need new connections to be made with new communities and creativity in bringing people together around common issues: creating space for informal encounter and conversations, and using the enormous potential of social media and the internet, especially to reach younger people. Learn more about our objectives, genesis, and collaborators. Intergroup Resources was recently featured in the University of South Florida News! Continue Reading →, Intergroup Resources is an online resource center that seeks to strengthen intergroup relations for social justice by sharing materials, tools, and lessons learned from organizers around the United States. The discussion mirrors the previous last session in which participants are to examine both the view that most closely relates to their own as well as the perspectives of others. How did Arshad overcome that resistance. ‘I went in resigned to the fact we would lose,’ Mr Arshad said. I was driven to do the mosque.’ In all, Mr Arshad and his father made eight applications for a mosque.…, Often there was booing at council meetings, and, he said, cries of ‘Go home, Paki!’. How can these conflicts be turned into opportunities to promote integration? Fax: 860-928-3713 The first session fosters the sharing of stories and views, thus allowing participants to learn about their peers lives and perspectives. The authorities’ official reasoning for the rejections was generally that a mosque would attract outsiders—a veiled reference to Muslims—to Clitheroe. How can funders help? Divided into three parts, the opening 30 minutes are devoted to preparing to meet with public officials and reiterating the ground rules for this interaction. So did Mr Arshad’s demeanour. Learn about the struggles that religious groups faced in building places of worship in early American history, and consider the parallels to issues of religious freedom today. Continue Reading →, Building Bridges among Communities of Color, Standing Together: Coming Out for Racial Justice, Facilitating Social Change: Linking Power and Facilitation, Power and Oppression: Valuing Our Differences, Envisioning Our Common Struggle, Common Ground: A Moderator’s Guide for Small Group Discussions on Ethnic Relations, One Nation, Many Beliefs: Talking about Religion in a Diverse Democracy, Toward a More Perfect Union in an Age of Diversity, Connecting African American & Immigrant Experiences, Deciding on Structure: Affinity Group or Intergroup Work, Changing Faces, Changing Communities – Immigration & Race, Jobs, Schools, and Language Differences (.pdf), http://www.everyday-democracy.org/Exchange/Guide.17.aspx, Intergroup Resources: Building Social Justice Online and From the Ground Up. East Hartford, CT 06108 The final 15-30 minutes allow for the study circle participants and public officials to share what they have learned from each other. Changing Communities By Trista L. Pollard : 1 Communities grow and change over time. These curricular materials also include extensive guidance for study circle leaders on how to organize and run a circle. This dialogue guide is available as a free download on Everyday Democracy’s Issue Guide Exchange. He established the Medina Islamic Education Centre as an interfaith group for adults, and persuaded the local council to allow the group to lead a key committee. History is the events that happened in the past. That experience was powerful and strengthened their resolve to not allow for the ‘they are taking our jobs’ philosophy to flourish.". Old Church Becomes Mosque in Uneasy Britain, Sheraz Arshad, British Muslim and Community Organizer, Once Upon a Time in New York: A Temple Denied, Religion in Colonial America: Trends, Regulations, and Beliefs. How do those answers explain why it was important for Arshad to build a local mosque? ‘We’ve been trying to get a place of worship for 30 years,’ said Sheraz Arshad, 31, the Muslim leader here, his voice rattling around the empty old Mount Zion Methodist Church that will house his mosque. Learn more about the conditions that necessitate Intergroup Resources. Religious diversity is changing old assumptions about the proper relationship between church and state.