Third Sector, 8 August 2007.
Racism row over funding proposal
Funding recommendations by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion have been dubbed discriminatory and possibly racist by a black and minority ethnic third sector organisation.
Voice4Change England said a proposal to restrict single group funding, which is awarded to organisations with particular ethnic or cultural identities, "should not be implemented because it is discriminatory to BME groups".
The commission's report, Our Shared Future, recommended that single group funding should be "the exception rather than the rule".
Vandna Gohil, V4CE director, said this threatened the survival of BME third sector organisations.
She added: "This is worrying because BME organisations have for a long time addressed cohesion issues and contributed to promoting civic engagement."
The report also said that, if single group funding was awarded, the reasons should be "clearly publicised to all communities".
Gohil said this was "certainly discriminatory because the requirement is being applied only to BME organisations".
She added: "We believe this may be racist and urge the Department for Communities and Local Government to consider this more fully to assess whether it is in breach of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000."
Kevin Curley, chief executive of umbrella body Navca, said: "If local funders were required to use the local media to draw attention in particular to awards made to BME groups, this would place cohesion at risk because it would attract the attention of the BNP and other racist organisations."
A spokesman for the DCLG, which established the commission, said the Government was considering the report and would be responding to it "in due course".