Winners of Coventry's Community Cohesion Awards 2012 honoured at Guild Hall ceremony

The awards are designed to celebrate the work being done to make Coventry a cohesive City. They recognise practical activities which demonstrate how people have helped cohesion by working with different communities, groups, faiths, age groups, and people from different backgrounds, ethnicity and disabilities.

The awards are run by the Equalities and Community Cohesion Theme Group of the Coventry Partnership, together with Coventry Ethnic Minorities Action Partnership (CEMAP). This year's awards were launched in April and after months of voting, the winners were announced in a ceremony at St. Mary's Guildhall on Thursday (18 October).
The winners were:

* Public sector: Coventry Ambassadors, by Coventry University, Coventry City Council and Partners
* Voluntary and Community small: The Coventry Language Café
* Voluntary and Community Large: Bridging Cultures Project, by Coventry University Students' Union Volunteering and Employability Department
* Private Sector: The Warwick Arts Centre Design and Paint project

Sue Bent, Director of Coventry Law Centre and Chair of the Equalities and Communities Theme Group, said: "Everyone deserves to live in a strong community, where they feel safe, welcomed, where people get along with each other, where no-one feels excluded and where everyone has the chance to play a full part in local life. The Coventry Community Cohesion Awards have recognised the commitment made by many organisations and groups in the city to ensure that Coventry continues to be such a cohesive city. The activities that the organisations and groups have been involved in demonstrate how Coventry people are proud of their heritage as a city of peace and reconciliation and how the people of Coventry want to continue to build upon the good community relations that exist in our city."

Entertainment on the night was provided by local artists, including: children from Freeman Dance; musicians from Coventry Performing Arts Jonathon Pudge and Thomas Ainge; and the Belgrade Theatre Black Youth Theatre

ENDS

For more information and interviews contact:
Tim Coleman, Coventry Partnership Communications Officer on 02476 83 1743 0r 07939250752  E-mail: tim.coleman@coventry.gov.uk

EDITORS NOTE:
The Coventry Partnership brings together senior representatives from the community, private, public and voluntary sectors to work together to help improve the city as a place to live, work and play.
Established in 2002, the Partnership is the name of Coventry's Local Strategic Partnership (LSP).
It is working towards delivering Coventry's Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement - an agreement between the Partnership and government identifying key priorities to help us achieve our goals.