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\n\t\t\t\t[et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]Fazeela Hanif is the manager of The Highfield Centre in Keighley, Bradford. She\u2019s worked in the community since first volunteering as a teenager and has spent the last decade working to transform the centre into a sustainable hub for local people.<\/p>\n
In 2018, she secured \u00a3200,641\u00a0from the National Lottery Community Fund\u2019s Reaching Communities programme to spend on a project that set out to improve the life chances of teenagers across the whole of the Keighley Central ward in Highfield, Knowle Park, Lawkholme and Showfield. Fazeela worked and continues to work on deterring young people away from drugs, crime and antisocial behavior by providing activities for them through Youth EXCEL<\/a>. Highfield Community Association was also awarded \u00a39,993 to support local women experiencing isolation or mental health issues, particularly those from BME communities. Colourful Lives<\/a> runs sessions where women can speak freely about their issues, socialise with others and build friendships.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cMy passion was always in terms of community work and young people and it was about making a difference because there was just nothing around for them to do. We\u2019d arrange half-term trips for young people in quite disadvantaged areas within Keighley mostly. We started working with other organisations and developed it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Fazeela used her experience in property development to shape the future of the centre and invest in its infrastructure. She applied for a cash grant from Power to Change\u2019s Community Business Fund<\/a> to adapt and refurbish the existing sports hall and improve community activities. \u201cI\u2019ve always had this business head; I have a couple of properties and I\u2019ve always been interested in property development \u2013 and I realised that\u2019s what I needed to do for the centre.\u201d<\/p>\n Fazeela said she enjoys the variety that comes with managing a community centre and setting an example to others. \u201cI think it\u2019s the challenges and changes \u2013 it\u2019s the vision of seeing that, not being just a woman, it\u2019s giving others the opportunity to think, well if she can do it, I can do it. It\u2019s about setting that example to them. I came from a volunteering background; I didn\u2019t go to university. I would have liked to, but unfortunately back then circumstances were different. But I got where I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day is different \u2013 it\u2019s flexible, I couldn\u2019t imagine myself doing a traditional nine-to-five job now,\u201d she added. \u201cI think having a vision is the most important thing and we\u2019re living proof that these things don\u2019t happen overnight \u2013 it\u2019s taken us nearly 10 years to get to where we are now \u2013 but it\u2019s paid off. That\u2019s what is more important. You will have to struggle like all organisations do, you\u2019ve got your Brexit and austerity, you\u2019ve got costings etc, but it\u2019s about working out how you can continue in the current climate. We work in partnership \u2013 that\u2019s a key thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on why she thinks more and more women are finding their place in community business, she said: \u201cThere are so many women out there that do it. We\u2019re not just here to do small office jobs, we can build multi-million pound buildings and extensions \u2013 we\u2019re like jack of all trades. I think we know that things aren\u2019t going to happen overnight, things are going to take time and there will be challenges along the way, but we want to reach that goal.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I think it\u2019s about having your own independence. It\u2019s about building confidence, but so many women have that fear \u2013 there is the financial side and the start-up, which is completely understandable, but it\u2019s about having that support network around you. If you\u2019ve got other responsibilities going on it can be hard to think about how you\u2019re going to manage it, long hours especially in the beginning. It\u2019s about having support, and once you\u2019ve got that the independence and the power over your own decisions you can say I\u2019ve actually achieved this, and I\u2019m helping others.\u201d<\/p>\n What would Fazeela like people to know about her? \u201cI\u2019m a woman and I\u2019m proud of what I\u2019ve achieved. If I can do it, they can do it. It is very hard, but it\u2019s worth it. I think we get so into this mindset that sometimes we forget to think about ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n To find out about The Highfield Centre, visit their <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a> page<\/em>.<\/em>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column] The final IWD post features a woman who works to improve young people’s lives in Keighley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":13336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"Fazeela Hanif is the manager of The Highfield Centre in Keighley, Bradford. She\u2019s worked in the community since first volunteering as a teenager and has spent the last decade working to transform the centre into a sustainable hub for local people.\r\n\r\nIn 2018, she secured \u00a3200,641\u00a0from the National Lottery Community Fund\u2019s Reaching Communities programme to spend on a project that set out to improve the life chances of teenagers across the whole of the Keighley Central ward in Highfield, Knowle Park, Lawkholme and Showfield. Fazeela worked and continues to work on deterring young people away from drugs, crime and antisocial behavior by providing activities for them through Youth EXCEL<\/a>. Highfield Community Association was also awarded \u00a39,993 to support local women experiencing isolation or mental health issues, particularly those from BME communities. Colourful Lives<\/a> runs sessions where women can speak freely about their issues, socialise with others and build friendships.\r\n\r\nShe said: \u201cMy passion was always in terms of community work and young people and it was about making a difference because there was just nothing around for them to do. We\u2019d arrange half-term trips for young people in quite disadvantaged areas within Keighley mostly. We started working with other organisations and developed it from there.\u201d\r\n\r\nFazeela used her experience in property development to shape the future of the centre and invest in its infrastructure. She applied for a cash grant from Power to Change\u2019s Community Business Fund<\/a> to adapt and refurbish the existing sports hall and improve community activities. \u201cI\u2019ve always had this business head; I have a couple of properties and I\u2019ve always been interested in property development \u2013 and I realised that\u2019s what I needed to do for the centre.\u201d\r\n\r\nFazeela said she enjoys the variety that comes with managing a community centre and setting an example to others. \u201cI think it\u2019s the challenges and changes \u2013 it\u2019s the vision of seeing that, not being just a woman, it\u2019s giving others the opportunity to think, well if she can do it, I can do it. It\u2019s about setting that example to them. I came from a volunteering background; I didn\u2019t go to university. I would have liked to, but unfortunately back then circumstances were different. But I got where I wanted to be.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cEvery day is different \u2013 it\u2019s flexible, I couldn\u2019t imagine myself doing a traditional nine-to-five job now,\u201d she added. \u201cI think having a vision is the most important thing and we\u2019re living proof that these things don\u2019t happen overnight \u2013 it\u2019s taken us nearly 10 years to get to where we are now \u2013 but it\u2019s paid off. That\u2019s what is more important. You will have to struggle like all organisations do, you\u2019ve got your Brexit and austerity, you\u2019ve got costings etc, but it\u2019s about working out how you can continue in the current climate. We work in partnership \u2013 that\u2019s a key thing for us.\u201d\r\n\r\nReflecting on why she thinks more and more women are finding their place in community business, she said: \u201cThere are so many women out there that do it. We\u2019re not just here to do small office jobs, we can build multi-million pound buildings and extensions \u2013 we\u2019re like jack of all trades. I think we know that things aren\u2019t going to happen overnight, things are going to take time and there will be challenges along the way, but we want to reach that goal.\r\n\r\n\u201cPersonally, I think it\u2019s about having your own independence. It\u2019s about building confidence, but so many women have that fear \u2013 there is the financial side and the start-up, which is completely understandable, but it\u2019s about having that support network around you. If you\u2019ve got other responsibilities going on it can be hard to think about how you\u2019re going to manage it, long hours especially in the beginning. It\u2019s about having support, and once you\u2019ve got that the independence and the power over your own decisions you can say I\u2019ve actually achieved this, and I\u2019m helping others.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhat would Fazeela like people to know about her? \u201cI\u2019m a woman and I\u2019m proud of what I\u2019ve achieved. If I can do it, they can do it. It is very hard, but it\u2019s worth it. I think we get so into this mindset that sometimes we forget to think about ourselves.\u201d\r\n\r\nTo find out about The Highfield Centre, visit their <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a> page<\/em>.<\/em>","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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