Amran up for award
A Bradford voluntary community worker has been shortlisted as one of five for the Public Servant of the Year by the Guardian newspape.
One of his current projects is helping former England rugby winger Ikram Butt to set up the British Asian Rugby Association (Bara) to encourage more Asian young men into rugby, a sport that isn't associated with the Asian community.
"Please show your support voting for Mohammed Amran. He has developed a great deal of trust and respect with people of all ages and from all sections of the communities. He builds confidence, encourages and provides on going support for the local communities to realise their potential.." Writes Ikram.
To vote: email publicservicesawards@guardian.co.uk, and simply write I vote for Mohammed Amran.
Ask Mohammed Amran about his greatest achievement and he ignores the fact that, a decade ago, at the age of 22, he became the youngest commissioner ever to be appointed by the Commission for Racial Equality. He does not even mention his conflict resolution role -after the Bradford riots of 1995 and 2001, when he encouraged the disaffected youth in his home town to enter into dialogue with West Yorkshire police and launched a youth people's forum to help air their views.
For Amran, the most rewarding aspect of his community and voluntary work is the fact that many of the young people he has helped end up working in the sector. That way, he says, local areas can grow their own talent.
"When I was younger, there wasn't a lot for young people to do, and decisions were made on their behalf," he explains. "That was what drove me, and now, to see young people choosing to work in the youth and community service is amazing."
Amran got hooked on community involvement at the age of 15, when he did some fundraising for the Lord Mayor's appeal in Bradford and enjoyed making a difference to his neighbourhood. "This is my community" he says. "This is where I'm going to stay and where my kids are growing up. So I have a real -interest in working for my local area."
Over the years, Amran has carried out a vast amount of fundraising, ranging from selling raffle tickets to holding community lunches and carrying out street collections. Among the many beneficiaries of his work are the Prince's Trust, the Lord Mayor's Appeal and -Macmillan Cancer Relief, and he has volunteered with or had positions with almost 30 community-related organisations.
He was awarded an honorary -doctorate by Bradford University in 2002 for his work with disadvantaged young people and his contributions to local race relations. Amran is a member of the courts boards in north and west Yorkshire and is a lay adviser to the national Police Improvement Agency, as well as being a committee member of the Big Lottery Fund England.He is also a Board Director of Bradford Youth Development Partnership, which encourages young people into training and work.
Amran believes that the key to engaging young people is "trusting them, listening and giving them assets". It is also -vital, he adds, to be able to hold your own in a strategic level meeting with chief executives and directors and work at a grassroots level with local people. "I'm more often to be found in jeans than a suit," he says.
"He sets a shining example of how young people can get involved in issues and matters that relate to them locally, nationally and internationally. He has opened the doors for other young people to become part of the policy making process."
So what about the challenges involved in his work? "The downside is that it can be frustrating, as big institutions have a lot of red tape," he says. "Sometimes, it's like banging your head against a brick wall, but my secret is that I never give up."
Amran's current concern is the threat to community cohesion, as some members of the local Asian community are not welcoming of new arrivals from eastern Europe. "Many of those who are coming over from eastern Europe are facing the same difficulties and prejudices experienced by the first -immigrants to Bradford," he says. "It's now the Asian community that's complaining about the new arrivals -taking their houses, jobs and so on. I find that very worrying. We need to do something now to help integrate the two communities."