Victims of hate crime and their families will soon benefit from more than £265,000 to provide increased access to vital support services, Home Office Minister Alan Campbell announced today.
A total of eight organisations from the voluntary sector will receive grants of up to £50,000 to help run projects that work to prevent hate crime and provide specialist support to victims including counselling, access to information and training for frontline staff.
Home Office minister Alan Campbell said, 'Hate crime ruins lives. Everyone should be free to express themselves without the fear of harassment simply because of who they are.
'We are determined to tackle these devastating crimes which is why last year the government launched its hate crime action plan which sets out our response to the challenges we face.
'This funding will provide more victims and their families with the access to the support they need so they will have the confidence to report crimes, knowing they will be taken seriously and acted on.'
The hate crime action plan, published in September 2009, includes 70 short- to medium-term actions for government and criminal justice agencies across all five hate crime strands: disability, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, and transgender.
This new funding comes as Stonewall launched its new guide 'Blow the whistle on gay hate'. The handy guide is aimed at encouraging more lesbians and gay men who have been victims of hate crimes to come forward and report them. The guide provides practical information on how to report a crime and where to get help and will be made available to bars, clubs, lesbian, gay and bisexual groups and the police.
Notes to editors
The Home Office invited third sector organisations that provide services or projects that support victims of hate crime and their families to apply for a grant of up to £50,000 in February 2010. Fifty-four applications were received and were subject to a rigourous assessment process. The successful applicants represent the five hate crime strands (disability, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, transgender) and are as follows:
GALOP (sexual orientation/gender identity) - £46,385
Press for Change (gender identity) - £33,543
Community Security Trust (race/religion) - £48,869
Torfaen People Trust (disability) - £29,864
VOICE UK (Disability) - £43,080
Furness Multicultural Community Forum (race/religion) - £17,200
Anthony Walker Foundation (race) - £16,699
GACARA (all) - £29,667
Total £265,307
The Home Office provided a grant of £25,000 to Stonewall from the hate crime victims fund for 2009/10 for the development and publication of Stonewalls plain English guide 'Blow the whistle on gay hate'. You can find a copy of the guide on the Stonewall website (new window), or you can call for on 0800 0502020 (free phone.
For information on how the government is tackling hate crime and the cross government Hate Crime Action Plan, please visit the hate crime pages (new window) on the Home Office website.
For more information, call the Home Office press office on 020 7035 3535.
© Crown copyright material reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland
