MCB Leadership team visited affiliates and Muslim communities in Birmingham and Walsall, with a three-day trip, with 16 engagements and 23 organisations. The trip was full of excellent feedback and a real opportunity to meet and renew relationships.
Meetings Affiliates – learning of great grassroots support and services
Our team were delighted to see how active Muslim orgnisations and Mosques have been in serving the wider community, from tackling knife crime, and foodbanks to the provision of adult learning classes and countering domestic abuse. Muslim communities have gone above and beyond to ensure the growing needs of our communities are being met. Our thanks to Birmingham Central Mosque, Green Lane Mosque, KSIMC and Gamkol Sharif for giving us a tour of your Mosques and the work you do.
We thank the Islamic Relief World Wide for hosting a comprehensive session in their main offices on how they manage their high governance procedures and manage the entire operations of the MCB. We also got to visit the clothing recycling centre to see just where our donations go.
Community roundtable
The MCB SG had a Q/A discussion with 15 local organisations to discuss key issues impacting young people, education, bereavement services and how MCB can be more present in the midlands. This feedback will help to develop the MCB 25-year strategy insha’Allah.
We also met a number of organisations in UKIM Masjid Aisha including UMO and several local Mosques, in Walsall for a discussion on strengthening MCB’s support and collaboration with Muslim organisations in the Midlands.
Commitment to education
Our team had a fantastic visit to the Sultan Bahu Trust, which provides supplementary education to hundreds of students as well as specialised Huffadh training for young people across the country. These initiatives include greener mosques and tackling youth violence by working with local agencies for greater change.
We had an excellent visit to the Al Mahdi Institute and seminary for intra-religious dialogue and understanding, providing real critical thought and an open forum for understanding. Set in beautiful grounds we were thankful to meet Sheikh Arif among other prominent scholars.
We really enjoyed our visit to the Abrahamic Foundation, who are really showcasing inclusion and diversity with a young staff team and some great external engagement to ensure everyone feels welcome to the centre.
Our affiliate, Muath Trust really inspired us, with their extensive range of classes, support for elderly care, CV and nursery education among so many other services, we left feeling confident about how communities which are most vulnerable are getting access to vital services. Many of the staff were young people from the Kickstarter campaign.
Appendix:
Organisation met:
– Abrahamic foundation
– Green Lane Mosque
-Birmingham Central– Sultan Bahu
-Al Mahdi Institute
– Muath Trust-Islamic Relief World Wide-Gamkol Sharif-KSIM
-Masjid Aisha (Walsall) + UMO and others -Islamic Relief World Wide
-Muslim Doctors & Dentists